Less than three weeks away from the start of a European tour, Toronto retro rocker Jerry Leger finds himself – like every other musician on the planet – suddenly unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Leger, leader of Jerry Leger & The Situation, it meant postponing those 28 shows, which were to begin April 8, and delaying precious over-the-Atlantic promotion for his new album “Time Out for Tomorrow,” released in November.

“Of course, it was the smart thing to do and, of course, our health and safety is the most important thing for all of us,” Leger told the Star. “And we are going back there when things eventually settle down.

“But it doesn’t change the financial devastation. It’s very stressful and I’m wondering what’s going to happen. Every day it’s changing, and that’s how I make a living.”

Jazz singer Alex Pangman, known as “Canada’s Sweetheart of Swing,” can relate: the sudden shutdown by the Ontario government of bars and other venues has robbed her of several opportunities to entertain Toronto audiences.

“Everything is cancelled,” lamented Pangman, who had residencies lined up at the Reservoir Lounge, the Top O’ the Senator and the Cameron House.

But the crisis hits even closer to home for Pangman, the recipient of two double-lung transplants, when it comes to her own health. When she first learned of the possibility of COVID-19 disrupting Toronto social life, she felt trepidation.

“For a while there, there was a time when people felt, ‘I’m still going to play my gig until they tell me otherwise.’ But personally, I didn’t feel right having gigs, because I’m immuno-compromised from transplants and a good deal of my jazz fans are older, so I didn’t even feel right enlisting them to come out in public places.

“So I think it’s good that everything’s cancelled, but it leaves us suddenly with no work and it’s a scary time for a lot of people.”

Leger and Pangman aren’t isolated cases.

The Canadian Live Music Association, which represents concert promoters, festivals, presenters, venues, agents, ticketing companies, industry associations and suppliers, says the live music industry consists of 72,000 employees — all of them impacted by the outbreak — and contributes $3.5 billion annually to Canada’s GDP.

“It’s devastating,” says Yvonne Matsell, a veteran booking agent who began working part-time at the Dakota Tavern in January.

Matsell, a former booker for Ultrasound and the El Mocambo, says the first inkling that there might be a serious threat to the live entertainment scene in Canada occurred a few weeks ago, with reports of COVID-19’s spread to parts of Europe.

She booked a band she refuses to identify at the Dakota, but the expectation of a full house was quickly throttled.

“There were maybe five people there,” she recalls, adding that it was obvious people were already spooked enough by the pandemic threat to stay home.

The financial impact of a small crowd at the Dakota, which she says relies exclusively on live music, is worrisome, Matsell adds.

“One bad night in a club during a week can really have a ghastly impact on the club’s finances,” she explains. “You’ve still got rent. You’ve still got insurance. You’ve still got to buy your beer. You’ve got to pay your staff. So one bad night can throw your week off.

“Who knows how many people are going to survive through this and as you know, the club scene is so shaky anyway.”

And now, with clubs shut down for the foreseeable future, musicians who might have had side hustles as bartenders or wait staff can’t supplement their incomes – on top of the losses to business owners who support live music.

“It’s a mess,” says Matsell.

It’s a particularly stressful time for Leger, who says he is out “tens of thousands of dollars” in upfront costs for the tour and other expenses with no means to pay the bills for however long this crisis lasts.

“Currently, I’m minus $20,000 just dealing with expenses for everything that I’m not sure how I can recoup,” he says. “The tour, if we did it, was going to help out a lot with covering those expenses, and then you have the show fees and selling merchandise, so that would have helped me continue for a certain amount of months while also playing shows locally when we’re in town and cross Canada.

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“I don’t know how much I’m losing by not doing the tour at the moment; I just know I’m sitting on a lot of debt with money that went into pushing the tour and promoting it, and different organizational costs and stuff related to the new album like the shipping of merchandise. It’s very devastating.”

As for his immediate future?

“I have no idea as far as money coming in,” Leger says. “I always want to look after my band as much as I can and this makes it very difficult to figure out ways to compensate them. I’m just wondering what I’m supposed to do moving forward.”

Pangman is in a slightly better position financially: her husband is a retired teacher, so her loss of income isn’t inducing panic.

But she, too, employs musicians.

“As a bandleader, I worry for my sidemen,” Pangman says.

“I think that sidemen may be having a rougher time than bandleaders. I mean, at least Alex Pangman can sell merch or she can do a streaming concert from her living room. But sidemen, they don’t have as much of a ‘name,’ so I worry about the people that I employ.

“It’s the gigging economy in Toronto and it’s not like bars will give you a T4 (slip), so if we can’t furnish proof of employment, how are we going to be able to cash in if the government does offer lost wages to people?”

For his part, Leger is contemplating some livestream performances and possibly recording a digital album to compensate.

“I was thinking that maybe I’d do an online show for every tour date that had to be cancelled, and try to do it in the same time zone and dates of the European shows,” he says. “Anybody can watch it, and maybe I’ll attach it to a GoFundMe link or a PayPal account for donations.

“I also would like to remind people that there’s a lot of merch that can be bought online as well as physical CDs or digital music. If they can do it financially, that’s a great way to support artists who can’t go on the road or play live at the moment.”

And if he doesn’t make any money, Leger says he’ll try to keep his profile up among his fan base.

“I know the creativity will continue,” he says.

Pangman will receive some income from a radio show she hosts on the Jazzcast app and portraits she creates of animals but is worried about the long-term effects of this enforced hiatus.

“You can do all the songwriting challenges that you want and you can do all the streaming concerts that you want, but the thing is: is there going to be a job to come back to whenever this ends? Will it end in a month? Nine months? There’s a lot of uncertainty. How worried do we have to be?

“It’s very scary.”