Lone Star (band)
Encyclopedia
History
Lone Star were a WelshWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
rock
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
band formed in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in 1975. An embryonic line-up consisted of former Iona members, Kenny Driscoll and Tony Smith, former Quest bassist Ray Jones, and drummer Jim Mathews. The band took on the Lone Star moniker in early 1975 with the addition of new rhythm section, Pete Hurley on bass and Dixie Lee on drums, and noted guitarist Paul 'Tonka' Chapman
Paul Chapman (musician)
Paul William "Tonka" Chapman is a Welsh rock guitarist best known for his work in bands such as UFO and Lone Star. Chapman is well known by his nickname "Tonka", allegedly acquired because of his indestructible qualities.-Early career :...
(a cousin of famed Welsh rocker Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds
David 'Dave' Edmunds is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.-Early bands:As a teenager Edmunds first...
), whose credits included the bands Universe, Skid Row (where he had replaced Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
), Kimla Taz, and most notably, UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
, in a short-lived 1974 dual guitar configuration alongside Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker is a German rock guitarist, best known for his tenure in UFO, in addition to his solo band. He first rose to fame as a founding member of the Scorpions, then achieved fame in the mid 1970s as the lead guitar player for UFO. Since leaving UFO in 1978, he has been leading the...
. Canadian keyboardist Rick Worsnop completed the line-up.
Lone Star recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in early 1976 and they signed to CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
and released their self-titled Roy Thomas Baker
Roy Thomas Baker
Roy Thomas Baker is a multiple award-winning Anglo-American music producer, songwriter, arranger and Recording Academy Governor, who has produced Platinum and Gold certified pop and rock records from the 1970s to the present.- Career :Baker began his career at Decca Records in England at the age...
-produced debut album in August 1976. It charted
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
at #47 on the UK Album Charts and was supported by a UK tour with label mate Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
. The band's profile would get a further boost with a BBC Radio One broadcast, recorded at the Paris Theatre in London on September 23, 1976 while on tour as openers for Mott The Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
. The band's second album, Firing on All Six, produced by Gary Lyons and released in August 1977, saw original vocalist Kenny Driscoll replaced by 20-year old newcomer John Sloman
John Sloman
John Sloman was born as John Anthony David Sloman in Cardiff , 26 April 1957 as the eldest of six children. He is a former member of Trapper, Pulsar, Lone Star, and Uriah Heep...
(ex-Trapper). It bettered its predecessor and reached #36 on the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
charts. That same month, the band would undertake their most high profile gig yet with an appearance at the prestigious Reading Festival on August 26, followed by a second BBC Radio One live session on September 29, recorded at Queen Mary College in East London whilst sharing a bill with Canadian guitarist Pat Travers
Pat Travers
Patrick Henry "Pat" Travers is a Canadian rock guitarist, keyboardist and singer who began his recording career with Polydor Records in the mid-1970s...
. Both BBC sessions were released in 1994 as the BBC Radio One Live In Concert CD.
Break-up and further activities
Lone Star would be in a holding pattern for a period when Chapman was called upon by UFO to fill in for the absent Michael SchenkerMichael Schenker
Michael Schenker is a German rock guitarist, best known for his tenure in UFO, in addition to his solo band. He first rose to fame as a founding member of the Scorpions, then achieved fame in the mid 1970s as the lead guitar player for UFO. Since leaving UFO in 1978, he has been leading the...
for part of their U.S. tour with Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Upon his return the band began to prepare and demo material for a proposed third album but already on shaky ground and beset by management problems, Lone Star splintered in late 1978, CBS having pulled the plug due in part to the rapidly changing musical climate. Chapman re-joined UFO for good and went on to make 4 studios album with the band before joining UFO bassist Pete Way in Waysted
Waysted
Waysted are a heavy metal band formed by UFO bassist Pete Way and Scottish rocker Fin Muir in 1983. Recruiting Frank Noon , Ronnie Kayfield and Paul Raymond, Waysted signed to Chrysalis Records and released Vices in 1983....
in the mid 1980s and settling in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Chapman now works as a guitar teacher in South Florida where he is also a member of Gator Country, featuring members of the original Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet is an American southern rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1975. They are widely known for their hit song "Flirtin' with Disaster" from the album of the same title. The band, founded by Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated...
.
Drummer Dixie Lee toured with Wild Horses
Wild Horses (British band)
Wild Horses were a British rock band, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s.-History:Wild Horses was formed in the summer of 1978 by ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson and ex-Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain...
in late 1978 before teaming up with John Sloman in the short-lived Pulsar. Lee also cut some demos with an early incarnation of Blizzard Of Ozz
Blizzard of Ozz
Blizzard of Ozz is the first solo studio album by British singer/songwriter Ozzy Osbourne, recorded in Surrey, UK and released on September 20, 1980 in the UK and on March 27, 1981 in the U.S.. It is the comeback album of Osbourne following his firing from Black Sabbath the previous year...
and briefly joined Welsh metal act Persian Risk
Persian Risk
Persian Risk were a heavy metal band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era formed in 1979 and hailing from Cardiff, Wales. The brainchild of ex-Stoned Soul Party guitarist Phil Campbell, he recruited vocalist Jon Deverill, second guitarist Dave Bell, bass player Nick Hughes, and drummer Razz...
in late 1983. Sloman would join British rockers Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
for their controversial Conquest album in 1980 before forming John Sloman's Badlands with guitarist John Sykes
John Sykes
John James Sykes , is an English rock guitarist, who has played with Streetfighter, Tygers of Pan Tang, John Sloman's Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, and Blue Murder, in addition to having a notable solo career....
in 1982 and guesting with Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
on the Rockin' Every Night Japan live album. Sloman embarked on a solo career in the mid 1980s and has released a couple of solo albums since.
Driscoll and Hurley reformed Lone Star in 1979 and tried unsuccessfully to obtain a new recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
. They played some gigs in 1980, including shows at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, Keele University
Keele University
Keele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...
and Nottingham Boat Club. Driscoll next fronted Tom The Lord, an outfit that also involved ex-Iona/Quest bassist Ray Jones, guitarist Tich Gwilym
Tich Gwilym
Tich Gwilym born Robert Gilliam was a Welsh rock guitarist who was most notable for his Hendrix inspired version of the Welsh national anthem, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", considered one of the most famous renditions of the song....
(Kimla Taz), and drummer Rob Allen but the band disintegrated in the formative stages despite interest from Epic Records. Driscoll would briefly join Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
's band in 1980 and sang on the Live At The Marquee album. He currently fronts the Kenny Driscoll Band, a Welsh pub/club band.
Following Lone Star's demise, Tony Smith teamed up in Screen Idols with former The Rats trio - drummer Mike 'Woody' Woodmansey (David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, U-Boat), bassist Geoff Appleby (Hunter-Ronson Band), and guitarist Keith 'Ched' Cheeseman - and vocalist Michelle Nieddu. The band's sole album, Premiere, came out in 1979. Following the departure of Nieddu and Cheeseman, Smith would take over lead vocals on the band's third and final single, Routine b/w Power Supply, issued in 1980, before Idols called it a day. The guitarist next turned up in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CA alongside fellow Brit Kal Swan (ex-Tytan) where the two formed Lyon, quickly re-named Lion
Lion (band)
Lion were an English-American rock band, best known for their theme song from the 1986 animated movie The Transformers: The Movie.A hard rock quartet, Lion were formed in Los Angeles in 1983 after ex-Tytan vocalist Kal Swan and former Lone Star guitarist Tony Smith relocated from Great Britain...
, although Smith was not part of the band's recorded output. Smith can now be found in the band The Daggers doing the live circuit around Wales.
Pete Hurley was part of Welsh roots rockers, The Red Hot Pokers, all through the 1990s and joined Sloman in a project called Beat Poets in 1999. Hurley released Dancin' Mood with the Pokers in 2001, the group also being credited with backing both rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
his sister, Linda Gail Lewis
Linda Gail Lewis
Linda Gail Lewis is an American singer and pianist. She is the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis.She plays piano and has recorded with Stephen Ackles, Van Morrison, and with her brother. She also has recorded with her two daughtersMaryJean Ferguson, and Annie Marie Dolan in a group called The Lewis 3...
, live and in the studio on different occasions. Recording the You Win Again album in 2000 with Linda and Northern Irish icon, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, would lead to The Red Hot Pokers becoming Morrison's new live band, with Hurley also contributing bass to Van's 2002's Down the Road album. Hurley is still an in-demand session player who works with a number of different acts.
A third Lone Star album, Riding High, a collection of demos recorded by Chapman, was released on the Zoom Club label in 2000.
Members
- Kenny Driscoll - vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
on Lone Star - Paul 'Tonka' Chapman - lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- Pete Hurley - bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Dixie Lee - drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - John Sloman — vocals on Firing on All Six
- Tony Smith — guitar on Lone Star and Firing on All Six
- Rick Worsnop - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, bass on Riding High
Albums
- Lone Star (CBS, 1976)
- Firing on All Six (CBS, 1977)
- BBC Radio One Live In Concert (Windsong, 1994)
- Riding High (Zoom Club, 2000)
Note: Lone Star and Firing On All Six have been re-issued as a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
by BGO Records.
Singles
- "Hey Baby" / "Turn It Up" b/w "A New Day" / "A Million Stars" 7" (CBS, 1976) promo-only split EP w/ Ted NugentTed NugentTheodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
- "She Said She Said" b/w "Illusions" 7" (CBS, 1976)
- "Hypnotic Mover" b/w "All Of Us To All Of You" 7" (CBS, 1977)
- "Seasons In Your Eyes" b/w "Lovely Lubina" 7" (CBS, 1977)