A chance meeting in Oshawa of Paul Andrew Smith and Randy Begg set the seed that became Wednesday. The previous two years were spent as a member of The Trolls, a British-based band along with Vic Collins (Kursaal Flyers, Ugly Guys), Steve Prout and Michael Langridge.

The summer was spent playing impromptu concerts at local Oshawa parks and drop-in centres until meeting up with Mike O’Neil and John Dufek. The Cellophane Spoon was formed and managed by John Hall until the task was taken over by Bill Diel, a former keyboardist with Ronnie Hawkins and Fats Domino. The bands name was changed to Wednesday on the release of their first single ‘Hang On Girl’/’Velvet Colours’, recorded in Toronto, produced by John Driscoll and released on Ampex Records. The record’s success was limited to Canada’s east coast where it achieved respectable airplay and led to a successful east coast tour.

Wednesday’s second single written by Wayne Cochran. ‘Last Kiss’ was recorded at Toronto’s Manta Sound Studios, engineered by Lee DeCarlo (Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’, Aerosmith). The single was immediately picked up by radio stations. Influential 1050 CHUM-AM jumped on the track and the song went to No.2, giving way to an avalanche of Canadian radio support. The song reached the number one position on Billboard’s Canadian chart, holding the position for six weeks earning them an ‘RPM Maple Leaf Award’ (the precursor of the JUNO), a Gold Record, and nominations for several Junos.

The buzz spilled over into the US market, topping the charts at many American city radio stations. It reached #34 on Billboard’s ‘Hot 100’, quickly selling well over a quarter million copies. A debut album was cut at Manta Sound, Toronto and furnished Wednesday with a second hit, ‘Teen Angel’, reaching No.15 on Canadian charts, and achieving No, 17 in Australia.
Touring dates in Canada and the U.S. led to massive fan support. A new single, ‘Fly Away’ made it to No. 21 on the charts and was followed by a cover of the Beatles classic ‘She’s A Woman’ and ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’.

In Wednesday released their second album ‘Loving You Baby’ which topped at No.17. The album went on to produce four more charted hits which included ‘Doin’ The Best That I Can’.
The band began including more of their own compositions, many written by Paul, braking away from remakes of cover tunes and concentrated on more progressive material. Their third album, ‘I Nearly Made It With You, was recorded at Eastern Sound, Toronto and engineered by Mike ‘Tea-Bag’ Jones. The album included more of Paul’s compositions, ‘Dream Queen’, a song later included in the soundtrack of 1984 movie - ‘Odd Balls’ starring Foster Brooks, ‘Ride Me’, ‘Through Your Head’, ‘Honey’ and the title track, ‘I Nearly Made It With You’. The album garnered strong chart positions.

Wednesday went back in the studio, recording two songs for Skyline Records - ‘Sheila’ and ‘Eleanor’. These were later included on Unidisc Music releases along with two older unreleased tracks. ‘House of The Rising Sun’ and ‘The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Anymore’.

Paul’s first solo album, ‘A Stranger In My Own World’ was released in 2011 on EMC Records, followed by ‘Above The Stars’. A concept album of material written during the day’s of Wednesday’s touring but not recorded until 2010. As with all of Paul’s music they contain strong themes and counterpoint. The harmonically interdependent melodies and independent rhythms and melodic contour give the music a deeper involvement for the listener.
‘Masks and Mummeries’ was Paul’s third album and contains an eclectic mix of musical styles, Including: ‘The Nightingale Song’, ‘Melancholy Blue’, ‘Rhyme or Reason’, and ‘Winter Garden Nights’.
This was followed by ‘Ago’ - an album of older, unrecorded material, and remakes of selected tracks from previous albums.

Paul is currently working on his next album, entitled ‘Time’, it explores the phenomenon of time and how we use and abuse it.