Jim Corbett’s Life After Thundermug

Jim Thundermug Bassist

Jim Corbett, the original bass player in Thundermug, is now 66 and is living a full and active life. He married again in April 2015 to his girl friend Sara and is now a father to her three young kids.

Thundermug broke up in 1978 and Jim says: “After we parted ways, I started playing with blues singer Cheryl Lescom as did Eddy Pranskus for the next decade. In 1989 I went through The Donwood for addiction issues – my wife and I split up the same year and I moved back to London in 1990. After I put together a 3 piece band with Bill Durst called “The Groove Monsters” we played constantly at a local London club. At that time we temporarily changed the name back to Thundermug and recorded and promoted a CD album called “Who’s Running My World” on Raven Records.”

Jim Corbett today
Jim Corbett today

After 6 years clean and sober, Jim relapsed from the stress of playing and managing the band. Jim says: “I got back on track 3 months later and I’ve been playing in bands ever since with Tim Woodcock, Cheryl Lescom, etc. In 2011, I landed my dream job as an addiction counselor at Turning Point Inc (TurningPointInc.com).” Even now Jim is still playing in a band with Eddy in The Tim Woodcock band and occasionally with Cheryl Lescom . A motorcycle enthusiast, Jim has traveled and toured all over Canada and his recent marriage makes for Jim a brand new chapter in an interesting and challenging life.

In 1971, several years after Greg Hambleton’s recording sessions with Mandala, their road manager Rolly Paquin introduced him to Jim Corbett, Ed Pranskus, Joe DeAngelis and Bill Durst at a well-known rehearsal studio in downtown Toronto. Greg says, “I was blown away by their unbelievably loud performance of their self-written “Africa” and a few other songs. I immediately signed the band.” After the release of the Thundermug ‘Strikes’ album they went on to record for Axe Records enough material for 5 albums. Axe released albums “Strikes”, “Orbit” and “Ta-Daa” on vinyl in the mid-70 and world-wide on the CBS and Mercury labels. The “Bill, Jim & Ed” album was released in 2020.

Thundermug - Bill, Joe, Jim & Ed
Thundermug’s Bill, Joe, Ed & Jim

In 2006, Thundermug was given the Jack Richardson Award and put in the London Music Hall Of Fame by the London Blues Academy. Eddy and Jim continue to perform together in a band called “Fifty shades Of Groove”. Joe and Bill still perform and write together in the “Bill Durst Band”.

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