Les Emmerson was born into a musical family in Ottawa. He was given a guitar but didn't touch it until he saw Elvis Presley on television.  Rock'n Roll hit him right between the eyes! He started jamming with friends, Barry Simmons and Wayne Latendresse as "The Bebops" which eventually lead to performing on weekends during his high school years.

After finishing school, Les played local nightclubs in rock or country/rock bands. In 1965 he was invited to join "The Staccatos", a band that was just getting started and had plans to record. Their first session landed them a release on Allied records and their first local hit "It Isn??t Easy". Being heavily influenced by "The Beatles" Les tried his hand at songwriting. His first effort was "Small Town Girl" written with his friend Vern Craig. They signed on with Capital records and were off and running.

The next two years brought several more singles penned by Craig-Emmerson and their first album "Initially." One of the LP's tracks "It's A Long Way Home," a ballad from the Craig-Emmerson camp was not originally considered a front runner. To Les' amazement it became their most requested song. The momentum started to build in late '66 with "Let's Run Away" (Emmerson) and the band's RPM Maple Leaf award for "Record of the Year" (pre-Juno awards). 1967 produced "Half Past Midnight" and "The Staccatos" biggest hit. Les and the guys shared the honour of performing it for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

In 1967 "The Staccatos" made the first of many trips to Los Angeles to record and break into the U.S market. It proved to be a long and difficult road.  1970 would bring the right people and circumstances together for the next step. They found a new producer, Dallas Smith and a new label, MGM. The group decided to re-invent their repertoire and name.  "Five Man Electrical Band" was born.

Dallas taught Les about organizing his songs and the business end of music. He helped get the band's first release on the new label into the movies. The hit "Moonshine" appeared in the MGM motion picture "he Moonshine War" starring Alan Alda and Richard Widmark.

The group's contract was bought from MGM by a small aggressive label called Lionel Records. This was a major turning point. "Signs" was released by MGM as a "B-Side" but Lionel Records put it out again and promoted it as an "A-side". It was a huge hit closing in on two million copies.

Over the years Les has received many awards for "Signs" including a B.M.I Award for 1 million airplays and a Socan award in Canada for over 100 thousand plays on the radio. In 1991 the hard rock group "Tesla" had a hit with "Signs" soaring into Billboard's Top 10.  The original version of "Signs" was followed by "Absolutely Right" going to the top of the charts. Other singles over the years included "Julianna", "I'm A Stranger Here" and "Werewolf."  "It was such a luxury" Les said, "to be writing songs for a group that could sing and play like this. We had been together for so long that everyone knew their vocal parts immediately".

After the album "Sweet Paradise" the group disbanded to pursue solo careers. Emmerson stayed on in California until 1981 producing and working in the studio with stars like Rick Springfield, Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Les returned to Canada to join "The Cooper Brothers". He was on the road and in the studio with guys that did what he liked most, intelligent songs with lots of vocals. After the demise of the group, he formed an acoustic band with two members of "The Cooper Brothers" called Cooper, King and Emmerson. Brian Cooper, Terry King and Les were successful for many years also contributing music to Dick Cooper's CTV project "Denim Blues." Sadly the trio came to an end with the loss of Les' friend Terry King in 1998.  Click here to visit  "The Cooper Brothers"  website, or copy and paste this link http://www.thecooperbrothers.com.  The new release of their "Best of" CD now in stores.

In 1986 "Five Man Electrical Band" reunited for a charity concert that went so well they began playing a few concerts a year.  Now in full swing since 1998 Les is excited about the new line-up in "Five Man" and the decision to play more. The addition of Steve Hollingworth has brought percussive power with two drummers on stage, Rick Smithers' experience and hard edge brings a driving sound and guitar-slinger Ross McRae has been replaced by an equal player Brian Sim, rounds out the lineup. Les is ecstatic about the harmonies between him and Brian. "We can finally reproduce all the things we recorded and more" says Emmerson.  Les can't wait to hit the stage, "As long as it's fun for us and people want to hear it, we'll play it!"