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Artist:

Head East

  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '70s, '80s
  • Major Members: Steve Huston, Roger Boyd, Mike Somerville, John Schlitt, Dan Birney

Biography

Head East went through several lineups and musical approaches before consolidating in St. Louis in the early '70s as a hard rock quintet consisting of John Schlitt (vocals), Mike Somerville (guitar), Roger Boyd (keyboards), Dan Birney (bass), and Steve Huston (drums), all alumni of the University of Illinois. They recorded their debut album, Flat As a Pancake, independently and released it on their own Pyramid Records label in early 1975. When the track "Never Been Any Reason" began to attract radio attention, A&M Records signed the band and re-released Flat As a Pancake in June 1975. The singles "Never Been Any Reason" and "Love Me Tonight" became minor pop chart entries, and the album spent six months on the charts, eventually going gold. Get Yourself Up (April 1976) and Gettin' Lucky (March 1977) were less successful, but Head East (February 1978), spurred by the minor singles chart entry "Since You Been Gone," reached the upper half of the Top 100. The double-LP Head East Live! (January 1979) also peaked in the Top 100, as did A Different Kind of Crazy (October 1979), and the band performed on the soundtrack to the comic anthology film J-Men Forever! (1979), but at the end of the year Schlitt, Birney, and Somerville left the group. Boyd and Huston recruited Mark Boatman, Tony Gross, and Dan Odum to record U.S. 1 (October 1980), Head East's last album to reach the charts and last newly recorded release on A&M; it was a minor chart entry. After its commercial heyday, Boyd led the band in continued touring and recording for small labels. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Representative Songs:

"Never Been Any Reason," "Love Me Tonight," "Since You Been Gone"

Representative Albums:

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Head East, Head East, Flat as a Pancake

Similar Artists:

REO Speedwagon, Jimi Jamison, Supertramp, Boston, Petra
 
 
Wikipedia: Head East
Head East
Origin South Central Illinois
Genre(s) Classic Rock, Hard Rock
Years active 1973 - present
Label(s) A&M, Pyramid Records

Head East is a hard rock quintet originally from South Central Illinois, then Champaign, Illinois. They released their first album, Flat as a Pancake, in 1974 on their own record label (Pyramid Records) selling all 5,000 records and 500 eight-tracks produced. A&M was impressed enough to sign the band and re-release the album in 1975 which went gold by 1978.

Flat as a Pancake would remain their most popular album spawning two charting singles, the well-known anthem "Never Been Any Reason" and "Love Me Tonight", both written by guitarist Mike Somerville. "Never Been Any Reason" is their signature song but it peaked lower (#68) on the Billboard's Hot 100 chart than their other two Top 100 singles, "Love Me Tonight" (#54) and "Since You Been Gone" (#46). Their only other charting single was "Got to be Real" (#103). The diner on the back of Flat as a Pancake is the Rite-Way Diner at 9538 Olive Blvd, Olivette, Missouri. It is still in business although renamed the Olivette Diner.

Their 1978 cover of former Argent singer Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone" was a minor hit (US #46), and bested another version done by Rainbow the next year, which reached #57 US. The Rainbow version did reach the Top 10 in the UK, however.

The lineup of John Schlitt (vocals), Mike Somerville (guitars), Roger Boyd (keyboards), Dan Birney (bass) and Steve Huston (drums) would last through four more studio albums and a double-LP live album. In 1980 Birney and Somerville left the band and John Schlitt was fired, although Somerville would return for the period between 1994 and 2003. John Schlitt joined the popular Christian rock band Petra in 1985 and was with that band until its retirement in 2006. The 1999 live album is from two shows at Denver's Rainbow Music Hall. The first five tracks are from a 1980 show featuring the classic lineup and the last 10 tracks are from a 1981 show featuring the latter lineup.

Roger Boyd took over leadership of the band for one mildly successful album, U.S. 1, and two more studio albums.

Discography

  • (#126) 1975: Flat as a Pancake
  • (#161) 1976: Get Yourself Up
  • (#136) 1977: Gettin' Lucky
  • (# 78 ) 1978: Head East
  • (# 96 ) 1979: Head East Live!
  • (# 65 ) 1979: A Different Kind of Crazy'
  • (#137) 1980: U.S. 1
  • (none) 1982: Onward and Upward
  • (none) 1988: Choice of Weapons
  • (none) 1999: Concert Classics Volume 7
  • (none) 2000: Live On Stage (edited version of Head East Live)

(Peak on Billboard's Pop Album Chart)


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Artist. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Head East".  Read more

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