The Rossington Collins Band was an American Southern rock band founded in 1979 by guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins following the 1977 plane crash which killed three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd , of which both had been members. The band included two other surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkeson . The band wished to develop their own sound rather than being regarded as a reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd, and toward that objective they hired a female lead vocalist, Dale Krantz , who later married Rossington. The Jacksonville -based band released two albums before disbanding in 1982. Their biggest hit, "Don't Misunderstand Me," charted in late 1980.
32-542: Following the crash of the Skynyrd plane in October 1977, chances for a reunion looked slim. Allen Collins had severe injuries to his arm that almost made it necessary for the arm to be amputated. Leon Wilkeson had suffered internal injuries that initially made doctors declare him dead at the scene of the crash, only to be resuscitated later. He also had a badly broken arm. Gary Rossington had also suffered severe injuries in
64-453: A side project for a single recording project or other ad hoc purposes, with no intention that the group will remain together afterwards. In other instances, the group may become the primary focus of the members' career. Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner credited British rock band Cream , which came together in 1966, as the first supergroup. Eric Clapton , formerly of rock band The Yardbirds and blues rock band John Mayall &
96-461: A supergroup hinges on the members already having been "successful". This itself is a subjective term, though metrics such as career earnings, records sold, number of commercial hit songs written and musician longevity can all be used to establish the objective success of a musical band and its individual members. Tyler Golsen in Far Out writes that "Today, the term “supergroup” has something of
128-576: A Les Paul since the early 1970s. Despite the short length of The Rossington-Collins Band's existence, there were many soundboard recordings made of live shows, and studio recordings made by Allen Collins in preparation for their first studio album. In 1983, the Allen Collins Band , featuring Allen Collins, Barry Lee Harwood, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, and Derek Hess from RCB along with Randall Hall and Jimmy Dougherty, former singer in Alias,
160-505: A backing singer for .38 Special and who Gary Rossington later married in 1982. Guitarist Barry Lee Harwood was living in Atlanta at the time when he got the call from Rossington and Collins to be in the band. All seemed set, until Artimus Pyle, who had been slated to start rehearsals with the band, was involved in a motorcycle accident that broke his leg. Pyle decided that the RCB should find
192-404: A broken leg, which happened the day before. Following the death of his wife, Kathy, Allen Collins would routinely walk off from gigs or not appear. This led to the cancellation of many performances during 1982. In addition to his Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Explorer , guitarist Collins switched between two double-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Specials during the live shows. Collins had not used
224-508: A negative connotation. It usually signifies a short-term vanity project that attempts to profit off members’ reputations with their past works". In 1974, a Time magazine article titled "Return of a Supergroup" quipped that the supergroup was a "potent but short-lived rock phenomenon" which was an "amalgam formed by the talented malcontents of other bands". The article acknowledged that groups such as Cream and Blind Faith "played enormous arenas and made megabucks, and sometimes megamusic", with
256-441: A new drummer rather than wait for him to recuperate. The suggestion came from Harwood to hire Jacksonville native Derek Hess. The Rossington-Collins Band, as it was named, then began rehearsals and writing, which took a little longer than expected because of Krantz's initial anxiety about being in this band. Even while in the studio, RCB would continue to write and revise their songs until they were considered finished. This led to
288-559: A year after formation. Also in 1968 Jack Bruce joined the Tony Williams Lifetime , composed of bassist and vocalist Bruce, and three famous Miles Davis alumni: drummer Tony Williams , guitarist John McLaughlin, and keyboardist Khalid Yasin (né Larry Young ). The term may have come from the 1968 album Super Session with Al Kooper , Mike Bloomfield , and Stephen Stills . The coalition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (formerly Crosby, Stills & Nash) in 1969
320-415: Is a musical group formed of members who are already successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups. The term became popular in the late 1960s when members of already successful rock groups recorded albums together , after which they normally disbanded. Charity supergroups , in which prominent musicians perform or record together in support of a particular cause, have been common since
352-536: Is a time when supergroups were experiencing a revival; established musicians looked for new platforms to express themselves, as they brought their different genres closer through collaborations that utilized their shared popularity so as to build something fresh and thrilling A contemporary example of a supergroup is FFS , a collaboration between Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand and American art rock band Sparks , Other prominent examples include Atoms for Peace and Boygenius . The very definition of
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#1732794053587384-517: Is another early example, given the success of their prior bands ( the Byrds , Buffalo Springfield , and the Hollies respectively). While the practice had declined by the 80s, in 1985 country superstars Johnny Cash , Willie Nelson , Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings formed the first country supergroup, Highwaymen , going on to achieve three chart singles. Perhaps the most decorated line-up,
416-467: Is back!" at his Volunteer Jam V in Nashville, Tennessee . All remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, with the exception of bassist Wilkeson (whose arm was still in a cast) performed an instrumental version of "Free Bird." From there, plans began to form a new band. However, Rossington and Collins did not wish for this new venture to be another Lynyrd Skynyrd, so they opted for Dale Krantz, who had been
448-497: The 1980s. The term is most common in the context of rock and pop music , but it has occasionally been applied to other musical genres . For example, opera stars the Three Tenors ( José Carreras , Plácido Domingo , and Luciano Pavarotti ) and hip hop duos Kids See Ghosts ( Kanye West and Kid Cudi ) and Bad Meets Evil ( Eminem and Royce da 5'9" ) all have been called supergroups. A supergroup sometimes forms as
480-577: The Babysitter's Dead . BMI presented Freddy Curci and Steve DeMarchi with the "Million-Air Award" for "More Than Words Can Say". According to BMI's website, only 1,500 songs, including "When I'm With You", achieved Million-air status (one million air plays) among the 4.5 million songs by 300,000 BMI-represented artists. One million performances is the equivalent of approximately 50,000 broadcast hours, or more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay. In 1992, Alias recorded their second album, but grunge
512-763: The Bluesbreakers ; Jack Bruce , formerly of jazz / rhythm and blues band the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers; and Ginger Baker , formerly of the GBO, formed the band in 1966, recorded four albums, and disbanded in 1968. Guitarist Clapton and drummer Baker went on to form Blind Faith , another blues rock supergroup which recruited former Spencer Davis Group and Traffic singer, keyboardist, and guitarist Steve Winwood and Family bassist Ric Grech . The group recorded one studio album before disbanding less than
544-892: The US Billboard chart for a second time. In January 1989, Capitol Records re-released the Sheriff album in the US. "When I'm With You" hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart in February 1989. Curci and DeMarchi tried to get Sheriff back together, but the other members of Sheriff, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Arnold Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassel (who had formed the band Frozen Ghost in 1985), were not interested. Curci and DeMarchi joined forces with ex- Heart members Roger Fisher , Steve Fossen and Mike Derosier, to form Alias. The band released their debut album, Alias , in 1990; it went gold in
576-589: The US and platinum in Canada, scoring hits with the power ballads " More Than Words Can Say " (#1 Canada, No. 2 U.S.), "Waiting for Love" (#13) and "Haunted Heart" (#18 on Mainstream Rock Charts). "More Than Words Can Say" was the band's biggest hit, climbing to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot AC chart and on the Billboard Hot 100 . A North American tour followed through 1990 (including a stint as
608-574: The attention of Capitol Records , which led to their self-titled album Sheriff . Sheriff's singles, particularly " When I'm with You ", received a large amount of airplay and reached No. 1 in Canada. Although promotion and distribution problems stalled the record's initial American momentum, the song reached No. 61 on the Billboard charts. Reports of fans not being able to buy the record in stores plagued Sheriff's American tour. Rigorous touring, frustration and disappointments caused tensions that split
640-479: The band Alias (not to be confused with the 1980s Canadian rock band of the same name ), which only existed for one album and a small round of live shows. The band also featured guitarist Barry Lee Harwood (who had played mandolin on Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets" record of 1976) and who would later be involved with the RCB. Charlie Daniels gave new hope to fans in January 1979, when he announced "Lynyrd Skynyrd
672-613: The band; Sheriff disbanded in 1985. With the financial backing of friends and family, and with the help of DeMarchi's brother Denny (who later played keyboard and sang backing vocals on the Alias album), Curci and DeMarchi built a recording studio in the DeMarchi family home basement. They worked as couriers during the day, while writing and recording at night. Most of these songs would end up on Alias' self-titled debut album . In 1988, their song "When I'm With You" re-entered and climbed
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#1732794053587704-407: The crash. Only Artimus Pyle (former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer) and Billy Powell were in good enough condition to be released from the hospital within two weeks of the crash. The earliest recording effort made by former band members were Pyle and Powell's involvement in the studio sessions for musician Leo LeBranche. Soon after, Powell, Pyle, Wilkeson, and Jo Billingsley (former Skynyrd vocalist) formed
736-434: The opening act for REO Speedwagon ) but, while touring, the trio of former Heart musicians left the band due to musical differences. In an interview with Strutter magazine, Curci said that Alias never formally disbanded: "Alias never split. Music changed. We couldn't get our music out there. No one wanted to hear it anymore. Grunge was in and, you know what, that's OK, 'cause music needs to do that. It needs to change all
768-452: The second Alias album, which had not been released. Some of the songs from that album had appeared on Dreamer's Road and been illegally recorded and printed. As a result, in January 2009, EMI announced the release of Alias' second album, Never Say Never . In early 2005, an acoustic version of "More Than Words Can Say" was released on a VH1 compilation disc, Classic Metal Mania: Stripped . Also in 2005, "More Than Words Can Say"
800-552: The supergroup Traveling Wilburys was formed in 1988, consisting of Bob Dylan , George Harrison , Jeff Lynne , Roy Orbison and Tom Petty . In the early 2000s, supergroups such as Audioslave and Velvet Revolver made their mark. Audioslave was created in 2001, composed of ex-members of Rage Against the Machine and Chris Cornell from Soundgarden . The members of Guns N’ Roses and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots came together to form Velvet Revolver in 2002. This
832-459: The time. That's how it stays fresh. Alias is still Steve and I. Alias will always be Steve and I. Steve and I will do a record tomorrow if the fans need one!" The band performed twice on The Tonight Show , with Jay Leno on January 8, 1991, and with Johnny Carson on March 8, 1991. They also recorded the Tonio K song "Perfect World" for the 1991 Christina Applegate film, Don't Tell Mom
864-731: The use of many master reels of recordings. The band initially premiered in the summer of 1980 to positive reviews. One highlight of the 1980 tour backing their album Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere , was a New Year's Eve performance at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia . One permanent feature in the set lists was " Free Bird ," which was performed without vocals and was dedicated to Ronnie Van Zant , Steve Gaines , Cassie Gaines , and Dean Kilpatrick. At one performance in Springfield, Massachusetts during 1980, guitarist Rossington had to play onstage with
896-532: Was a Canadian rock supergroup , formed in 1988 in Toronto by songwriter/lead vocalist Freddy Curci and songwriter/lead guitarist Steve DeMarchi of the Canadian arena rock band Sheriff , along with Heart founding members Roger Fisher , Steve Fossen, and Mike Derosier. Curci and DeMarchi were members of the Canadian rock band Sheriff from 1979 to 1985. Sheriff's popularity in the club circuit garnered
928-566: Was featured in a Subway commercial aired during the Super Bowl . Alias played New York's CMJ Music Marathon in 2005, and the 2006 Dour Festival in Belgium. In 2010, Alias headlined, with an acoustic set, at the opening party of Chicago's Melodic Rock Fest 2. On 21 August 2014, Alias played at The Sturgis Canada Motorcycle Rally and Music Festival in Merritt, British Columbia , which
960-439: Was formed but quickly fell apart due to Collins' erratic behavior and lack of leadership. Collins tried to resurrect the project in 1985 but in early 1986, he was sidelined by a serious injury, which left him partially paralyzed, when he crashed his car into a culvert near his Mandarin home. Collins assembled a Skynyrd-tribute band in 1987, which would evolve into a full-fledged Skynyrd re-formation. Alias (band) Alias
992-441: Was on the rise and metal was fading. EMI Canada sat on the record and encouraged Curci to record a solo album, Dreamer’s Road , which was released in 1994. DeMarchi became a support and touring player for The Cranberries , then recorded and toured in support of Are You Listening? , the 2007 solo album by The Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan . While on tour, he found that people were asking him to autograph copies of
Rossington Collins Band - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-697: Was the first full live show for the band in many years. The reunion band members included Curci, Hassel, Steve DeMarchi, Denny DeMarchi, guitarist Roscoe Stewart, and drummer Chris Sutherland. In 2013, Fossen, Fisher and Derosier were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as members of Heart . Fisher has continued to record, most recently with The Human Tribe. On May 15, 2020, Denny DeMarchi died of cancer, at age 57. Marco Mendoza and Michael Marquart continue to record; Mendoza as late as 2018, Marquart as recently as 2021. Studio albums Singles Album appearances Supergroup (music) A supergroup
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