Shortly after producer Bob Ezrin was announced as this year's inductee to the Music Hall of Fame, confusion rippled throughout some music chatrooms on the Internet.
"Double shocker from Canada: Bob Ezrin is Canadian??? Canada has a Music Hall of Fame?? I don't know which upsets me more," wrote Huckadelia on the I Love Music bulletin board, part of Freaky Trigger, a on-line music zine managed in Britain.
Ezrin, who left Toronto about 20 years ago but still keeps dual citizenship, isn't surprised by such comments.
"I took for granted that the Canadians didn't really think I was Canadian because I've never been nominated for a Juno," the 55-year-old producer and musician said in a recent interview from New York where he was finishing a record for New York band Instruction.
"When they said the Canadians wanted to honour me, that was even bigger than being honoured by my adopted country, the United States. It really means a lot to me to know that even after 20 years, there are people who value the work that I did and the contribution that I made to the industry."
Ezrin, who currently lives in Connecticut, will be inducted at an industry-only ceremony tomorrow in Edmonton, and again during Sunday's Juno Awards. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss, Domenic Troiano, Geddy Lee, Lou Reed and Peter Gabriel are among those who've sent in video messages congratulating the producer.
Having studied piano, guitar and composition as a youth, Ezrin landed his first music job in 1970 at Nimbus 9 Productions, working for producer Jack Richardson.
A year later, he secured his first producer gig, making Alice Cooper's Love It to Death. I'm Eighteen was their first song together.
"It was such a huge turning point in my life. Everything started there for me," says Ezrin, who was a 20-year-old long-haired hippie at the time. "I suddenly became a world traveller and a person with some power."
The album's success made Ezrin an overnight hot-ticket producer leading to gigs with Kiss, Aerosmith and Gabriel for the Genesis frontman's solo debut.
But even in those early years, when he was building his career out of Toronto's Soundstage studio, he was frequently mistaken for a foreigner.
"I remember arguing with someone over a contract point and I was accused of having a New York attitude. 'You can't bring your New York attitude here.' And I was like, 'I live here,' " Ezrin says, laughing.
His résumé also includes albums for Reed, Roberta Flack, Murray McLauchlan, Lee Aaron and Rod Stewart. More recently he's worked with Jane's Addiction and the Darkness.
Those who've worked with him say he's got an open and warm approach to making music but can also be hard-boiled when required.
"Bob has a unique way of getting the very best out of us as creators and players," Dave Navarro, guitarist for Jane's Addiction, said. Ezrin produced, co-wrote and played on the band's latest effort, Strays.
For all of his work on top-notch rock albums, he's probably best known for Pink Floyd's The Wall.
Ezrin moved to London in 1978 to work on the record at the request of Roger Waters. He's credited with helping Waters and David Gilmour craft classic hits including Comfortably Numb. For Another Brick in the Wall,it was Ezrin's idea to include the kids' choir.
Like many producers, Ezrin dabbled in performing. As a teen he played in a folk duo with his cousin in Toronto's Yorkville scene.
"There was a time when I imagined that I would become a folk or rock star," recalled the father of six, who is vice-president of Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation in the United States, which distributes instruments to children. "But it became clear to me pretty early on that my talents lay in making the stuff happen and not necessarily being the stuff."
Established in 1978, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame includes Glenn Gould, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, Oscar Peterson and the Band.
There is no physical Hall of Fame building as of yet. Plans are under way for one with several cities competing for the honour, including Toronto and Hamilton. In the meantime, Hall of Fame inductees are listed at .