For Lawrence Gowan, the loss of Sass Jordan is still difficult to comprehend. The Styx keyboardist and solo artist recently spoke with PressPlay Radio about his memories of the Canadian rock singer, reflecting on her warmth, extraordinary talent, and the lasting impression she left on everyone fortunate enough to know her. What began as a conversation about Jordan’s legacy became a deeply personal discussion about grief, the unexpected ways music can offer comfort, and the importance of embracing the moments that matter most.
“She was very, very close to the guys in Styx, particularly with Tommy Shaw and his wife Jeannie,” Gowan explained, emphasizing that Jordan’s relationships with the band extended far beyond the stage. He remembered her as someone whose personality was just as memorable as her voice. While her musical accomplishments deserved recognition, it was her generosity and warmth that stood out most to him. “What supersedes all of that was just she was a very warm and very inviting human being,” he said. “She was lovely in every way.”
One of Gowan’s most recent memories of Jordan came on St. Patrick’s Day, when he performed a private show in Toronto. Jordan and her husband, Derek, who is part of Gowan’s touring band, were there for the evening. The gathering became a reminder of the kind of person she was, someone who could bring people together and make an ordinary night feel special. Gowan recalled her joking about not looking forward to getting older, despite appearing as vibrant and energetic as ever. It was a small moment, but one that captured the humor and personality he continues to associate with her.
The depth of that connection became even more apparent when Gowan spoke about a performance in Peterborough, Ontario, that may have been Jordan’s last. Earlier in the summer, Gowan and Styx had completed a run of solo shows that ended in Kelowna, British Columbia. His brother Terry, who had joined Styx three years earlier, was performing with the band during that stretch. After the Kelowna show, Terry and Derek took a red eye flight to Toronto and traveled onward to Peterborough so Terry could fill in for Jordan’s bass player.
According to Gowan, Jordan was struggling during that performance, although she did not explain what she was experiencing. Despite whatever she may have been facing, she delivered a strong show. Terry later told his brother how grateful he was to have been there. Looking back, Gowan recognized just how meaningful that opportunity had become.
He also recalled how Jordan and Derek encouraged Terry to stay for breakfast the following morning rather than immediately heading home. The invitation was another small detail that took on greater significance in retrospect. For Gowan, the experience reinforced a lesson that is easy to understand but sometimes difficult to put into practice: when an opportunity to spend time with someone comes along, take it.
“We hear all through our lives, you know, to embrace the moment, to be present in the moment,” Gowan said. “And it’s only when something of this magnitude happens that we truly feel the depth of that wisdom.”
As the conversation turned to coping with grief, Gowan described an experience from the previous night while he was on the road with Styx. The band was preparing to perform in Pittsburgh, and his bandmate Tom was having a difficult time emotionally. Neither seemed particularly ready to step onto the stage, and Gowan knew that words alone would not necessarily make the situation easier.
Fortunately, their dressing room had a record player and a collection of older records. Gowan began searching through the albums, eventually putting on a Hank Williams greatest hits collection. It was not the kind of music he would normally reach for, but something about it immediately felt right. Before long, the two musicians were singing along to “Hey, Good Lookin’,” complete with the song’s playful delivery and yodeling.
The music gradually shifted the atmosphere in the room. They followed it with Petula Clark’s “Downtown” and Nat King Cole’s “Mona Lisa,” finding themselves laughing, singing, and reconnecting with the simple pleasure of listening to songs they enjoyed. Even in the middle of a painful moment, the music gave them somewhere else to place their attention.
“Music, it’s the greatest kind of medicine that comes at you from its own angle that nothing else can replicate,” Gowan said.
For him, the experience was a reminder of why music has such a powerful place in people's lives. It is not simply entertainment or an escape from reality. It is also the connection that brings people together, creating a shared language when conversations become difficult. Jordan’s passing had left the musicians confronting their grief, but the songs gave them a way to remember what made them happy and to carry that feeling into the performance ahead.
The evening ultimately became a success, with Gowan recalling how strongly the band came together onstage. The sadness returned afterward, as it inevitably would, but the music had helped them get through a difficult stretch. It was a fitting tribute to a person whose life had been so closely tied to the same art form that was now helping her friends navigate her absence.
Gowan’s affection for Jordan was also evident when he recalled her appearance at one of his Massey Hall shows in Toronto the previous November. She watched from the side of the stage, rocking along with the performance while Derek was part of the show. Gowan remembered the experience fondly, as another example of how naturally Jordan fit into the musical community surrounding her. He had also been looking forward to seeing her appear with Styx in Quebec, making the plans that would never come to fruition all the more difficult to process.
Still, the memories remain vivid. Gowan even expressed appreciation for the photographs and videos that people sometimes capture at concerts, despite having previously discussed the tendency of audiences to watch performances through their phones rather than experience them directly. In this case, having a camera ready meant preserving a moment with Jordan that could be revisited long after the evening had ended.
Although much of the conversation centered on Jordan, Gowan also offered a glimpse into his life with Styx and the band's enduring relationship with Las Vegas. The group has maintained a residency at the Venetian for several years, a setting Gowan has grown to appreciate for its atmosphere and theatrical design. The venue, originally built for The Phantom of the Opera, evokes the grandeur of an old Parisian opera house, providing a distinctive backdrop for the band's elaborate rock performances.
While the possibility of performing at the Sphere remains an open question, Gowan said he continues to enjoy the Venetian experience. He also spoke enthusiastically about Las Vegas as a city that has transformed into a destination for world class entertainment, with rock music now occupying a central place in its identity.
That transformation led him to reflect on another performer whose influence on Las Vegas deserves recognition: Liberace. As a pianist himself, Gowan was fascinated to learn more about the flamboyant entertainer's role in shaping the city's entertainment culture and influencing performers such as Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand. Through his connection with the Liberace Foundation, Gowan was even able to bring one of Liberace's elaborate pianos and a stage costume onto the Styx stage during a Las Vegas performance of “Come Sail Away.”
For Gowan, the experience carried a personal significance. He remembered seeing Liberace perform on that same piano in Toronto when he was 15 years old, skipping school for an afternoon to attend the show. Years later, finding himself performing alongside the instrument was a full circle moment that illustrated the unexpected connections music can create across generations.
He also reflected on the importance of recognizing Liberace's legacy, particularly given the stigma surrounding AIDS at the time of his death. Gowan felt that the entertainer had not always received the respect and recognition he deserved, and he appreciated the efforts to preserve his history and contributions.
These reflections echoed the broader themes of his conversation about Jordan. Whether discussing a legendary entertainer, a longtime friend, or a bandmate struggling before a show, Gowan repeatedly returned to the ways music connects people and preserves their stories. The songs endure, but so do the memories of the people who performed them, shared them, and made them meaningful.
When asked about his favorite Sass Jordan song, Gowan chose “High Road Easy,” praising her distinctive delivery and ability to command an audience. He also recalled a performance of “Blue Collar Man” in Toronto, during which Jordan had rehearsed with the musicians for only about a minute before joining them onstage. The result was a powerful performance that demonstrated her instinctive musicality and ability to rise to the occasion.
It was that combination of talent, spontaneity, and genuine personality that made Jordan so memorable to Gowan. Even as he acknowledged how difficult it was to discuss her loss, he remained grateful for the opportunities he had to share the stage with her and experience her friendship.
By the end of the interview, there was no easy conclusion to the grief he and his fellow musicians were experiencing. Instead, Gowan returned to the memories that had surfaced throughout their conversation: a joyful evening in Toronto, a final performance in Peterborough, songs playing on an old record player, and the countless moments that make a person's presence impossible to forget.
For Gowan, Jordan's legacy lives in those experiences as much as it does in her recordings and performances. Her voice captivated audiences, but her warmth brought people closer together. And in the difficult days following her passing, the music she loved continued to do what it had always done, giving the people around her a reason to gather, sing, remember, and carry on.
“I would just like to say thank you to Sass Jordan for being such a great part of our lives,” Gowan said at the close of the conversation.