Zalman Yanovsky was possibly one of the biggest badasses of American rock during the 1960s (at least in the humble opinion of this webmaster). Born on December 19, 1944 in Toronto, Canada to an editoral cartoonist and a teacher, Zal 
(or "Zally," as he was known) cut his chops on the local folk circuit playing around the city's cafes. Being a good Jewish boy, he went to live on a kibbutz in Israel for awhile. During his time there, he performed around Tel Aviv in some coffee houses and the like. However, after he reportedly drove a tractor through one of the buildings, he was asked to leave. After bumming around Israel for a little longer, he finally returned to Canada.
Back in Canada, he met up with another folk singer, future "Papa," Denny Doherty and joined the trio the Halifax Three. Soon after, Denny and Zal moved to the States, where they met up with Cass Elliot in Washington D.C. Along with her, they formed the Mugwumps some time later, and began playing in Greenwich Village. Cass was also instrumental in introducing Zal to John Sebastian (see John's bio), and thereby establishing the beginnings of the Lovin' Spoonful.
Zal was a remarkable player and instrumental force in the Spoonful. Not only was he a brilliant guitarist, but also contributed lead vocals on some of the Spoonful's best songs. Onstage, he was charismatic and engaging, and sometimes downright hilarious (as I've been told). John Sebastian said this about him, in Rolling Stone's obituary for Zal:
"He could play like Elmore James, he could play like Floyd Cramer, he could play like Chuck Berry. He could play like all these people, yet he still had his own overpowering personality. Out of this we could, I thought, craft something with real flexibility."
He was also looked to as a leader of the Western movement in fashion at the time, wearing fringe jackets and Western-style hats.
However, in early 1966, Zal and Steve Boone were busted for possession of marijuana in San Francisco. The cops told Zal that if they didn't give up their dealer, they would deport him back to Canada. So, obviously, Zal narced. A year later, the press got ahold of the incident and the Lovin' Spoonful were ostracized by both the press and fans. (Apparently, Rolling Stone called for a fucking ban on the Spoonful. Rolling Stone is a joke, anyway. I call for a ban on them. HA.) This led to some disruption inside the band, as well as Zal publicly professing his distaste for the direction in which the music was headed. There is some discrepancy between whether Zal left on his own or was forced out, but either way, Zal was out of the Spoonful in 1967. That same year, he married actress Jackie Burroughs and became a father to his only child, daughter Zoe.
In 1968, he recorded and initally released his first and only solo album called Alive and Well in Argentina, which is, in my opinion, a brilliant record. Seriously, check it out. Amazing. After that, Zal disappeared back to his native Canada and worked in TV production for a bit. Then, with his second wife, Rose, Zal opened a restaurant in Kingston called Chez Piggy in 1979. He also worked on two cookbooks related to the successful restaurant and its companion bakery, Pan Chancho.
Sadly, Zal died of a heart attack in 2002. Fortunately, he did reunite with his former Spoonful bandmates in 2000 when the band was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Yet another incredible and talented musician gone too soon.
This site is dedicated to his memory.