In 1979, Joe Coughlin won CBC's "Search for the Stars" and scored a record deal, releasing a debut album "Joe Coughlin" in 1981 featuring the great Canadian rhythm-section of Ed Bickert (guitar), Don Thompson (bass), and Terry Clarke (drums), with Bernie Senensky on piano and Marty Morrell on percussion. A follow-up "Second Debut", placed him back in Bickert's company, this time with the trio of Mark Eisenman and Kirk McDonald on tenor sax. In 1995, Joe moved to BC and quietly began the second stage of his jazz evolution.