Canadian musician has local ties

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Published on Thursday, April 14, 2016

Submitted photo. Morgan Cameron Ross fronts the band Bellwoods, who recently had their song on the Billboard charts for 24 weeks. Ross grew up spending his summers in the Basswood and Minnedosa area.

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

A pop musician who just came off more than 24 weeks on the Billboard’s top 10 music charts has ties to the Westman area. Morgan Cameron Ross fronts the band Bellwoods, whose song Live It Up put them on the Billboard charts. 

Ross is originally from Vancouver, but his father, Jim Ross’ family is from Basswood, MB, so when he was a kid, they would go back to visit the family farm regularly. Basswood is a village 15 minutes northwest of Minnedosa. “I grew up spending most of my summers in and around Minnedosa and at Clear Lake,” Ross explained, “Golfing in Neepawa, though!” 

Ross has some good memories from his times here. “I really like the taco salad at the Co-op in Minnedosa,” he noted. He also said he was always told by his father, who played hockey in Minnedosa, that the Minnedosa team was always stronger than Neepawa’s. “I would love to see Bellwoods play the Minnedosa Rock Fest sometime,” he added. 

Now, Ross is living in Toronto and has been for 10 years. His band has been together for two years. He and his band mate live on opposite sides of a park in the city. “The Bellwoods name is in reference to the beautiful, large park in Toronto that both Alan Snoddy, my band mate, and I live across from,” he explained. 

Bellwoods is the band that got him on the Billboard charts, however, it was not the first band of which he was a part. “Prior to that, I had a successful band called Birds of Wales,” he said. It was this band that got him into the music industry in the first place. 

“I stumbled into a career in music,” he started. “I went to university at the University of Northern BC for political science, then my band, Birds of Wales, signed its first major record deal and I had to make the choice.” Evidently, it was the right choice; his career has been a successful one so far. Ross has also released two solo albums and is a multi-talented musician, playing guitar, mandolin, xylophone, ukulele and singing. 

Being featured on the Billboard charts is no small feat. Billboard is the standard for top hits in the US, which includes music by artists from all over the world. Songs are ranked by amount of play on the radio, online streaming and sales. Being on the list for over 24 weeks is definitely something of which Ross and his band can be proud. 

Bellwoods aren’t stopping there, though. The band has just recorded a song in collaboration with American pop musician Ryan Cabrera, called Sin to Get Saved. They also filmed a 360º “virtual reality” music video that the viewer can click and drag with the mouse on the screen to see all the way around the room in which they recorded. All the musicians are situated around the camera, so the viewer can “turn the camera” in any direction to watch any one of them playing and singing. 

Bellwoods’ and Ross’ music can be found on iTunes or the band’s or Ross’ Facebook or Twitter pages.