Toronto band behind 80s hit releases song on Parkinson's disease

Two members of a Toronto new wave band behind a 1980 international hit have created new music, this time to raise awareness of Parkinson's disease.

Martha Johnson and Mark Gane, are husband and wife members of Martha and the Muffins, which released the chart-topping hit, Echo Beach, in 1980. The band was founded in 1977.

Johnson has suffered from Parkinson's, a degenerative disease, for 23 years. The pair have now joined forces with a guitarist who lives with Parkison's to create Slow Emotion, which paints an intimate picture of life with the disease.

In an interview with CBC Radio's Fresh Air, Johnson said the lyrics are "kind of metaphor for what you go through when you have Parkinson's." The song was released by their record label Muffin Music on all platforms on Thursday, which was World Parkinson's Day. April marks Parkinson's Awareness Month.

"Things change so much. You are always adapting. A lot of it is about having to slow down, take a slower pace in life. You hope that people are aware of the fact that you have this disability. I have people hold doors for me and that sort of thing. It's about being kind and thoughtful."

Guitarist Fabio Dwyer, who suffers from Parkinson's, also helped to write the song.

LISTEN | Slow Emotion paints a picture of living with Parkinson's disease:

Johnson's neurologist, Dr. Alfonso Fasano, introduced her to Dwyer, another patient of his, in the hopes that the two could make a song together. After meeting, they wrote individual songs and Johnson put them together.

Dwyer wrote the chord structure for chorus, while she and Gane wrote the lyrics. 

Johnson said she waited about three years before telling many people in her life about the diagnosis. Even though her gait had changed, she said she hid some of the symptoms. She said she never had a tremour.

"It was quite devastating. You see your life in a whole different way," she said. "It has a huge impact on you and you don't know what the future holds... Nobody does, but you know it's not going to be a healthy one."

Johnson said symptoms of the disease developed slowly before they became debilitating. First, her sense of smell disappeared. Then, it was obvious that one foot was dragging. Her family doctor sent her to a neurologist.

Gane said the diagnosis was shocking.

"I suppose when anyone deals with shocking news, you kind of go, this can't really be happening. But the other part of your brain is going, yeah, it's happening and this maybe it's like a sudden death, or even the birth of a baby in a positive sense. But you go, from this point on, life is going to be very different," he added.