History
Keel was formed by former Steeler vocalist Ron Keel. The original members were Ron Keel on vocals, David Michael Phillips on guitar, Marc Ferrari on lead & rhythm guitars, Bobby Marks on drums and Kenny Chaisson on bass guitar. Within months, Phillips left to join King Kobra and was replaced by Brian Jay. This was the lineup for their 1984 debut album Lay Down the Law. After the album's release, Marks left and was replaced by Steven Riley, who subsequently left early in the recording of the band's second album to join W.A.S.P., and was in turn replaced by Dwain Miller, forming a lineup which would remain stable for almost 4 years. Their debut album caught the eye of KISS' Gene Simmons, resulting in his production of their second album, The Right To Rock, released on March 26, 1985. Their next and also Simmons-produced third album The Final Frontier was released on April 30, 1986. It included the single "Because the Night", a song that was co-written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen and had been a hit for Smith in 1978.
In 1986, Keel actually won the Best Band of the Year award in the 2nd annual Metal Edge magazine reader's poll, beating such noted bands as Iron Maiden & Judas Priest.
In 1987, the song "Rock & Roll Outlaw" (a cover from the 1978 self titled debut of Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo) appeared on the soundtrack of the movie Dudes. Their fourth album, Keel, was released on June 21, 1987, recorded with producer Michael Wagener. An unreleased track from the album, Ferrari's "Proud To Be Loud", would eventually wind up on Pantera's Power Metal album, which Ferrari produced early in 1988.
Ferrari & Jay both left in 1988, after touring in support of the Keel album. They were replaced by keyboardist Scott Warren & guitarist Tony Palamucci.
Their fifth album, Larger Than Live, was released in 1989 with six new studio recordings, including a cover of the 1980 Humble Pie song "Fool for a Pretty Face". Also on the album were six live tracks recorded in March 1989. Following the shooting of the music video for the song "Dreams Are Not Enough" on that same year, Ron Keel announced the disbandment of Keel.
Read more about this topic: Keel (band)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“The myth of independence from the mother is abandoned in mid- life as women learn new routes around the mother—both the mother without and the mother within. A mid-life daughter may reengage with a mother or put new controls on care and set limits to love. But whatever she does, her child’s history is never finished.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)