Off To England
By 1974, Van began serious songwriting. The band decided to stop playing cover songs and perform their own music. Later that year, they recorded a four-song demo tape and planned a trip to London, England to shop their songs for a record deal. They left on January 6, 1975 and after three weeks of shopping their music to different record labels, they were offered a recording contract with Arista Records.
Upon signing, The Shooting Stars were then given the opportunity to play a showcase performance at the legendary Marquee Club in London. The club was the birthplace of such bands as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Rod Stewart and the Faces, Led Zeppelin, Elton John and many others. The band then made their way to Morgan Studios to record their first single, Take the Money & Run. Shortly after this record was cut, Steve Miller released his song Take the Money & Run, which became a huge hit. Arista Records released The Shooting Stars from their contract and they returned to Kansas City.
In 1976 the band persuaded fellow musician Gary West (born Gary Hodgden) to join them as a singer and songwriting partner for Van. Gary, with his brother Ron West, had been a member of the premier Kansas City rock band of the '60s, The Chesmann Square. After The Chesmann dissolved in 1974, Ron West formed the band Missouri and Gary West moved with the Chesmann's lead guitarist Jim McAllister to New York City. There they formed the group The Beckies with songwriter Michael Brown, formerly of the group The Left Banke, and former Kansas Citian Scott Trusty. The Beckies released one album on Sire Records. Upon Gary's return to Kansas City, he and Van began songwriting in earnest.
In 1977, they shortened their name to Shooting Star. And with Ron Verlin on bass, they added Steve Thomas on drums, Bill Guffey on keyboards and Charles Waltz on violin, keyboards and vocals. They started recording demos in Gary's garage, all the while playing gigs around the Midwest. After saving enough money and putting a press kit together, they tried to secure another record deal in New York City. Through connections that Gary had made while a member of The Beckies, the band booked a showcase at the now infamous punk rock club CBGB's. The representative for a New York management firm was in the crowd that night and offered them a contract. With a management deal, Shooting Star returned to Kansas City to continue writing new material.
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“It was always accounted a virtue in a man to love his country. With us it is now something more than a virtue. It is a necessity. When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)