Myles Goodwyn, leader of Canadian classic rock group April Wine, dies at 75

Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Myles Goodwyn, singer, guitarist, writer, producer and leader of the Canadian classic rock group April Wine, has died at age 75, his publicist says.

Goodwyn, whose songwriting and vocal skills carried the hard-rocking group to multi-platinum heights in the late 1970s and early 1980s, died Sunday, publicist Eric Alper announced in a blog post.

No further details on cause of death, location or funeral details were immediately available.

A native of Woodstock, New Brunswick, who grew up in Nova Scotia, Goodwyn formed April Wine in 1969. Other original band members included brothers Ritchie and David Henman and cousin Jim Henman.

Among the band's biggest hits are classic rock radio staples such as Just Between You and Me (1981), Sign of the Gypsy Queen (1981) and Roller (1978). The band racked up more than 10 million record sales over the span of its careers.

April Wine's album The Whole World's Goin' Crazy, released in 1976, was the first Canadian album to sell more than 100,000 copies.

Goodwyn and his bandmates were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 2010 and Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2023. Goodwyn is also a member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The rocker lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in recent years.

Goodwyn suffered health problems brought on by years of alcohol abuse, at one point in 2008 collapsing with life-threatening internal bleeding while heading to a Quebec airport.

Following a stint in rehab, Goodwyn in 2016 wrote an in-depth memoir titled Just Between You and Me in which bared details of the price of the group's fame, including his bouts of depression, alcoholism and broken relationships.

"I don't want people to think I was unhappy. It was difficult, you cope with it," Goodwyn told the CBC. "I wrote the book primarily for my children because they grew up without their dad," adding that he missed a lot of "normal times" with them due to his career.