Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1979 under the name "Stereo", the group was originally a trio composed of former Rubicon members Jack Blades (bass, lead vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums, lead vocals) and Brad Gillis (guitar, backing vocals). [1] In 1980, the group expanded to a five-piece with the addition of keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald and second guitarist Jeff Watson, as well as changing its name to "Ranger" and later Night Ranger. [2] After four commercially successful albums, the band experienced its first lineup change in early 1988 when Fitzgerald left prior to the recording of Man in Motion . [3] Jesse Bradman, one of the substitute performers on the album, subsequently joined the group full-time. [1] After Blades announced his departure, Night Ranger officially broke up in April 1989. [4]
Two years after disbanding, Night Ranger was reformed by Keagy and Gillis, who recruited Gary Moon as the replacement for Blades. [5] In 1993, David Zajicek joined the band as touring guitarist and keyboardist. [6] Following the release and touring of Feeding off the Mojo , Blades, Watson and Fitzgerald all returned to mark a reunion of the original five-piece lineup of Night Ranger, after being invited to tour Japan. [7] Two more studio albums followed, before Fitzgerald was replaced in 2003 by Michael Lardie of Great White. [8] Watson also left in April 2007, with Whitesnake's Reb Beach taking his place for subsequent tour dates. [9] Following a Japanese tour shortly after Beach's arrival, Lardie was replaced by Christian Matthew Cullen. [10] In January 2008, Joel Hoekstra joined the band full-time, as Beach returned to Whitesnake. [11] [12]
Following the addition of Hoekstra, the Night Ranger lineup remained stable for three years, until Eric Levy replaced Cullen on keyboards in March 2011. [13] Hoekstra remained for two studio albums and one live release, before it was announced in August 2014 that he was leaving to join Beach in Whitesnake. [14] He was soon replaced by Keri Kelli, who had previously substituted for Hoekstra during shows in 2012 and 2013. [15] [16]
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kelly Keagy |
|
| all Night Ranger releases | |
Brad Gillis |
| |||
Jack Blades |
|
| all Night Ranger releases, except Feeding off the Mojo (1995) | |
Eric Levy | 2011–present |
| all Night Ranger releases from Somewhere in California (2011) onwards | |
Keri Kelli | 2014–present (plus select shows in 2012 and 2013) |
|
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jeff Watson |
|
| all releases from Dawn Patrol (1982) to Live in Japan (1990), and from Neverland (1997) to Hole in the Sun (2007) | |
Alan Fitzgerald |
|
| all releases from Dawn Patrol (1982) to Big Life (1987), and from Neverland (1997) to Seven (1998) | |
Jesse Bradman | 1988–1989 |
| ||
Gary Moon | 1991–1996 |
| Feeding off the Mojo (1995) | |
Michael Lardie | 2003–2007 |
|
| |
Christian Matthew Cullen | 2007–2011 | none | ||
Joel Hoekstra | 2008–2014 |
|
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
David Zajicek | 1993–1996 (died 2016) |
| Zajicek joined Night Ranger's touring lineup in 1993, as well as contributing guitar to Feeding off the Mojo. [1] [6] | |
Reb Beach | 2007–2008 |
| After Watson was fired, Beach replaced him in the band for 2007 dates, appearing on Rockin' Shibuya 2007. [9] | |
Deen Castronovo |
|
| Castronovo substituted for Keagy in 2011, and again during 2017 after the drummer had a heart operation. [17] | |
Brandon Ethridge | 2012 |
| Ethridge substituted for Levy for one show on September 1, 2012, as his wife was giving birth.[ citation needed ] | |
Fred Coury | 2017 | drums | Coury substituted for Keagy alongside Castronovo, while the regular drummer was recovering from surgery. [17] |
Period | Members | Releases |
---|---|---|
1979–1980 |
| none – live performances only |
1980 |
| |
1980 – early 1988 |
|
|
Early – mid-1988 |
|
|
Late 1988 – April 1989 |
|
|
Band inactive April 1989 – mid-1991 | ||
Mid-1991 – mid-1996 |
|
|
June 1996 – early 2003 |
| |
Early 2003 – April 2007 |
|
|
April – June 2007 |
|
|
June 2007 – January 2008 |
| none – live performances only |
January 2008 – March 2011 |
| |
March 2011 – August 2014 |
|
|
September 2014 – present |
|
|
Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1979, and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, though bassist Jack Blades performed on all but one of their albums. Other current members of the band include guitarist Keri Kelli and keyboardist Eric Levy.
Vincent Samson Appice is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice.
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Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake.
Jack Martin Blades is an American rock musician. He has worked in the bands Rubicon, Night Ranger, and Damn Yankees. He has also recorded with Tommy Shaw under the name Shaw Blades and has done work alongside the Tak Matsumoto Group. Blades' most recent efforts include a second solo album and three albums with Revolution Saints, which he was a member of until 2022.
Marco Mendoza is an American bass guitarist who has worked in diverse genres. He became a professional rock musician in 1989 and debuted on Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's solo album Along the Way. He has performed on a number of notable releases throughout his career, including Live... in the Still of the Night by Whitesnake, One Night Only by Thin Lizzy and Live in Concert at Lollapalooza by Journey.
Rubicon was a California funk rock band, whose "I'm Gonna Take Care of Everything" spent 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, peaking at number 28.
Kelly Dean Keagy is an American drummer and vocalist, best known for his work with the hard rock band Night Ranger. Keagy sang lead vocals on several of their hits, such as "Sister Christian", "Sing Me Away", and "Sentimental Street".
Michael Lardie is an American musician and record producer known for his memberships in the rock bands Great White and Night Ranger.
Shaw Blades is an American musical duo/group formed by Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger, both of whom played in the supergroup Damn Yankees. It is an informal duo which has produced two albums between other projects, 1995's Hallucination and 2007's Influence. The first two songs on "Hallucination" -- "My Hallucination" and "I'll Always Be with You"—received modest airplay. "Influence" consisted solely of 1960s and 1970s cover songs that influenced them. Blades' son Colin, a songwriter himself, contributed backing vocals and arrangements to the album. Shaw Blades also recorded a cover of the classic Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on the A Classic Rock Christmas album by various classic rock artists in 2002. Shaw Blades did a short tour of America in Spring 2007 and another in Autumn 2007. Both members still principally record and perform with the acts which made them famous. From 2007 to 2009, they were joined on tour by Will Evankovich on the request of Blades, who had seen Evankovich's band American Drag perform and wanted him to join them on acoustic,12-string, harmonica and background vocals.
Timothy Drury is an American composer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. His breakthrough came in 1989 when Don Henley invited him to join The End of the Innocence tour as his pianist, keyboardist and backup vocalist. A few years later, he was back on tour playing keyboard, guitar and singing backup vocals with the Eagles for their "Hell Freezes Over" reunion, a tour that lasted from 1994 to 2000. He toured for seven years with the rock band Whitesnake, and with a friendly departure in September 2010, he left the band to pursue a solo career. As a composer, lyricist and songwriter, Drury has several co-writes to his credit, including music with guitarist Don Felder, formerly with the Eagles, songs with Henley and Scott F. Crago, and with Stevie Nicks and Crago.
I'm Alive is a solo album released by Night Ranger's drummer Kelly Keagy. Released in 2007 on Frontiers Records, it features Jim Peterik, Reb Beach, and Michael Lardie.
The Secret of My Success is a song performed by Night Ranger from their album Big Life as well as on the soundtrack to the 1987 comedy film, The Secret of My Success.
Somewhere in California is the tenth studio album by American hard rock band Night Ranger, released on June 21, 2011. It is the first album since the departure of original guitarist Jeff Watson in 2007. The album introduces new guitarist Joel Hoekstra and keyboardist Eric Levy. Although the previous three releases are regarded as different and more experimental for Night Ranger, this album has been noted as somewhat of a return to the signature Night Ranger sound from the successful 1980s releases. The first single and video from the album is "Growin' Up in California".
Joel Hoekstra is an American guitarist currently in the hard rock band Whitesnake. He also tours as a guitarist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The son of classical musicians, he started out playing cello and piano at a young age, but it was hearing Angus Young of AC/DC that inspired him to start playing the guitar. He was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, in Orland Park, but has lived in New York City since 2001.
Revolution Saints is an American supergroup conceptualized by Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino, and formed by Jack Blades of Night Ranger; Deen Castronovo of Journey; and Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake and Dio.
High Road is the eleventh studio album by American hard rock band Night Ranger, released on June 10, 2014. It peaked at No. 105 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, No. 31 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, and No. 9 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, all on June 28, 2014. The Best Buy edition of the album includes two additional songs "Mountain Song" and "Don't Even Know Your Name".
Don't Let Up is the twelfth studio album by American hard rock band Night Ranger, released on March 24, 2017. It peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart on June 15, 2017. It is the first Night Ranger studio album to feature Keri Kelli on guitar, who replaced Joel Hoekstra after he left to join Whitesnake.
Man in Motion is the fifth studio album by Night Ranger, released in 1988. This album was the first studio album recorded by Night Ranger after the departure of keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald, who was replaced by Jesse Bradman.