Head East
is a hard rock band originally from South Central Illinois, then Champaign, Illinois. The band was formed by vocalist John Schlitt, guitarist Mike Somerville, keyboardist Roger Boyd, bassist Dan Birney, and drummer Steve Huston. They met and formed the band while studying at the University of Illinois, Champaign. The band achieved success in the Midwest during the 1970s, but fell into obscurity in the following decades.
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HEAD EAST TICKETS
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Background
Head East was formed in 1968 and played their first gig in Carbondale, Illinois.
[1] 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. With those sales, and the song "
Never Been Any Reason" on radio,
A&M was impressed enough to sign the band and re-release the album in 1975.
[2]. The album reached gold status by 1978 and would remain their most popular album, spawning another hit in the song "Love Me Tonight", which peaked at #54.
The band followed with the albums
Get Yourself Up
and
Gettin' Lucky
, released in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Neither album achieved the success of their debut album. However, their fourth album simply titled
Head East
(1978) produced another hit with the band's cover of former
Argent singer
Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone," which peaked at #46.
In 1979, the band released the double-
LP Head East Live!
and
A Different Kind of Crazy
. The former also peaked on the US Top 100 charts. The band also performed on the
soundtrack to the comic anthology film
J-Men Forever
.
In March of 1980,
bassist Dan Birney and
guitarist Mike Somerville left the band, while singer
John Schlitt was fired due to a
drug dependency.
[3] He would later recover, become a born-again
Christian and become the singer and the face of one of
Contemporary Christian Music's all-time most successful bands,
Petra. Schlitt was with Petra from 1985, until the band was retired in 2005.
Remaining members, Boyd and Huston, hired Mark Boatman, Tony Gross, and Dan Odum to record their following album titled
U.S. 1
, released in October 1980. The album was their last to reach the charts and last recorded release on A&M.
The band continued with little success, releasing albums on small labels. Some of them were
Onward and Upward
(1982) on Allegiance Records and
Choice of Weapons
(1988) on Dark Heart Records, among others. Tim Day, drummer from
Daddy's Girl joined the band and toured from 99-01. They would still continue to play around, with guitarist Somerville returning from 1994 to 2003.
In 1999, a live album titled
Live on Stage
was released. The album featured songs from two shows at
Denver's Rainbow Music Hall. The first five tracks are from a 1980 show featuring the original personnel, while the last 10 tracks are from a 1981 show featuring the latter lineup.
The band continues to tour to this day, playing 30 to 40 shows each year.
The band's 1975 single, "Never Been Any Reason," was featured in the 2005 movie adaptation of Clive Cussler's novel, "Sahara".
Band members
- Roger Boyd - keyboards
- Eddy Jones - drums & vocals
- Greg Manahan - bass guitar, vocals
- Glen Bridger - lead guitar, vocals
- Darren Walker - lead vocals
Former members
- Dan Piper - lead guitar - (1970 -1972)
- Brad Flota - guitarist (1972 - 1973)
- Mike Somerville - guitarist (1974 - 1980, 1994 - 2003)
- Dan Birney - bassist (1974 - 1980)
- John Schlitt - lead vocals (1974 - 1980)
- Mark Boatman - Bass - 1980
- Steve Riker - drums (1991 - 1994)
- Tim Day - drums (1994 - 2001)
- Tom Bryant - lead singer
- Donnie Dobbins - drums
Discography
Albums
(Year: album
- peak on Billboard's Pop Album chart)
- 1974: Flat as a Pancake
- (#126)
- 1976: Get Yourself Up
- (#161)
- 1977: Gettin' Lucky
- (#136)
- 1978: Head East
- (#78)
- 1979: Head East Live!
- (#96)
- 1979: ''A Different Kind of Crazy - (#65)
- 1980: U.S. 1
- (#137)
- 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
) - (none)
- 2008: Head East Live 2008
- (none)
Singles
(Year: "side-A song" / "side-B song" - peak on Billboard's Hot 100)
- 1975: "Never Been Any Reason" / "One Against The Other" - (#68)
- 1975: "Love Me Tonight" / "Fly By Night Lady" - (#54)
- 1976: "Fly By Night Lady" / "Separate Ways" - (none)
- 1977: "Gettin' Lucky" / "Sands of Time" - (none)
- 1978: "Since You Been Gone" / "Pictures" - (#46)
- 1979: "Never Been Any Reason" / "I'm Feelin' Fine" - (none)
- 1979: "Got To Be Real" / "Morning" - (none)
- 1979: "Specialty" / "Morning" - (none)
- 1980: "I Surrender" / "Out Of The Blue" - (none)
Notes
- "Head East Band History. - Head East.
- Head East > Biography. - Allmusic.
- Biography. - John Schlitt.
See also
- Petra (band)
- John Schlitt