Zal Yanovsky was a Canadian rock musician and a founding member of The Lovin' Spoonful in which he sang and played lead guitar. In 1966 he was arrested in the United States on a marijuana-related charge and in exchange for not being deported, Yanovsky disclosed his dealer's name. He was as a consequence ostracised by the music community and, after returning to Canada, recorded Alive and Well as a solo album for Buddah Records in 1968. He later retired from the music industry and became a restaurateur. One of the early rock and roll performers to wear a cowboy hat, and fringed "Davy Crockett" style clothing, Zal helped set the trend followed by such 1960s performers as Sonny Bono, Johnny Rivers and David Crosby. Mostly self-taught. he could, according to bandmate John Sebastian, play like Elmore James, Floyd Cramer, and Chuck Berry yet still had his own overpowering personality. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and died in December 2002.
