Artwork by Jessica Bell and her 2 sons, Aiden, 11 and Isaac, 8

Welcome to Episode 3 in my 2024 Monday Music Matters “Song-A-Week” series of stories in memory and in honour of my daughter, Kait.

I remember vividly when I wrote “Hello Sunshine”.  It was one of those gloomy days deep in the countryside along the shores of Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County where we were living.  

Kait was probably 3 or 4 years old and was playing with her toys on the kitchen floor.  We hadn’t seen any sun for several days in a row so I looked at Kait and off the top of my head I started composing a little ditty that started off slow – a bluesy kinda feel:

Then I picked up the tempo, took her by the hands and we started dancing around the room:

I can still see her  giggling when I added a part she could sing with me “Doo doo doo doodle doodle dee doo dee…” We twirled and we sang as I continued to try to find the lyrics to keep up the fun.

The result is this recording minus the slow paced intro which we decided in the studio to remove to keep the song upbeat from beginning to end.

Hello Sunshine on YouTube: Link

I was thrilled when a US music publisher asked for the song so he could arrange it for orchestra and it ended up being performed in 2023 by the Bar Harbor Town Band in, Bar Harbor Maine, USA!  Shout out to Arranger and now friend, Randy Navarre

Bar Harbor Concert Band on Youtube: Link

Love watching the kids enjoying the song!  Never ever in my wildest dreams though it could be played as an instrumental by an orchestra.  Thrilled I tell you!

You can read the first 2 stories about 2 other songs in this Song-A-Week series by clicking on these links:

Malaika

Mother Goose Groove

Here is a link to Kait’s Comfort Kits which were created to bring some comforts of home to long term hospital patients with a focus on cancer patients.

Website Link:  Kait’s Comfort Kits