He’s one of the most accomplished musicians to come out of Trail. He toured with the Buddy Rich Orchestra and appeared at some of the continent’s leading jazz festivals.
He belonged to the Edmonton Symphony and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and taught at UBC and Capilano College. He’s performed on Juno Award-winning recordings and he’s been inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.
But you probably know him best from his TV commercials for Book Warehouse in the 1980s and ’90s.
Sharman King returned to Trail this week to take part in the J.L. Crowe class of 1965’s 60-year reunion. During a stop at Summit FM on Wednesday, he said his chief memory of his school years is how impressive the staff were, especially those who didn’t have official status and were teaching with letters of permission.
King, 78, chalks it up to Cominco’s influence: “They realized that to attract administrative and engineering talent, the school system had to be good. So it always was.”
King’s early childhood was spent on Daniel Street in West Trail. He later moved Sunningdale and then to 2nd Avenue in East Trail.
He was expecting a science career until he heard a recording of Frank Sinatra arranged by Nelson Riddle and was intrigued by an unfamiliar instrument. It turned out to be a bass trombone. At the time, King was playing euphonium in the school band, but he swapped it for a trombone, and by year’s end, he had decided to go to music school.
“It worked great. It’s been 55 years in the profession of music and I’ve loved every minute of it. And the launching pad is Trail and J. Lloyd Crowe.”
The school launched other musical careers, he notes, including that of composer Ben McPeek. “What you learn in school in music applies to everything,” King said. “We were taught by people in Trail who had great passion for everything they were teaching.”
It wasn’t only the high school teachers who passed along valuable lessons. King played in Al Tognotti’s Underwear Band, a musical booster club for the Trail Smoke Eaters. He learned about citizenship and promotion.
Tognotti also ran a downtown fruit stand and King watched how Tognotti interacted with the community and how highly valued he was. Years later, when King started the Book Warehouse chain in the Lower Mainland, he began advertising on radio and TV, something bookstores had rarely done before. He appeared in the commercials himself, playing the tuba and trombone.
“It sticks with people to this day. They say, ‘Oh, you’re the tuba guy.’ I got that from Al, to advertise something in a way that sticks with people. Everything I learned about business, I learned from Allan Tognotti. Just an amazing role model.”
After King and his sister Beth moved to Vancouver, his parents followed. He no longer has any family connections to Trail, but he returns from time to time.
