My name is Bernie Coatta. I’m the “Bernie” portion of your “weekend-with” musical experience. In case you want to know exactly whom you’re dealing with, here’s my bio.

Mom always said I had the best voice in our family of six musical kids and I guess I believed her because I ended up becoming a singer. Besides, any possible career in dance was kyboshed in early childhood by the discovery that I had Perthes disease. Perthes is a condition caused by temporary blood-loss to the hip, which in turn causes the femoral bone to become inflamed and irritated. I was diagnosed by an emergency room physician after I was hit by a 5-ton moving van; sort of a double whammy.

Perhaps the blood not being used by my bum hip was diverted to my vocal cords, because I focused on singing throughout childhood and went on to study guitar during high school. I began gigging after graduation. That first job paid fifty bucks a night—just enough to cover a young bachelor’s expenses, including a shiny new neck brace I had to wear after figuring out that I’d been walking around with a broken neck for two years after a skiing accident. Again, injuries don’t preclude a love of music and if Beethoven could write Symphony No. Nine when he was deaf, surly I could manage guitar/vocals with a brace. I love music and frankly, I’d play in full-body traction. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened (yet!).

Over the years, I’ve played much of the time as a one-man band, but I’ve also gathered bands of all sizes, from duos to quintets, as required. I’ve been blessed with finding great musicians to play with. My music has taken me across Canada, as well as to other countries, including Australia and Hawaii.
Musical influences run the gamut from Folk, Country and Rock & Roll. If you look at the play-list on this site, you’ll find that I cover a huge variety; artists like Dwight Yokam, Bob Seger, Bad Company, and Tom Cochran and the likes. I play everything from classic Top 40 to Irish traditional music.

It’s my mission to make every performance a fun experience. I believe that people love live music and it’s been my experience that we are at our happiest when surrounded by the foot-tapping, butt-moving, grab-somebody-and-get-down kind of music that I love to perform. This is what I live for – it’s what keeps me playing!