He had two hits: the first on the Canadian charts in 1972 with "I Can Smell That Funky Music", and the second in the United States in 1983, singing a duet with Roberta Flack with "Our Love Will Stop the World".
They were community leaders who worked just west of the core of Toronto, out of the British Methodist Episcopal Church.
[1] His follow-up solo albums were Funky Sounds Nurtured in the Fertile Soil of Memphis That Smell of Rock (1971), Love Is Taking Over (1973), Eric Mercury (1975), and Gimme A Call Sometime (1981).
Eventually returning to Toronto, he worked in a management and production role for the band Age of Reason.
The band failed to attract any interest from major record labels, and Mercury went to Chicago until 1997, when he again returned to Toronto.
[9] Mercury's other contributions include vocals to Michael Jordan's "Be Like Mike" advertising jingle for Gatorade.
[8] He also had a role in the film The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh as Rudy, the league commissioner, and as Tyrone Blackwood in American Hot Wax.
The song "Lonely Girl", which was written by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter, had been rejected by Motown.
A few days later, after the Mercury Club non-inclusion incident, he got a ride with two hookers heading to New York with just a library card and $52 on him.
While trying to make things happen musically, he was sheltering at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where he slept in an abandoned Studebaker.
[2] A review of the album from Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said, "Mercury is a fairly strong singer.
[24] The group also played other venues, such as Fillmore East, Boston Tea Party, and Whiskey Au Go Go.
[19] It was reported in the 11 December 1971 edition of Billboard that Allan Katz, the national promotional director of Polydor, had taken Mercury on a cross-country tour, visiting stations from Toronto to Vancouver to promote his new album, Funky Sounds Nurtured in the Fertile Soil of Memphis That Smell of Rock.
[25] By the 31st of that month, the single was at #12 on the CKVN 1410 Top 40 chart and eventually reached number 30 in Canada on 15 January 1972.
[26][27] In November 1973, Mercury appeared at the Millennium '73 festival at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, which had Guru Maharaj Ji as the star attraction.
Booked to perform on stage on the first day, with Stax Records promising a great spot for him and promotional hype to match, he did not come on until four in the afternoon.
[40] In 2019, Mercury collaborated with Anthony Aramouni, a Montreal composer, and the song "Bright Eyed Woman" was released.