Robin Leonard Trower is an English rock guitarist and vocalist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band.
Montrose was an American hard rock band formed in 1973 and named after guitarist and founder Ronnie Montrose. The band's original lineup featured vocalist Sammy Hagar, who later found greater fame as a solo artist and as the lead singer for American hard rock band Van Halen. Rounding out the original foursome were bassist Bill Church and drummer Denny Carmassi. The group disbanded in early 1977.
Ronald Douglas Montrose was an American rock guitarist, who led the bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison (1971–72), Herbie Hancock (1971), Beaver & Krause (1971), Boz Scaggs (1971), Edgar Winter, Gary Wright (1975), The Beau Brummels (1975), Dan Hartman (1976), Tony Williams (1978), The Neville Brothers (1987), Marc Bonilla and Sammy Hagar (1997). The first Montrose album has often been cited as, "America's answer to Led Zeppelin" Ronnie Montrose is often referred to as one of the most influential guitarists in early hard rock.
Denny Carmassi is an American rock drummer most notable for playing with many rock bands.
Davey Pattison is a San Francisco Bay Area based rock vocalist. Pattison recorded his first music in 1969, and his career took off after arrival in the United States in 1979, on invitation from Bill Graham, to front the band Gamma, formed by Bay Area guitarist Ronnie Montrose.
Gamma was an American band formed by guitarist Ronnie Montrose and singer Davey Pattison in San Francisco, California, United States in 1979. They released four albums: Gamma 1 (1979), Gamma 2 (1980), Gamma 3 (1982) and Gamma 4 (2000). Their biggest hit was 1982's "Right the First Time", which was a minor chart entry in the US, but a top 40 hit in Canada. Some of their other best known songs include "Fight to the Finish" from their first album, and "Meanstreak" and "Voyager" from the second album.
The Speed of Sound is a 1988 all-instrumental album by American rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, who led the bands Montrose and Gamma and also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison (1971–72), Herbie Hancock (1971), Beaver & Krause (1971), Boz Scaggs (1971), Edgar Winter, Gary Wright (1975), The Beau Brummels (1975), Dan Hartman (1976), Tony Williams (1978), The Neville Brothers (1987), Marc Bonilla, Sammy Hagar (1997), and Johnny Winter. In 1997, Ronnie stated that this album was his favorite instrumental record he had done so far. The track titles are words and phrases referencing aviation themes.
Gamma 1, released in 1979, is Gamma's debut album. It reached No. 131 on the Billboard Album charts, totalling seventeen weeks on the survey. "I'm Alive" reached No. 60 on the Billboard singles charts. "I'm Alive" is a cover of The Hollies song from 1965.
Gamma 2 is Gamma's second album, released in 1980. On this album Ronnie Montrose keeps his streak of not having the same personnel on two albums in a row, changing the line-up once again. Davey Pattison (vocals), Montrose (guitar), and Jim Alcivar (synthesizer) remain from Gamma 1. Glenn Letsch replaces Alan Fitzgerald on bass and old Montrose bandmate Denny Carmassi replaces Skip Gillette on drums.
Gamma 3 is the third studio album released by the rock band Gamma. It was released in 1982.
Gamma 4 is Gamma's fourth and final album and was originally released on Ronnie Montrose's own label, RoMoCo, in 2000. In 2005, it was re-released by Wounded Bird Records.
Mean is the fifth and final album by American hard rock band Montrose, released in 1987. It has much more of a glam metal sound than previous Montrose albums. It was the lowest-charting release on Montrose's career, reaching No. 165 on the Billboard 200 in June 1987.
Passion is a 1987 studio album by Robin Trower. The album received positive reviews and was followed by a US tour. The album was honored with a first place award in the Rock category by the American Association of Independent Music.
Take What You Need is the thirteenth studio album by Robin Trower, and the second to feature Davey Pattison on lead vocals.
Open Fire was the first instrumental album from Ronnie Montrose which explored jazz, rock and acoustic concepts in the vein of Blow by Blow by Jeff Beck. Ronnie dropped hints in previous Montrose albums that he was heading in this direction. Songs like "Whaler" and "One And a Half" from Warner Brothers Presents... Montrose! and "Tuft-Sedge" and "Merry-Go-Round" from Jump On It contained various acoustic, synthesizer and string elements that showed Ronnie was looking to branch out from his hard rock persona.
The Diva Station is a mix of instrumental rock music with three songs with vocals. Former Gamma vocalist Davey Pattison reunites for two songs with Ronnie Montrose.
The Best of Gamma is a compilation of music from the first three Gamma albums.
The Very Best of Montrose is the only compilation album by American hard rock band Montrose. It was released in 2000 by Rhino Records. The album contains songs from the group's five albums, the first four in consecutive years in the mid-seventies and another from 1987.
Keith St. John is an American rock singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work as the frontman for the hard rock bands Montrose and Burning Rain.
10x10 is a posthumous solo album by Ronnie Montrose. Ronnie had been touring with bassist Ricky Phillips and Eric Singer (Kiss) in the early 2000s. Over three days in 2003 at Doug Messenger's studio in North Hollywood, the sessions produced 10 strong tracks of rhythm guitar, bass and drums with the intention to get a singer to for the vocals. Eventually Ronnie decided on the 10x10 concept, 10 tracks and 10 different singers. Early on, he was able to secure contributions from close friends and collaborators like Sammy Hagar, Edgar Winter and Davey Pattison. In the intervening years Ronnie battled prostate cancer and, at one point, hadn't touched a guitar for 2 years. Conflicts in scheduling led to the record remaining unfinished for years up until Montrose's passing in 2012. Along with completion of the vocals, the songs also needed lead guitar as well. Rickey Phillips, with the blessing of Ronnie's wife Leighsa and assistance of Eric Singer, picked up the reigns and completed the album. "After he passed, I had to carry on with what Ronnie wanted, because he was such a purist. The songs were cut to 2-inch tape and then transferred to digital, but I really needed it to be a cohesive record. I've done enough records to know how easily the levels of 10 different singers can sound disjointed if you don't stay on top of the production." As per Singer, "I have to give a lot of credit to Ricky Phillips. Ricky really wanted to see this thing through. It was more for Ronnie than just for himself, or for ourselves. We really believed what we had originally captured had a certain vibe and a certain magic to the people in that room when it was created. We felt like, 'Hey, this thing needs to get done. We need to see this thing through, for every good reason.'"
