Bernie LaBarge (born March 11, 1953) is a Canadian performing and session guitarist, an award-winning singer and songwriter, and producer, who has gone on tour and made recordings with Canadian and international artists. In a wide-ranging career that began in 1967, LaBarge signed with WEA Records and released a single entitled "Dream Away" in 1981. LaBarge earned a Canadian Juno Award nomination in 1984 for Most Promising Male Vocalist for his album, “Barging In” on the Sony label. Then, LaBarge won the Canadian Songwriting Contest in 1986 (Best R&B Song category). His song "Dream Away" was produced by famous producer Daniel Lanois. “Dream Away” was one of the most-played songs of 1981, and still receives extensive airplay. Along the way, LaBarge has been the guitarist/front man for popular performing acts like Rain, Sweet Blindness, Zwol, Stem, Stingaree, The Irish Rovers, Cassandra Vasik, The Dexters, and the George Olliver band. He has recorded and toured with a wide range of talent like The Irish Rovers, Doug Riley, Ian Tyson, David Clayton-Thomas, Rhinoceros, and Long John Baldry. And, he has proudly performed with Hall of Famers Domenic Troiano, Ronnie Hawkins, John Kay, John Sebastian, David Cassidy, and Rush’s Alex Lifeson. LaBarge kicked off yet another decade in 2020 by rocking a reunion of the much beloved band, The Dexters, who were originally founded in 1994 in Toronto. And, fellow guitarist Alex Lifeson, whose legendary Canadian band Rush were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, says of his pal's career: "Bernie is my brother. We've shared so many happy, fun times together doing what we both love most. I have learned from his guitar playing and I think it's made me a fuller player. His sense of rhythm and dynamics is a strong suit I admire." Life and career Early life LaBarge was born in Ottawa, Ontario, also home to two other musical giants: Canadian Hall of Fame singer/songwriter Paul Anka and multiple Grammy-winning rocker Alanis Morissette. His family then moved to Burlington, Ontario, and he grew up in a musically inclined house, listening to everything from show tunes to Motown. While he dropped music lessons after six months, something else inspired him, explaining, “When the Beatles and the British Invasion came around, I'd hang around a record store, Music Village in Burlington, and learned guitar from listening to records. That store shaped who I am. Much of that time—Malcolm