Starz (band)

Starz
Logo created by artist Michael Doret
Background information
Origin	New Jersey, United States
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal power pop
Years active	1975–1979; 1980; 1990; 2003–present
Labels	Capitol Records,
Associated acts	The Stories
Members
Michael Lee Smith Richie Ranno Joe. X. Dube Bobby Messano George DiAna
Past members
Pieter Sweval Brendan Harkin Doug Madick Orville Davis

Starz was a 1970s heavy metal and power pop band from New Jersey, United States. Despite a lack of big commercial success, the band has a lasting cult following and has been cited as a major influence by bands such as Mötley Crüe, Poison and Twisted Sister.

History

Starz was formed out of the ashes of an early 1970s pop music band, Looking Glass, which had the #1 hit single "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" in the summer of 1972. After lead singer Elliot Lurie left Looking Glass in 1974, the three remaining members (keyboardist Larry Gonsky, bassist Pieter Sweval and drummer Jeff Grob, who adopted the stage name Joe X. Dube) teamed up with Michael Lee Smith (vocals) and guitarist Brendan Harkin to continue the band and soon changed their name to Fallen Angels. In September 1975 they were joined by former Stories guitarist Richie Ranno. After keyboardist Gonsky was dropped from the group, they changed their moniker once again (to Starz) and pursued a more heavy metal direction. Kiss manager Bill Aucoin was introduced to Starz via his right hand man Sean Delaney, who had befriended Pieter Sweval, and Aucoin began handling Starz in late 1975, helping them to get signed to Capitol Records in early 1976.

Their major hit single "Cherry Baby" in the spring of 1977 came from the album Violation, produced by Jack Douglas of Aerosmith fame. Jack Douglas produced their first two albums "Starz" and "Violation." Most fans consider Violation their best album and compare it stylistically to Kiss and Aerosmith. Their third album, the self produced Attention Shoppers!, was more in the vein of power pop than heavy metal and featured a Cheap Trick influence in songs like "X-Ray Spex." Brendan Harkin and Pieter Sweval were asked to leave the band after Attention Shoppers!, reportedly since they wanted to continue in that record's musical direction, while the others favored a return to the harder sound of the first two releases. On their final Capitol album, Coliseum Rock (produced by Guess Who producer Jack Richardson), Harkin and Sweval were replaced by Bobby Messano on guitar and Orville Davis on bass. Davis had played in Rex, a hard rock outfit fronted by Michael's brother Rex Smith, who went on to TV and pop stardom in the late 70s and early 80s.

After leaving Capitol, Starz split up in 1979 and Dube and Ranno put together a trio with bassist Peter Scance called Hard Core. In 1980 Starz reunited with a lineup of Smith, Ranno, Harkin, Orville Davis and Doug Madick, former Prism drummer who was working with Smith at the time. The group played clubs up and down the East Coast in what amounted to a farewell tour. In 1981 Smith, Ranno, Madick and Peter Scance regrouped. At first they were to continue as Starz but decided to change their name to Hellcats. Hellcats recorded five new songs and released them as an EP on the small Radio Records label in 1982. But Radio, unfortunately, went out of business not long afterward. And another mid-80s lineup of Hellcats with Ranno and Scance also went nowhere after putting out another record in 1987. Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records contacted Ranno in 1989 telling him of his longtime admiration of the band. Ranno put him onto the group's material and Metal Blade put out Live in Action, which contained live cuts from two 1978 Starz shows in Cleveland, OH and Louisville, KY. Both these shows eventually saw separate releases. Metal Blade was supposed to then put out the group's studio albums but never got around to it (the Starz catalog was finally released on CD in 2005).

Ranno eventually ran into their former producer, Jack Douglas, at an Aerosmith concert and he expressed an interest in doing another Starz record. So in 1990, Michael Lee Smith and Brendan Harkin came to NY to join Ranno in writing and recording five new tunes. Doug Madick played drums on the new project as Dube had left the music biz to work as an architect and Harkin handled bass chores since Pieter Sweval had died of AIDS earlier that year (on January 23). Since the band was unable to acquire a new record deal, the songs were put out (with some live tracks and other odds and ends) on their own label, Drastic CD, in 1992. After this, Ranno continued on his own with the Richie Ranno Group, who put out a CD, RRG, in 1996.

Ranno was approached in 2003 by a British promoter who wanted to bring Starz over to the U.K. This failed to pan out but the surviving original members (Smith, Ranno, Harkin and Dube), with new bassist "Insane" George DiAna, regrouped that same year for a number of successful club dates, culminating in the two day 2005 "Starzfest" held in Teaneck, New Jersey which featured the entire band joined by Bobby Messano and Orville Davis. They played their entire album catalog to include songs which had never been played live before. Two concerts in California were also performed in late 2005, one recorded for a television special. In addition, a show recorded in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004 was released on CD in late 2006. The Ohio show was done as a 4 piece since Harkin had missed his plane flight to Cleveland. Since 2005 Messano has once again replaced Harkin as guitarist and Ranno also does shows with DiAna and Dube as the Richie Ranno All Stars.

Former Ted Nugent drummer Cliff Davies filled in for Joe X. Dube for a Starz show in San Francisco in October 2007 and for additional shows in California in April 2008, Billy Howe filled in on guitar for Messano. Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick did the honors at that same year's Kiss Convention on May 3 in Secaucus, NJ.

Influence

Although not being able to build up major commercial success and not well remembered, Starz has proven to be influential far beyond their commercial success. Several 1980s glam metal artists, including Poison, and Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, cite Starz as a primary influence. Kerrang! magazine included the first two Starz albums on their list of the most important heavy metal albums of all time.

Discography

Studio albums

• Starz (1976)
• Violation (1977)
• Attention Shoppers! (1977)
• Coliseum Rock (1978)

Live albums

• Live in Action (1978)
• Greatest Hits live (2004)
• Double Live (2006)

Compilation albums

• Do it With the Lights On (1987) Contains Previously Unreleased Material
• Requiem (1992)
• Brightest Starz Anthology (2000)

External links

• Official band website
• Interview with Richie Ranno
• Interview with Starz guitarist Richie Ranno