Hot Chocolate formed in Brixton, London, England in 1968. Members of the group included Errol Brown, Tony Connor, Larry Ferguson, Harvey Hinsley, Patrick Olive and Tony Wilson.
In 1969 the band started working on a reggae version of the John Lennon song “Give Peace A Chance”. Errol Brown had changed the lyrics for their version but was informed that he could not do this without John Lennon’s permission, so a copy of the demo was sent to the Beatles Apple record label to see what they thought of it. Fortunately, John loved the version and it was released on the Apple label.
The group was given the named ‘The Hot Chocolate Band’ by a secretary at the company, Mavis Smith, the band later changed it to just ‘Hot Chocolate’.
Towards the end of 1969 Mickie Most signed Errol and the cofounder of the group Tony Wilson as writers and recorded their songs with Mary Hopkins, Julie Felix and Herman’s Hermits before encouraging them to come up with a song for themselves. In 1970 Hot Chocolate, with Errol Brown as lead singer, released their first record entitled “Love Is Life” which reached number 6 in the charts. This was the start of a fifteen year career for the group who amassed a total of over 30 hits and also became the only group in the UK to have a hit for fifteen consecutive years.
In 1981 Hot Chocolate had the honour of being invited by Prince Charles and Lady Diana at their pre-wedding reception at Buckingham Palace which was attended by heads of Government and many members of European Royalty.
In 1986 Errol left the band and took time out to spend more time with his wife and then young children. The rest of the members of Hot Chocolate also took some time off to consider their future and in 1992 Patrick Olive, Harvey Hinsley and Tony Connor joined up with agent Richard Martin and decided to start touring again.
The band found a new singer Greg Bannis and keyboard players Andy Smith & Steve Ansell. Since 1992, the band has enjoyed years of continued success touring all around the world performing to many thousands of fans who love the music of Hot Chocolate. In 1997 the classic single “You Sexy Thing” reached number one in the charts after it was featured in the movie ‘The Full Monty’ and a new Hot Chocolate ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation released in October 1997 reached number 10 in the album charts.
In 2010 singer Kennie Simon replaced Greg Bannis on vocals creating what many are saying is the best sound ever.
An engrossing amalgamation of such disparate musical styles as swing, jive, blues and hip-hop, Royal Crown Revue were one of the original instigators of the new swing revival of the mid-90s. Royal Crown Revue had come to prominence at ‘swing-dancing’ engagements in their native Los Angeles, California, USA, including a two-year weekly run at The Derby club, centre point of the whole scene. Their popularity eventually caught the attention of industry executives, with Warner Brothers Records winning the race to sign them.
Royal Crown Revue was formed in 1989 by Eddie Nichols (vocals), Mando Dorame (tenor saxophone), James Achor (guitar), Veikko Lepisto (bass), Daniel Glass (drums), Bill Ungerman (baritone saxophone) and Scott Steen (trumpet). They debuted in 1991 with Kings Of Gangster Bop, which sold strongly on the strength of their passionate, swinging and sharp-suited live performances. Their residency at The Derby, which began in 1993, attracted one particularly important admirer. The director Chuck Russell asked the band to recreate their stage show for his 1994 hit movie The Mask. Their performance of ‘Hey Pachuco!’ endeared them to a whole new audience, and the song was also reprised in front of millions of Americans when figure skater Kurt Browning used it as the musical accompaniment to his programme in 1996. Royal Crown Revue’s performance also served as an inspiration for the movie Swingers, helping popularise the new swing revival.
Their major label debut Mugzy’s Move, a Ted Templeman production, showcased the band’s intricate musicianship and seemingly limitless depth of energy. The set included revisions of Bobby Darin’s ‘Beyond The Sea’ and Willie Dixon’s ‘Honey Child’. Further evidence of the band’s potential for crossover appeal came later that year with the announcement of support dates for bills headed by Jerry Lee Lewis and Porno For Pyros. A compelling independent live recording preceded their second major label release, The Contender, considered by many critics to be the apogee of the new swing movement. Following the album’s release Royal Crown Revue left Warners to sign a new recording contract with punk imprint Side One Dummy. They debuted for the label with 1999’s Walk On Fire. Bio source…..www.oldies.com
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A musical parodist in the broad, juvenile yet clever tradition of Mad magazine, “Weird Al” Yankovic is known for adding his own gently satirical lyrics to current hit songs. His shaggy, hangdog appearance, affection for slapstick, and amiable willingness to do seemingly anything for a laugh made him a natural for videos. His burlesques of the form and its artistes — especially of Michael Jackson in “Eat It” (from “Beat It”) (#12, 1983) and “Fat” (from “Bad”) (#99, 1988) — became MTV staples. His medleys of rock tunes given the polka treatment inspired rumors —untrue — that Yankovic was a member of the singing Yankovic family, who made polka and Western swing records in the 1940s. Regardless of his heritage, Yankovic is undoubtedly the most successful comedy recording artist, with more than 11 million albums sold.
Yankovic, a high school valedictorian and architecture student, got his start I 1979, when he sent his “My Bologna” — a parody of the Knack’s “My Sharona” — to Dr. Demento, a syndicated radio host specializing in novelty songs and curiosities. Recorded in a bathroom across the hall from his college radio station with only his accordion and vocal, the song was popular enough with Demento’s audience for Capitol (the Knack’s label) to release it as a single. His next parody, “Another One Rides the Bus” (based on Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”), became the most requested song in the first decade of the Dr. Demento show.
Yankovic signed with Rock ‘n’ Roll Records (a CBS subsidiary), which not only gave him access to better recording facilities and the production expertise of Rick Derringer but the financial backing for the video of “Ricky” (#63, 1983). A combination parody of Toni Basil’s hit single and video “Mickey” and homage to TV’s I Love Lucy, “Ricky” was the first of a string of videos that skewered the music, its creators, and its audience, not to mention pop culture in general. While often hilariously hamfisted, Yankovic’s takeoffs — such as “I Lost on Jeopardy” (#81, 1984) from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (#81, 1984), which rewrote Greg Kihn’s “Jeopardy”; “Like a Surgeon” (#47, 1985), which tackled Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” from Dare to Be Stupid (#50, 1985) — made their creator and star as much a rock celebrity as his targets. In fact, the longevity of Yankovic’s career has surpassed several of the artists’ whose songs he has parodied. Nearly half the songs on any of his albums were comedic originals, although only his biggest fans seemed to be aware of “Weird Al” the songwriter. But his lyric rewriting earned him eight Grammy nominations, including two wins.
In 1985 Yankovic released a video collection of his parodies, The Compleat Al. That same year MTV produced an occasional series starring Yankovic as the host of Al TV, wherein he spoofed current videos. In 1989 he wrote and starred in the movie UHF; costarring a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards, UHF did poorly in the theater but later found new life as a cultish video hit.
Polka Party! (#177, 1986), which relied more on music than on videos, stiffed. Even Worse (#27, 1988) marked Al’s return to rock video, and Michael Jackson. For “Fat,” a grossly, literally overinflated Yankovic donned a leather outfit that copied Jackson’s on the cover and video of Bad down to the last buckle. Jackson not only gave his approval for Yankovic’s versions, he lent the subway set used in “Bad” for the “Fat” video.
In 1988 Yankovic collaborated with avant-garde synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos on recorded versions of the classical pieces Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals Part II. In 1992 Yankovic turned his eye to another musical trend, grunge, specifically Nirvana. “Smells Like Nirvana” (#35, 1992) took on the Seattle band’s image and garbled lyrics, with the accompanying video again using the original set, this time adding cows and Dick Van Patten, wile the cover of Off the Deep End (#17, 1992) had Yankovic replacing the swimming baby picture on Nevermind, his gaze focused not on a dollar bill but a donut. He also mocked the traveling summer tour Lollapalooza with his 1993 album, Alapalooza (#46), which featured “Bedrock Anthem,” a combination takeoff of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge” and “Give it Away” as well as the classical cartoon series The Flintstones. In 1996 he wrote the theme song for the movie satire Spy Hard, as well as designed the opening credits and appeared as himself in the film.
The same year, Yankovic released Bad Hair Day, which rose to #14 thanks to the success of its first single and video, “Amish Paradise,” a takeoff on rapper Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise” (itself a rewrite of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”). The album cover even mimicked the rapper’s hairstyle. While Yankovic always prided himself on getting permission to parody, this time there was a miscommunication between the artists’ record companies’ Yankovic was told Coolio was fine with the idea, but when the album was released, Coolio claimed he never consented. Yankovic sent a letter of apology and vowed not to accept agreement from anyone but the artists themselves.
After being the subject of the Disney Channel mockumentary special “Weird Al” Yankovic: There’s No Going Home in 1996, the entertainer hosted the Pee-wee’s Playhouse-esque Weird Al Show on CBS’ Saturday-morning lineup in 1997 and 1998. He was frustrated by the network’s lack of support for his tongue-in-cheek humor, and the show was canceled after one season. Yankovic seemingly disappeared for a time in 1998; when he re-emerged without his trademark mustache and glasses — besides shaving, he’d gotten laser eye surgery — he was unrecognizable. His 1999 release, Running with Scissors, peaked at #16, due to the well-timed single “The Saga Begins,” a rundown of the current Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace sung to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Even the official Star Wars Web site plugged Yankovic’s album, whose release was also timed to the premiere of his Behind the Music episode on VH1. In 2000 Yankovic contributed the original “Polkamon” to the soundtrack of the kids’ flick Pokémon 2000: The Movie.
While Yankovic and his band (bassist Steve Jay, drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, guitarist Jim West, and keyboardist Ruben Valtierra) are often not taken seriously, they are able to play the original songs they parody note-for-note, both in the studio and on tour, making them a great cover band, Yankovic has also tried his hand at directing music videos, both his own and for other artists, including country comedian Jeff Foxworthy, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson, and the Black Crowes.
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UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. The band has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984, they were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. One of the world’s best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records. Their hit singles include their debut “Food for Thought” and two U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number ones with “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band’s version of “I Got You Babe”.
The story of UB40, and how this group of young friends from Birmingham transcended their working-class origins to become the world’s most successful reggae band is not the stuff of fairytales as might be imagined. The group’s led a charmed life in many respects it’s true, but it’s been a long haul since the days they’d meet up in the bars and clubs around Moseley, and some of them had to scrape by on less than £8 a week unemployment benefit. The choice was simple if you’d left school early. You could either work in one of the local factories, like Robin Campbell did, or scuffle along aimlessly whilst waiting for something else to happen.
By the summer of 1978, something else did happen, and the nucleus of UB40 began rehearsing in a local basement. Robin’s younger brother Ali, Earl Falconer, Brian Travers and James Brown all knew each other from Moseley School of Art, whilst Norman Hassan had been a friend of Ali’s since school. Initially, they thought of themselves as a “jazz-dub-reggae” band, but by the time Robin was persuaded to join and they’d recruited Michael Virtue and Astro – who’d learnt his craft with Birmingham sound-system Duke Alloy – the group had already aligned themselves to left-wing political ideals and forged their own identity, separate from the many punk and Two Tone outfits around at that time. The group had nailed their colours to the mast by naming themselves after an unemployment benefit form. Their political convictions hadn’t been gleaned secondhand either, but cemented in place whilst attending marches protesting against the National Front, or rallies organised by Rock Against Racism.
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The Snowdroppers are an Australian punk and rock band with Johnny Wishbone on lead vocals and banjo, Pauly K on guitar, Nick London on bass guitar and Cougar Jones on drums. Their debut album, Too Late to Pray, was released in 2009. The band toured the United States in March 2011.
The band have played at Australian festivals including Big Day Out, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, Come Together Music Festival, Village Fair, Peats Ridge, and Gympie Muster. In October 2010, they toured New Zealand supporting Gin Wigmore. During early 2011, the group played six gigs across the United States including The Viper Room in Los Angeles and SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March.
The Snowdroppers are an old style good time family fun band, whose feel good tunes harken from a more innocent era. From the days when jitterbugging, speak easys and contracting cholera was all the rage. They tackle issues such as substance dependancy, spousal abuse, homocide and good old fashioned misogyny.
A musical parodist in the broad, juvenile yet clever tradition of Mad magazine, “Weird Al” Yankovic is known for adding his own gently satirical lyrics to current hit songs. His shaggy, hangdog appearance, affection for slapstick, and amiable willingness to do seemingly anything for a laugh made him a natural for videos. His burlesques of the form and its artistes — especially of Michael Jackson in “Eat It” (from “Beat It”) (#12, 1983) and “Fat” (from “Bad”) (#99, 1988) — became MTV staples. His medleys of rock tunes given the polka treatment inspired rumors —untrue — that Yankovic was a member of the singing Yankovic family, who made polka and Western swing records in the 1940s. Regardless of his heritage, Yankovic is undoubtedly the most successful comedy recording artist, with more than 11 million albums sold.
Yankovic, a high school valedictorian and architecture student, got his start I 1979, when he sent his “My Bologna” — a parody of the Knack’s “My Sharona” — to Dr. Demento, a syndicated radio host specializing in novelty songs and curiosities. Recorded in a bathroom across the hall from his college radio station with only his accordion and vocal, the song was popular enough with Demento’s audience for Capitol (the Knack’s label) to release it as a single. His next parody, “Another One Rides the Bus” (based on Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”), became the most requested song in the first decade of the Dr. Demento show.
Yankovic signed with Rock ‘n’ Roll Records (a CBS subsidiary), which not only gave him access to better recording facilities and the production expertise of Rick Derringer but the financial backing for the video of “Ricky” (#63, 1983). A combination parody of Toni Basil’s hit single and video “Mickey” and homage to TV’s I Love Lucy, “Ricky” was the first of a string of videos that skewered the music, its creators, and its audience, not to mention pop culture in general. While often hilariously hamfisted, Yankovic’s takeoffs — such as “I Lost on Jeopardy” (#81, 1984) from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (#81, 1984), which rewrote Greg Kihn’s “Jeopardy”; “Like a Surgeon” (#47, 1985), which tackled Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” from Dare to Be Stupid (#50, 1985) — made their creator and star as much a rock celebrity as his targets. In fact, the longevity of Yankovic’s career has surpassed several of the artists’ whose songs he has parodied. Nearly half the songs on any of his albums were comedic originals, although only his biggest fans seemed to be aware of “Weird Al” the songwriter. But his lyric rewriting earned him eight Grammy nominations, including two wins.
In 1985 Yankovic released a video collection of his parodies, The Compleat Al. That same year MTV produced an occasional series starring Yankovic as the host of Al TV, wherein he spoofed current videos. In 1989 he wrote and starred in the movie UHF; costarring a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards, UHF did poorly in the theater but later found new life as a cultish video hit.
Polka Party! (#177, 1986), which relied more on music than on videos, stiffed. Even Worse (#27, 1988) marked Al’s return to rock video, and Michael Jackson. For “Fat,” a grossly, literally overinflated Yankovic donned a leather outfit that copied Jackson’s on the cover and video of Bad down to the last buckle. Jackson not only gave his approval for Yankovic’s versions, he lent the subway set used in “Bad” for the “Fat” video.
In 1988 Yankovic collaborated with avant-garde synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos on recorded versions of the classical pieces Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals Part II. In 1992 Yankovic turned his eye to another musical trend, grunge, specifically Nirvana. “Smells Like Nirvana” (#35, 1992) took on the Seattle band’s image and garbled lyrics, with the accompanying video again using the original set, this time adding cows and Dick Van Patten, wile the cover of Off the Deep End (#17, 1992) had Yankovic replacing the swimming baby picture on Nevermind, his gaze focused not on a dollar bill but a donut. He also mocked the traveling summer tour Lollapalooza with his 1993 album, Alapalooza (#46), which featured “Bedrock Anthem,” a combination takeoff of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge” and “Give it Away” as well as the classical cartoon series The Flintstones. In 1996 he wrote the theme song for the movie satire Spy Hard, as well as designed the opening credits and appeared as himself in the film.
The same year, Yankovic released Bad Hair Day, which rose to #14 thanks to the success of its first single and video, “Amish Paradise,” a takeoff on rapper Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise” (itself a rewrite of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”). The album cover even mimicked the rapper’s hairstyle. While Yankovic always prided himself on getting permission to parody, this time there was a miscommunication between the artists’ record companies’ Yankovic was told Coolio was fine with the idea, but when the album was released, Coolio claimed he never consented. Yankovic sent a letter of apology and vowed not to accept agreement from anyone but the artists themselves.
After being the subject of the Disney Channel mockumentary special “Weird Al” Yankovic: There’s No Going Home in 1996, the entertainer hosted the Pee-wee’s Playhouse-esque Weird Al Show on CBS’ Saturday-morning lineup in 1997 and 1998. He was frustrated by the network’s lack of support for his tongue-in-cheek humor, and the show was canceled after one season. Yankovic seemingly disappeared for a time in 1998; when he re-emerged without his trademark mustache and glasses — besides shaving, he’d gotten laser eye surgery — he was unrecognizable. His 1999 release, Running with Scissors, peaked at #16, due to the well-timed single “The Saga Begins,” a rundown of the current Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace sung to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Even the official Star Wars Web site plugged Yankovic’s album, whose release was also timed to the premiere of his Behind the Music episode on VH1. In 2000 Yankovic contributed the original “Polkamon” to the soundtrack of the kids’ flick Pokémon 2000: The Movie.
While Yankovic and his band (bassist Steve Jay, drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, guitarist Jim West, and keyboardist Ruben Valtierra) are often not taken seriously, they are able to play the original songs they parody note-for-note, both in the studio and on tour, making them a great cover band, Yankovic has also tried his hand at directing music videos, both his own and for other artists, including country comedian Jeff Foxworthy, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson, and the Black Crowes.
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Hot Chocolate formed in Brixton, London, England in 1968. Members of the group included Errol Brown, Tony Connor, Larry Ferguson, Harvey Hinsley, Patrick Olive and Tony Wilson.
In 1969 the band started working on a reggae version of the John Lennon song “Give Peace A Chance”. Errol Brown had changed the lyrics for their version but was informed that he could not do this without John Lennon’s permission, so a copy of the demo was sent to the Beatles Apple record label to see what they thought of it. Fortunately, John loved the version and it was released on the Apple label.
The group was given the named ‘The Hot Chocolate Band’ by a secretary at the company, Mavis Smith, the band later changed it to just ‘Hot Chocolate’.
Towards the end of 1969 Mickie Most signed Errol and the cofounder of the group Tony Wilson as writers and recorded their songs with Mary Hopkins, Julie Felix and Herman’s Hermits before encouraging them to come up with a song for themselves. In 1970 Hot Chocolate, with Errol Brown as lead singer, released their first record entitled “Love Is Life” which reached number 6 in the charts. This was the start of a fifteen year career for the group who amassed a total of over 30 hits and also became the only group in the UK to have a hit for fifteen consecutive years.
In 1981 Hot Chocolate had the honour of being invited by Prince Charles and Lady Diana at their pre-wedding reception at Buckingham Palace which was attended by heads of Government and many members of European Royalty.
In 1986 Errol left the band and took time out to spend more time with his wife and then young children. The rest of the members of Hot Chocolate also took some time off to consider their future and in 1992 Patrick Olive, Harvey Hinsley and Tony Connor joined up with agent Richard Martin and decided to start touring again.
The band found a new singer Greg Bannis and keyboard players Andy Smith & Steve Ansell. Since 1992, the band has enjoyed years of continued success touring all around the world performing to many thousands of fans who love the music of Hot Chocolate. In 1997 the classic single “You Sexy Thing” reached number one in the charts after it was featured in the movie ‘The Full Monty’ and a new Hot Chocolate ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation released in October 1997 reached number 10 in the album charts.
In 2010 singer Kennie Simon replaced Greg Bannis on vocals creating what many are saying is the best sound ever.
After the last note played on the last song of a marathon set a few years ago, Dan Reynolds, frontman for Las Vegas based rockers Imagine Dragons, realized it was all starting to come together. “We were playing a gig at this place called O’Sheas, which has the cheapest beer on the strip,” Reynolds remembers. “I was basically standing on top of the drums, the stage was so small. We were on our final song of a six-hour set. I got to the end of the song and just fully passed out in the middle of singing. I came to, got up, finished the song, and we got a standing ovation from all these people at this tiny little casino at three am on a weekday in Vegas. Something about that moment bonded us and made us realize that we were building a connection with people from all over the country.”
Since then that connection has only grown. Reynolds and his bandmates – guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman – independently released three EPs, toured extensively, earning a grass roots following. Then, earlier this year, the band made their major label debut with the release of their Continued Silence EP, which included the breakthrough single “It’s Time,” an anthemic foot-stomping track that perfectly encapsulates the band’s unvarnished emotional sound. The song, which reached #3 at Modern Rock radio and #2 at AAA, earned the group a 2012 MTV VMA nomination for “Best Rock Video.” With the groundswell of energy “It’s Time” generated, Imagine Dragons are now preparing for the release of their full-length debut, Night Visions, available on Grammy award winning producer Alex Da Kid’s (Eminem, Rihanna) label, KIDinaKORNER. “This record has been three years in the making,” Reynolds explains of his excitement in finally getting to share the album with the world. “We feel that we have finally created something we are all truly proud of and that can hopefully inspire others and help them feel a little less alone. That’s what music is about. It’s the greatest communicator I know.”
Emotional struggle is central to Imagine Dragons ethos. From the beginning it’s been the group’s goal to take the pain they’ve each experienced in life and spin it into something redemptive and uplifting. That transformation – of emotional pain into art – is what drives them as people and it’s also what inspired their first hit. “I wrote It”s Time during a very transitional period in my life,” Reynolds recalls. “It seemed like everything was going wrong. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life, trying to figure out how seriously to take music. I was making decisions about who I was. I’m a pretty young guy and I’m still trying to figure out the answer to those questions.”
That balance between riding steady and risking it all is the core tension at the heart of Imagine Dragons’ sound and their identity and it’s a reflection of the city they call home. “Our band wouldn’t exist without Las Vegas,” Reynolds says simply. “It’s a great place for an artist to start out.” Sin City isn’t known as a creative hotbed but, weirdly, that works to the advantage of the musicians who live there. “It’s not oversaturated,” he explains. “As a new band you play the casinos – half covers, half your own stuff – and you make ends meet. We were able to rent a band house and support ourselves. Eating ramen, but still.” Eking out a living as a Vegas rocker might be relatively easy but competition is cutthroat because the city is like boot camp for performers. Unlike in New York or LA where your biggest concern is being the hottest rock act around, in Las Vegas you’ve got to compete with showgirls and roulette and Cher at the Caesars Palace. “You learn to stand out because you’re competing for the attention of people sitting at slot machines,” Reynolds explains. “You have to bring everything you have and learn what grabs people’s attention enough that they look up from the card table and say, hey, let’s check this out!”
The experienced Los Angeles, USA-based session team of David Paich (25 June 1954, Los Angeles, California, USA; keyboards, vocals, son of Marty Paich), Jeff Porcaro (b. Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro, 1 April 1954, Hartford, Connecticut, USA, d. 5 August 1992, Holden Hills, California, USA; drums), Steve Lukather (b. Steven Lee Lukather, 21 October 1957, San Fernando Valley, California, USA; guitar), Steve Porcaro (b. Steven Maxwell Porcaro, 2 September 1957, Hartford, Connecticut, USA; keyboards, vocals) and David Hungate (b. Texas, USA; bass) decided in 1976 to begin functioning in their own right after years of blithe dedication to the music of others on tour and disc. They brought in Louisiana-based singer Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Troy Kimball, 29 March 1947, Orange, Texas, USA) to complete the line-up of Toto, a name chosen to encompass the band’s collective abilities.
The band signed a contract with Columbia Records and managed to persuade over a million buyers to snap up their first two albums, but, overall, this rather faceless band met moderate success with moderate records – penned mainly by Paich – on which polished, close-milked vocal harmonies floated effortlessly over layers of treated sound. Toto (1978) was attended by a smash hit in ‘Hold The Line’ (US number 5, UK number 14), but the band’s most commercial period was 1982/3 when the Grammy Award-winning Toto IV generated two international hits with the atmospheric ‘Africa’ (US number 1/UK number 3) and ‘Rosanna’ (US number 2/UK number 12), as well as the US number 10 single, ‘I Won’t Hold You Back’. The latter won Grammys for Record Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance and Best Instrumental Arrangement (nearly 20 years later, it also provided a memorable vocal sample for DJ Roger Sanchez’s chart-topping single, ‘Another Chance’).
The following year, Kimball and Hungate were replaced by, respectively, Fergie Frederiksen (b. Dennis Hardy Frederiksen, 15 May 1951, Wyoming, Michigan, USA) and Mike Porcaro (b. 29 May 1955, USA). Sales of Isolation and the band’s soundtrack to the science fiction movie Dune were poor, but some lost ground was regained when it became known that Toto were responsible for the backing track of USA For Africa’s single ‘We Are The World’. With a new lead singer in Joseph Williams (b. 1 September 1960, USA, and the son of soundtrack composer John Williams), the band reached number 11 in the US with ‘I’ll Be Over You’, a composition by Lukather and Randy Goodrum from 1986’s Fahrenheit. Two years later ‘Pamela’, produced to the expected slick standards by Earth, Wind And Fire’s George Massenburg and Little Feat’s Bill Payne, reached US number 22.
By then, Steve Porcaro had returned to employment in the studios from which Toto had emerged, although he continued to work with the band on their studio albums. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron (b. Byron DuPlessis, South Africa) briefly replaced Williams, before Lukather became the band’s vocalist. Jeff Porcaro died in 1992 after a heart attack caused by an allergic reaction to pesticide. His replacement on subsequent UK dates was British session drummer Simon Phillips (b. 6 February 1957, London, England). In 1995, the band released the blues-tinged Tambu, which attempted to steer their sound away from mainstream pop/rock. Bobby Kimball returned as lead vocalist in 1999, although the same year’s Mindfields was disappointing and proved to be their final release for Columbia. Subsequent releases have included the covers album Through The Looking Glass (2002) and Falling In Between (2006). The latter featured second keyboardist Greg Phillinganes (b. Gregory Phillinganes, Detroit, Michigan, USA), who had originally joined the band as tour cover for Paich.Bio source…..www.oldies.com
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Want a song dedicated to you?
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After the last note played on the last song of a marathon set a few years ago, Dan Reynolds, frontman for Las Vegas based rockers Imagine Dragons, realized it was all starting to come together. “We were playing a gig at this place called O’Sheas, which has the cheapest beer on the strip,” Reynolds remembers. “I was basically standing on top of the drums, the stage was so small. We were on our final song of a six-hour set. I got to the end of the song and just fully passed out in the middle of singing. I came to, got up, finished the song, and we got a standing ovation from all these people at this tiny little casino at three am on a weekday in Vegas. Something about that moment bonded us and made us realize that we were building a connection with people from all over the country.”
Since then that connection has only grown. Reynolds and his bandmates – guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman – independently released three EPs, toured extensively, earning a grass roots following. Then, earlier this year, the band made their major label debut with the release of their Continued Silence EP, which included the breakthrough single “It’s Time,” an anthemic foot-stomping track that perfectly encapsulates the band’s unvarnished emotional sound. The song, which reached #3 at Modern Rock radio and #2 at AAA, earned the group a 2012 MTV VMA nomination for “Best Rock Video.” With the groundswell of energy “It’s Time” generated, Imagine Dragons are now preparing for the release of their full-length debut, Night Visions, available on Grammy award winning producer Alex Da Kid’s (Eminem, Rihanna) label, KIDinaKORNER. “This record has been three years in the making,” Reynolds explains of his excitement in finally getting to share the album with the world. “We feel that we have finally created something we are all truly proud of and that can hopefully inspire others and help them feel a little less alone. That’s what music is about. It’s the greatest communicator I know.”
Emotional struggle is central to Imagine Dragons ethos. From the beginning it’s been the group’s goal to take the pain they’ve each experienced in life and spin it into something redemptive and uplifting. That transformation – of emotional pain into art – is what drives them as people and it’s also what inspired their first hit. “I wrote It”s Time during a very transitional period in my life,” Reynolds recalls. “It seemed like everything was going wrong. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life, trying to figure out how seriously to take music. I was making decisions about who I was. I’m a pretty young guy and I’m still trying to figure out the answer to those questions.”
That balance between riding steady and risking it all is the core tension at the heart of Imagine Dragons’ sound and their identity and it’s a reflection of the city they call home. “Our band wouldn’t exist without Las Vegas,” Reynolds says simply. “It’s a great place for an artist to start out.” Sin City isn’t known as a creative hotbed but, weirdly, that works to the advantage of the musicians who live there. “It’s not oversaturated,” he explains. “As a new band you play the casinos – half covers, half your own stuff – and you make ends meet. We were able to rent a band house and support ourselves. Eating ramen, but still.” Eking out a living as a Vegas rocker might be relatively easy but competition is cutthroat because the city is like boot camp for performers. Unlike in New York or LA where your biggest concern is being the hottest rock act around, in Las Vegas you’ve got to compete with showgirls and roulette and Cher at the Caesars Palace. “You learn to stand out because you’re competing for the attention of people sitting at slot machines,” Reynolds explains. “You have to bring everything you have and learn what grabs people’s attention enough that they look up from the card table and say, hey, let’s check this out!”
