It was a special day for Peterborough, as well as for The Pathway of Fame when it was announced in late June that Class of 2023 Inductee and former Peterborough resident Greg Wells has been named to The Order of Canada as a Member. The renowned musician and highly-acclaimed music producer is based in Los Angeles and for the past few decades has worked with everyone from Adele, to Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Celine Dion. He’s won several Grammy awards for his work, one of which was for the soundtrack for The Greatest Showman – and currently is hard at work mixing and producing the soundtrack for the upcoming sequel to ‘Wicked,’ working closely with Ariana Grande, among others.
When Mr. Wells was inducted in 2023, he told the packed audience at Showplace that he owes his career and livelihood to the spark he felt when, as an adolescent, he attended a screening of the film ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the former Odeon Theatre downtown at 290 George Street – a cinema that happens to share the same address as Showplace Performance Center. In fact, the busy music professional is in such demand that he was having a hard time justifying a trip north to accept his Pathway honours in person. Until, that is, he realized that the building in which he would be accepting his induction was the very same building that housed the Odeon Theatre. “I just HAD to come – to be in this building once again,” he said, getting a bit emotional from behind the lectern. “In fact, I remember the exact seat I was sitting in,” he said, pointing to a location up towards the back of the venue, center section, towards stage left. “It was there that a light went on for me,” he said.
And now, Greg Wells is about to become a Member of the Order of Canada at a date to be determined. In a release listing each appointee, Wells is described as “a Grammy-winning record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has worked on best-selling albums for the likes of Adele, John Legend, Rufus Wainright and Céline Dion, and on blockbuster soundtracks for Wicked and The Greatest Showman. He also funds music scholarships in Canada and donates instruments to students around the world.”