JackSOUL's Haydain Neale Wins Posthumous Juno Award

There is a victory photo of Haydain Neale taken at the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon -- and somewhere the late frontman for Toronto's jackSOUL was no doubt striking the same pose when he won R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at Saturday night's Juno awards gala for the single 'Lonesome Highway' from 2009's 'SOULmate.'

"When you talk about Best Soul Recording, I have some things to say about that," said Ron Lopata, his friend and bandmate of 12 years, accepting the award at the private Juno gala alongside Neale's widow, Michaela.

"First thing, Haydain didn't only sing soul music, but he had a beautiful soul -- anybody who knows him knows that; his sense of humour, his open-heartedness, his work ethic and his love for his family, his friends and everybody else.

"And as you all know, he had an accident a couple of years ago and I saw him fight every day in rehab and put his whole soul into that to get better for everybody, his family, his friends, his band and his fans, then he contracted cancer, and then he had the gumption to say, 'I'm going to go in the studio and make a soul record to leave for all those people.' And if that doesn't deserve best frickin' soul recording, I don't know what does."

The vocals had been recorded before Neale's accident in 2007, when he was hit by a Honda Civic while riding his Vespa scooter. After coming out of a coma and working hard in rehab to regain mobility and his speech, he went into the recording studio with his bandmates to oversee the completion of the new album. Tragically, he received a diagnosed of advanced lung cancer and died November 22 at age 39. The single had come out November 3; 'SOULmate' was released December 1.

Michaela Neale, who has always worked in film, just directed her first video for jackSOUL's new single, 'All You Need.' "I kept it light," she told Spinner. "It's very happy and it's a summer theme and the guy dances all the way through the video just trying to woo the girl."

She is also excited about directing a documentary about Neale's life that promises to reveal a powerful story that will certainly be far-reaching, beyond the music community and potentially impact the lives of all Canadians. "I'm hoping it will come out in a year," she tells Spinner. "It touches a little bit on where he came from, his career, his family, his bandmates and all that, but it's actually through the struggle that he faced."