BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) CANADIAN!
Tommy Chong was born in Canada of all places. He was born in Edmonton, but moved to Calgary, Alberta and grew up there. I don’t think many people know this. I would assume most people would assume he’s from California or something, but no… a freakin’ Canuck!
(THREE) ALMOST A KING
Well, not a king… but he was almost in Lion King. He and Cheech broke up in 85, but they almost worked together in the 90’s when Chong was the original choice for Shenzi the hyena character in the movie. It would end up being changed to a woman and Whoopi Goldberg was cast… but yeah… almost.
(TWO) HE’S GOT SOUL
Believe it or not, but Tommy Chong was once part of a soul group signed to Gordy Records, an offshoot of Motown. He played guitar for a group in Vancouver and they ended up getting a fairly big local response. In 65 “Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers” released a single “Does Your Mama Know About Me” and it actually peaked at 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. 29! They opened for The Jackson 5 and all was seemingly okay, but the band would break up long before the 60s were over.
(ONE) US VS. CHONG
The dude is so connected with weed that the government used him as an example. He had a pipe and bong company and then ended up getting charged on some biiiiig paraphernalia charges. The government spent over $12 million to put Tommy Chong behind bars for selling pipes. There was a whole big controversy about it and it went on for awhile. He ended up having to serve NINE MONTHS on this mess, but there’s a pretty damn good documentary from around that time that I’d suggest checking out.
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