Mick Dalla-Vee isn’t looking back.
After nearly a quarter of a century playing with Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) and Randy Bachman’s band, the former longtime Coquitlam resident says he’s on his own path moving forward.
Dalla-Vee officially cut ties in January, wanting to spend less time on the road and more time at his lakeside home in Langford, outside of Victoria, and travelling the world with his wife, whom he married in 2018.
The consistently gruelling performing schedule, plus a cancer scare with his wife, were the reasons for his decision.
“I said goodbye to a career and now I’m carrying on with other stuff I want to do,” he told the Tri-City News. “There have been so many times where I’ve looked at the calendar and have had to plan my life around a tour […] It came to a point where I wanted to take control.”
He added, “It’s hard to walk away from anything you’re comfortable with, but I didn’t want to die on tour. It’s that simple.”
Luckily for his fans, Dalla-Vee still wants to play and create music.
And on Friday, May 16, the veteran performer and a musician he’s known most of his life will be in Port Moody for a tribute to Simon and Garfunkel.
He and Michael Sicoly will perform hits from the duo’s catalogue, including “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” at the Inlet Theatre (100 Newport Dr., Port Moody).
Dalla-Vee said he and Sicoly started playing tribute shows to honour musical pairings such as Elton John and Billy Joel and Paul McCartney and John Lennon years ago for fundraisers; they were last in the Tri-Cities for a sold-out Elton/Billy gig at the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver in 2017.
But the Simon/Garfunkel set is his wife’s favourite, he said.
“They had great tunes and great harmonies,” Dalla-Vee said. “Like Michael and I, they also met in high school, and they produced an amazing catalogue. Our show about them is very organic and there’s a total level of honesty that you don’t see in many performances because it brings things down to their core.”
Besides his music, Dalla-Vee said he’s spending more time in his home recording studio as well as overseeing the Down Syndrome Research Foundation’s Music in Motion Workshop, which he founded.
Meanwhile, his wife is flipping through the travel guides.
“I’ve had a wonderful life,” Dalla-Vee. “I’m a lucky guy because I’ve been able to play music my whole life. I count my blessings daily.”
For tickets at $40 to see Simon and Garfunkel: A Musical Celebration in Port Moody on May 16, 2025, visit Eventbrite.ca.
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