Leon Dubinsky Obituary, Death -Leon Dubinsky of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, a musician, song writer and We Rise again composer has died on January 17, 2022. Dubinsky rose to notoriety in the music industry during the 1970s and 1980s while performing with the regional touring band Buddy and the Boys. Additionally, towards the beginning of the 1980s, Dubinsky established an annual musical stage revue that was to be named The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton.
A song from that show titled “Rise Again” became a Canadian pop music standard when the folk music group The Rankin Family recorded it for their 1993 album North Country; their version was a cross-format hit, reaching the Top 20 on Canada’s RPM pop and adult contemporary charts as well as the Top 40 on the magazine’s country charts. [ The song has since been covered by a wide variety of artists and has become a staple in Canadian pop music. The Rankin Family is represented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a member of the organization.
After it was first composed, a number of artists, including Anne Murray and Rita MacNeil, went on to perform and record versions of the song. In the 1990s, Dubinsky staged yet another musical revue known as the Cape Breton Summertime Revue, which went on tour across Canada to an even greater extent than its predecessor had done. In the year 2002, the East Coast Music Awards presented Dubinsky with the Stompin’ Tom Connors Award in acknowledgement of the significant contributions he has made to the musical culture of the East Coast. These contributions were made in recognition of the fact that Dubinsky has made these contributions.
Because of his work as an actor, Dubinsky is primarily associated with plays performed on regional stages in the Maritime Provinces. The Mulgrave Road Co-op, Theatre Antigonish, Theatre PEI, and Factory Lab Theatre are examples of some of the regional stage plays that are now running. Because of his work in the movie Life Classes, which came out in 1987, he was considered for a nomination for a Genie Award at the 9th Annual Genie Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor.
He appeared in the teleplay My Brother Larry alongside Rick Mercer, which was shown on CBC Television in 1988 and he had a recurring role as Cap McKenzie in the television series Pit Pony, which was on the air in the 1990s.