Tyrants in Therapy - Personnel

Personnel

Although the Tyrants in Therapy formed in 1983, the first association of the four founding members came in 1977, when Michael J and AbbeAbbe met during an improvisational acting class they were taking in Hollywood. (They started dating, before marrying the following year.) The next association occurred in 1981, when the couple began writing songs with Charlie X, who had been introduced to them by Jim Callon, the owner of JDC Records and an old college friend of Michael J’s. Glasscock then came on the scene in 1983, after she joined the Beverly Hills advertising agency where Michael J worked.

At AbbeAbbe’s suggestion, the foursome decided to name themselves the Tyrants in Therapy, and started performing in Los Angeles rock clubs. Besides The Troubadour, none of these clubs- Club 88, Club Lingerie, Cathay de Grande, Madame Wong’s East and West, Vertigo, The Central, the FM Station, and the Mannikin (in San Diego)- still exist.

Almost immediately, the Tyrants in Therapy were reduced to a trio, as Charlie X, a working lounge musician, balked at playing for little or no money. In 1985, Glasscock left the band as well, in order to focus on her advertising career. Glasscock was replaced by background vocalist Maureen Mahon, but for the next few years, the position of ‘third Tyrant’ was to become something of a revolving door. Mahon departed after six months due to artistic differences, and her replacement, Anni Celsi, lasted even less time, being fired in 1986 because of her poor attitude, and because of her inability to vocally complement AbbeAbbe. Celsi was replaced by Brenda X (Brenda Lavin), but she was deemed to be temperamentally unsuited to the rock and gay clubs in which the Tyrants in Therapy gigged, and so, in 1986, was asked to leave. Artistic differences led to Stina Hokenson leaving the band in 1987, while her replacement, songwriter and co-lead vocalist Stacy Dunne, left of her own accord the following year, when she moved to Nashville. Keyboardist and songwriter Jeff Bennett (grandson of Boyd Bennett) came on the scene in 1991, and in 1993 was joined for a few months by another keyboardist, Marcy Szrama. However, the format proved unwieldy, and Szrama was gone by year’s end. In 1994, Bennett also left, in order to pursue his musical studies. The last person to fill the position of third Tyrant was songwriter, guitarist and background vocalist Andi Ostrowe; she also lasted just a handful of gigs, before personal problems compelled her to quit in 1994. At that point, Michael J and AbbeAbbe decided to keep the Tyrants in Therapy as a duo.