Men in Suits band members, left to right, Don Tapscott, Trish Fonberg, Vince Mazza, Gerry Throop, Duke McKenzie, Jim Hardy and Stewart Borden are photographed outside Toronto’s El Mocambo.KEVIN VAN PAASSEN/The Globe and Mail
The donors: Men in Suits
The gift: Raising more than $1-million and climbing
The cause: Various charities
Don Tapscott is well known to many Canadians for his insights on business and technology, and as the author of 15 books. But he's also a passionate musician who cobbled together a band 15 years ago made up of himself and six executives from the finance and investment world: Gerry Throop, Jim Hardy, Stewart Borden, Vince Mazza, Trish Fonberg and Duke McKenzie.
The band, called Men in Suits, started out playing one gig a year "whether the public wanted it or not," Mr. Tapscott said. "Then we kind of got good."
Now the group, which does covers of classic hits, plays about six events a year, all to raise money for a variety of charities, including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Classroom Connections and several Toronto area schools. So far, the band has raised more than $1-million.
Mr. Tapscott is taking the band a step further. He has written a song called Morning Light in collaboration with award-winning songwriter John Welsman for the group, and he hopes to record it with a star such as Drake. Writing songs "is the next step for Men in Suits," he said. More importantly, he added, it's a way to raise even more money for charity.
Paul Waldie