Lone Star (band) - Break-up and Further Activities

Break-up and Further Activities

Driscoll formed/joined Hiding Place. They recorded one studio session for the BBC on 19 December 1977, which was broadcast on 5 January 1978 on The John Peel Show, this session appearing to be their only recorded output. A Scottish band operated from 2004-2007 under the same name, but there's no other connection between them. As well as Driscoll, Hiding Place included Tich - Guitar, Vocals - Dave Dawson - Bass, Vocals - Robert Allen - Drums, Vocals - Paul Abrahams - Keyboards.

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 Schenker for part of their U.S. tour with Rush. 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 in the mid 1980s and settling in the US. 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.

Drummer Dixie Lee toured with Wild Horses 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 and briefly joined Welsh metal act Persian Risk in late 1983. Sloman would join British rockers Uriah Heep for their controversial Conquest album in 1980 before forming John Sloman's Badlands with guitarist John Sykes in 1982 and guesting with Gary Moore 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. They played some gigs in 1980, including shows at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, Keele University and Nottingham Boat Club. Driscoll next fronted Tom The Lord, an outfit that also involved ex-Iona/Quest bassist Ray Jones, guitarist Tich Gwilym (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'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, 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, CA alongside fellow Brit Kal Swan (ex-Tytan) where the two formed Lyon, quickly renamed Lion, 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 his sister, Linda Gail Lewis, live and in the studio on different occasions. Recording the You Win Again album in 2000 with Linda and Northern Irish icon, Van Morrison, 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.

Rick Worsnop returned to Canada in 1979 to pursue a career as a software developer. He currently alternates solo keyboard recording with voice acting, and teaches systems analysis for a consulting company in Toronto.

A third Lone Star album, Riding High, was released by Paul Chapman, on the Zoom Club label in 2000. Produced without the participation of other band members, it consisted of demos recorded by Chapman plus previously-unpublished Lone Star material.