Group

Rough Trade

Canadian band

From: Toronto, Canada
Active: 1974–1988
Releases: 9

new wave
rock

About

Rough Trade (1968–1988) was a Canadian rock band centred on singer Carole Pope and multi-instrumentalist Kevan Staples. The band was noted for their provocative lyrics and stage antics; singer Pope often performed in bondage attire, and their 1981 hit "High School Confidential" was one of the first explicitly lesbian-themed Top 40 hits in the world.

From Rough Trade (band) on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

David McMorrow now
Carole Pope now · original member guitar, lead vocals
Kevan Staples · original member · former guitar family, keyboard
Rick Gratton 1974–1978 · former membranophone
Michael Fonfara 1977–1978 · former keyboard
Patricia Cullen 1978–1980 · former keyboard
Bucky Berger 1978–1982 · former drums (drum set)
Terry Wilkins 1978–1982 · former bass
Jørn Andersen 1982–1984 · former drums (drum set)
Howard Ayee 1982–1988 · former bass

Discography

Albums 5

EPs 1

Rough Trade Live! 1992

Singles 1

Highschool Confidential 1980

Compilations 2

Links

Reference

Tags

canadian

Identifiers

MusicBrainz: 4f4b0013-1704-4936-a769-e6e8a6e08ff8

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 6 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.