Great White is a heavy metal band formed in 1981 in Huntington Beach, Orange County, California.
Their style is heavily influenced by the roots of 70s heavy metal, especially by Led Zeppelin, a band whose songs they covered in an entire cover album. This characteristic set them apart from most of the hair/pop metal wave bands, helping them to earn several platinum records during their career. However, the band never achieved significant success in Europe, unlike their home country.
History
Great White formed from the ashes of Los Angeles' Dante Fox. This group consisted of singer Jack Russel, guitarist Mark Kendall, bassist Don Costa, and drummer Tony Richards. In 1982, Richards joined W.A.S.P. along with Don Costa, who played in Ozzy Osbourne's band that same year, replacing Rudy Sarzo. In 1982, relocated to Huntington Beach, the remaining members of Dante Fox, Jack Russell and Mark Kendall, created Great White by enlisting bassist Lorne Black and drummer Gary Holland (former Dokken). Holland had also played in Circus Circus, an early incarnation of the future W.A.S.P. The following year, Great White debuted with the EP Out of the Night, produced by Michael Wagener and Don Dokken (Dokken's vocalist). The former contributed to some of the songs, while the latter participated as a backing vocalist. The next year saw the release of their eponymous full-length album through EMI Records. The album failed to make an impact and flopped in sales, leading EMI to lose interest in the band and dissolve their contract. In 1984, drummer Gary Holland left the band to be replaced by Audie Desbrow. Holland later joined Romeo with former Steeler bassist Greg Chaisson and Michael Britton on vocals. This band evolved into Britton, featuring former Hellion guitarist Chet Thompson. With Britton, Holland released the debut Rock Hard in 1988, and later joined the legendary Blue Cheer.
Great White signed with Telegraph Records to release the self-financed album Shot in the Dark. However, they regained the interest of a major label by signing with Capitol, a subsidiary of EMI, which remastered the album Shot In The Dark that same year. The album achieved excellent positions on the Billboard top 100. It was produced in the States and Europe in different versions and contained two covers: "Face The Day" by Australia's The Angels and "Gimme Some Lovin" by The Spencer Davis Group. After the album's recording, bassist Lorne Black left the band during the summer of 1987, replaced by Tony Montana. Subsequently, they embarked on a U.S. tour alongside Night Ranger and Twisted Sister, and by the end of the year played at the Marquee Club in London. The band further emphasized the blues element, earning their fourth album ...Twice Shy double platinum status. During the subsequent tour as headliners, it was abruptly interrupted in Canada due to Russell's alcohol issues. With Russell's hospitalization, the group had to cancel tour dates. Montana also had to temporarily leave the band due to family issues, being temporarily replaced by former Black Sabbath member Dave Spitz. With Russell's recovery and Montana's return, the band successfully resumed activity. In 1990, they released the live album Live in London, and the following year, The Blue EP and the fifth album Hooked, including covers "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" by The Small Faces and "Can't Shake It" by The Angels, contributing to the album's good sales. The album's cover was censored by the P.M.R.C., as it depicted a naked woman clinging to an anchor. The cover was modified to show the woman submerged in water clinging to the anchor. The subsequent Psycho City (1992) saw the return of Dave Spitz along with former Dio bassist Teddy Cook. Later, Cook had experiences with bands such as Rondinelli, Virgin Steele, and The Sign. The album Let it Rock (1996) featured the lineup of Russell, Kendall, Lardie, and Desbrow, with some bass parts re-recorded by Dave Spitz. In March 1999, they released the cover album Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, signing with Cleopatra Records. The lineup also welcomed bassist Sean McNabb, a former member of Quiet Riot and House of Lords. However, a few months later, in July, the band released their tenth album, titled Can't Get There from Here. To support the new album, they toured with Ratt and Poison.
Recent Times
Mark Kendall announced his departure from the band on January 20, 2000 to shortly after form Train Station with singer Todd Griffin, bassist Gary Warnick, keyboardist Dicki Simms, and drummer Pride Hutchinson. Shortly thereafter, McNabb and Desbrow also left the group. Desbrow complained about the band's financial situation, while McNabb joined the reformed Lynch Mob. That same year, the compilation Latest & Greatest was released, in which all tracks were re-recorded. Russell and Kendall played the cover "Sin City" included in the AC/DC tribute album Back In Black. Michael Lardie announced a hiatus to focus on Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille's new band, Samantha 7. The agreement was made during a Great White tour towards the end of 2000, where the lineup included three session members from Samantha 7: bassist Krys Baratto (briefly a bassist for Guns N'Roses), drummer Francis Ruiz, and guitarist Ty Longley. Soon after, the live album Thank You... Goodnight was released by Knight Records. From August 2001, Great White was composed of Russell and Lardie with drummer Derrick Pontier, and the returning Mark Kendall and Sean McNabb. This temporary formation played some U.S. dates between August and September. On November 5, 2001, Jack Russell announced the end of Great White, playing the last show with the band on December 31, 2001, at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California. This included two new tracks, "Back to the Rhythm" and "Play On" (which would later be included in the album Back to the Rhythm in 2007). In 2002, the live album The Final Cuts was released by French label Axe Killer. The album was re-released for the American market a month later by Cleopatra under the name of Recover. In late 2002, Jack Russell embarked on a solo career and contacted Kendall to play in his band. Kendall accepted, but Russell wanted to use the Great White name again. Presented as "Jack Russell's Great White," they embarked on a tour where they mainly performed Great White songs plus some tracks from Russell's solo career. The tour was extended into the early months of 2003.
The Tragedy
February 20, 2003, was the day of the disaster. That evening, Great White held a concert at "The Station" nightclub located in Warwick, a town in Kent County, Rhode Island[8]. The band was the headliner of the evening. Around 11:00 PM, just seconds after their performance began, the group started with the song "Desert Moon," accompanied by pyrotechnic effects triggered by their manager, Daniel Biechele. These effects unexpectedly caused a fire, mainly due to the flammable foam that had been used for sound insulation purposes. The fire spread throughout the venue, and people were trapped in the corridor leading to the exit door, despite the presence of other safety exits. That tragic evening, about a hundred people died, including the band's guitarist Ty Longley. The band that played that night were "Jack Russell's Great White," the band fronted by Jack Russel, but not the official band. Indeed, the official website of the band stated that Great White did not perform that night.
Great White, reunited, played for the first time after the tragic incident on July 22 of that year in Colorado, where the deceased Ty Longley had lived, for a benefit concert in memory of the victims, which also featured L.A. Guns and XYZ. The band played until 2005, raising funds for the incident. In late 2005, due to "medical reasons," the band canceled their summer tour. The "medical reasons" actually referred to Jack Russell's abuse of alcohol and cocaine. He went into rehabilitation and did not perform until 2007. Without his presence, he accused Great White of not being the real band, derogatorily calling them "Fake White".
Rebirth
The band stabilized in 2006, with the lineup composed of Jack Russell, Mark Kendall, Michael Lardie, Sean McNabb, and Audie Desbrow. In March 2007, they released their eleventh studio album, titled Back to the Rhythm. It was released on July 17, 2007, by Shrapnel Records[8]. After a European tour in the spring of 2008 (also passing through Italy) bassist Sean McNabb left the group replaced by Scott Snyder. In the spring of 2009, the new album Rising was released. On May 18, 2012, the band released the new album Elation with singer Terry Llouis replacing Jack Russell.
On June 2, 2017, Great White released their new album Full Circle. On July 9, 2018, Terry Ilous left the band and the new singer Mitch Malloy was announced.
Source wikipedia.org