Burton Cummings' long wait for a graduation ceremony
Nearly 50 years after leaving school in Winnipeg, Guess Who frontman received an honorary diploma
It took a while for Burton Cummings to get to take part in a high-school graduation ceremony, but he was glad when he finally got to do it.
In June of 2010, Cummings, then 62, was honoured by St. John's High School in Winnipeg — the same school he had dropped out of as a teenager.
A fight with the principal, involving a school musical, had sparked his exit decades before.
"He said: 'Well, your grades aren't good enough, so we're not letting you be in the operetta," Cummings recalled on the day he returned to the school to receive an honorary diploma almost 50 years after leaving.
"And, you know, in a strange way, he did me the biggest favour of my life."
Cummings, of course, would go on to join The Guess Who — where he formed a powerhouse tandem with Randy Bachman — and to have a successful solo career.
But even with all that success, he didn't want his fellow St. John's alumni to follow in his footsteps by leaving school.
"I wouldn't advise anybody to leave high school just because of what happened to me," Cummings said. "I think I'm the exception to the rule — you know, you need more than ability and ambition, you really need a lot of luck."
