Player

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Player is an American rock band during the late 1970s. Their #1 hit, "Baby Come Back" was written by Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley.

Career

Player first came together in Los Angeles, California. The original members included Peter Beckett (lead vocals, guitar), John Charles "J.C." Crowley (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ronn Moss (bass, vocals) and John Friesen (drums). Beckett, a transplanted Englishman, had been in a group called Skyband with Australian Steve Kipner (who'd also played with the popular Aussie act Tin Tin). After Skyband broke up in 1975, Beckett was in LA and met Crowley at a party. He and Crowley teamed up in a new band called Riff Raff, which soon changed its name to Bandana and released a single, "Jukebox Saturday Night" on Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter's Haven label. When Haven folded soon after, Lambert & Potter brought the guys over to RSO Records in 1977 and Beckett & Crowley started anew with Moss & Friesen as Player. Wayne Cook, a keyboardist/session player and former member of Steppenwolf, was an additional bandmember for its live performances; he is the curly-haired keyboardist in the band's videos from the 1970s.

Player gained popularity as a live act during the heyday of the 1970s stadium rock era. They began to develop a distinctive, edgy and melodic rock style. Their biggest hit, "Baby Come Back", rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 and was a chart success in other countries. Their follow up single "This Time I'm In It For Love" also peaked at No. 10 the same year. Among several notable accolades, Player was named Billboard's Best New Singles Artist of 1978. Eric Clapton became so impressed with Player that he invited them to open for him during his 1978 North American tour. This further fueled their popularity. At this point, keyboardist Cook left and was replaced by Bob Wooley (formerly of Paul Revere and the Raiders). Eventually, the band began to headline their own events.

Player released three albums during their active touring years: Player (RSO Records), Danger Zone (RSO Records), and Room With A View (Casablanca Records). J.C. Crowley left the band in 1979 prior to recording of the last of these first three albums.

Lineup Changes

Miles Joseph (vocals, guitar) and Gabriel Katona (keyboards) played on the group's third album, Room With a View (1980). But Ronn Moss left Player in 1981 to pursue a full-time acting career. (He continues to play the role of Ridge Forrester on the soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful.) After Moss left, Beckett kept the band going with Friesen, Joseph, Katona and Rusty Buchanan (vocals, bass) and the band released their fourth album, Spies of Life on RCA in late 1981. The band continued until 1982 and played on the music series Solid Gold that same year with the new lineup.

Peter Beckett did a brief stint with Little River Band in 1991 to 1994 in its latter stages as a club/festival band and played "Baby Come Back" at its performances.

J.C. Crowley (who still occasionally wrote with Beckett) became a Nashville performer and songwriter, recording his only solo album "Beneath The Texas Moon" in 1988. In 1989, he had country hits with "Paint the Town and Hang the Moon Tonight" (No. 13) and "I Know What I've Got" (No. 21), and was named "Best New Male Country Performer". He wrote a number of songs recorded by Nashville artists including Johnny Cash and The Oak Ridge Boys. He also won a battle with cancer in the late 1990s and now lives in Topanga, California.

Although Player officially retired as a touring band, Moss and Beckett have partnered on occasion. The duo recorded an additional studio album as Player, released in Japan in 1995 entitled Electric Shadows, which was renamed Lost In Reality when put out on River North Records in the U.S. in 1996. On December 16th, 1997, Player played live for the first time in years at the L.A. Music Awards at the Hollywood Palladium with a lineup consisting of Beckett, Moss, Elliot Easton (of The Cars) on guitar, Burleigh Drummond of Ambrosia on drums and Tony Sciuto of Little River Band on keyboards. A compilation album, Best of Player was released in 1998.

The response to the group's reunion show was so enthusiastic that they had several offers for more concert dates. Unfortunately, River North Records dropped the band and Player tried to buy back the rights to the Lost in Reality CD, but were not successful.

Player hit the road in the spring of 1998 with a lineup of Beckett, Moss, Sciuto, Drummond, guitarist Steve Farris (formerly of Mr. Mister) and percussionist Ron Green---with guitarist Dave Amato (from REO Speedwagon) and drummer Ron Wikso (formerly of Foreigner) filling in as needed, depending on the schedules of the others. A 2000 lineup of Player included drummer Craig Pilo, Michael Hakes (guitar), Ron Green, Tony Sciuto, Ronn Moss and Peter playing more shows across the United States. Michael Hakes died on November 19, 2003, from complications of leukemia. After the death of Hakes, the band stopped touring and concentrated on other projects.

Recent news

Moss (with Beckett) has recorded two recent "solo" albums: I'm Your Man (2000) and Uncovered (2005). Both Moss and Beckett continue to play limited concert schedules as solo artists and teamed up to play in Australia in 2006 in support of Uncovered.

The band's No. 1 song, "Baby Come Back", was used in the 2007 film Transformers in a scene where Bumblebee purposely stalls in a romantic location so that the protagonist, Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf), can have some alone time with the object of his romantic desires, Mikaela Banes (played by Megan Fox). When Mikaela is about to leave, Bumblebee eventually restarts and plays the song.

It also is featured in commercials for Swiffer floor cleaners. In these commercials, a woman confides that she has replaced her traditional mop and broom with a Swiffer, and the mop and broom try to woo her back with flowers, candles and other romantic notions to the tune of "Baby Come Back."

In 2008 Beckett & Moss are reportedly reuniting again as Player.

Discography

• Player (12" LP album, RSO Records, 1977) #26 US (34 weeks)
  • "Baby Come Back / Love Is Where You Find It" (7" vinyl single, RSO Records, 1977) #1 US (32 weeks), #32 UK (7 weeks)
  • "This Time I'm In It For Love / Every Which Way" (7" vinyl single, RSO Records, 1977) #10 US (17 weeks)

• Danger Zone (12" LP album, RSO Records, 1978) #37 US (23 weeks)
  • "Prisoner Of Your Love / Join The Dance" (7" vinyl single, RSO Records, 1978) #27 US (11 weeks)
  • "Silver Lining / Forever" (7" vinyl single, RSO Records, 1978) #62 US (6 weeks)

• Silver Lining - AOR Sampler (12" promotional 4-song EP, RSO Records, 1978) For radio programming use only

• • "It's For You / Tip Of The Iceberg" (7" vinyl single, Casablanca Records, 1980) #46 US (8 weeks)
  • "Givin' It All / Tip Of The Iceberg" (7" vinyl single, Casablanca Records, 1980) #105 US (3 weeks)

• Room With A View (12" LP album, Casablanca Records, 1980) did not chart
  • "It's For You / Tip Of The Iceberg" (7" vinyl single, Casablanca Records, 1980) #46 US (8 weeks)
  • "Givin' It All / Tip Of The Iceberg" (7" vinyl single, Casablanca Records, 1980) #105 US (3 weeks)

• Spies Of Life (12" LP album, RCA Records, 1981) #152 US (7 weeks)
  • "If Looks Could Kill / Born To Be With You" (7" vinyl single, RCA Records, 1981) #48 US (9 weeks)
  • "I'd Rather Be Gone" (7" vinyl single, RCA Records, 1981) did not chart

Discography Guide

• album title (original format, original record label, year of release) peak chart placing, country (chart run)
  • "A side title / B side title" (original format, original record label, year of release) peak chart placing, country (chart run)

External links

• Official Player web site
• Official Peter Beckett website
• Official Ronn Moss website