Scandal | |
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Origin | New York City, U.S. |
Genres | Rock, pop rock |
Years active | 1981–1985, 2004–present |
Labels | Columbia |
Spinoffs | Bon Jovi |
Members |
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Past members |
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Scandal is an American rock band formed in 1981 and fronted by Patty Smyth. The band scored heavy rotation classics on MTV with "Goodbye to You" (1982) and "Love's Got a Line on You" (1983), setting the stage for their first full-length album on Columbia Records, that spawned an RIAA-certified platinum hit in both the United States and Canada, with the song "The Warrior", peaking at No. 7 in 1984. The song ended up in Billboard's Top 50 songs for that year. [1]
Scandal was formed in New York City in 1981 by guitarist Zack Smith. The other initial members included: bassist Ivan Elias (1950–1995), guitarist Keith Mack, keyboardist Benjy King (1953–2012), drummer Frankie LaRocka (1954–2005) (later replaced by Thommy Price), and singer Patty Smyth. [2] Jon Bon Jovi also briefly played guitar for the band in 1983.
The band had much success early on but due to struggles within the group and their record company, it slowly dissolved—losing member after member. By the time "The Warrior" tour hit the road in 1984, all that remained of the original lineup were Smyth and Mack. Scandal broke up shortly after the tour ended. The group (minus Ivan Elias, who died of cancer in June 1995; replaced by Kasim Sulton) reunited in 2004 for VH1's Bands Reunited show and did a string of concerts on the United States East Coast culminating in a show at Irving Plaza in their home city (New York) on February 9, 2005. [3] During the summer of 2006, the band (excluding Price and Sulton) reunited again for VH1's "We Are the '80s" tour, playing a string of large – mainly outdoor – venues and earning critical acclaim. [4] During the summer and fall of 2007, they toured again (this time without Zack Smith).
In July 2008, Billboard reported the upcoming release of new music by Patty Smyth and Scandal [5] (featuring original members Keith Mack and Benjy King). At a performance in Dewey Beach, Delaware on August 3, 2008, Smyth indicated Scandal would be releasing a new five song EP in the near future. Scandal also performed one of their new songs, "Trust in Me". Other new titles include "Make It Hard" and "End of the Girl". Patty Smyth and Scandal debuted their first single as a band ("Hard for You to Love Me", also referred to as "Make It Hard") in over 24 years on January 17, 2009 in Ridgefield, Connecticut to a standing ovation. Smyth stated the song would be available to purchase digitally in February 2009, with the new EP to follow shortly. However, the single had been indefinitely delayed as the EP would be expanded to a full-length album, according to Smyth's blog in May 2009. [6] As of December 2011, the only new music released was "Silent Night", their cover of the Christmas classic, which was featured in the NCIS Season 9 Christmas episode, "Newborn King" and subsequently available for purchase on the band's official website. [7]
Original bassist Ivan Elias died in 1995 from lymphoma. Original drummer Frankie LaRocka died in 2005 after undergoing surgery. Original keyboardist Benjy King died on September 20, 2012, from injuries sustained in an accident. [8]
Year | Album | Chart positions | Certifications | ||
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US [1] | AUS [9] | ||||
1982 | Scandal (EP) | 39 | — |
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1984 | Warrior | 17 | 70 |
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"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Song | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
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US [1] | US Main. [1] | AUS [9] | CAN | NZ | UK [10] | |||
"Goodbye to You" | 1982 | 65 | 5 | — | — | — | — | Scandal (EP) |
"Love's Got a Line on You" | 1983 | 59 | 28 | — | — | — | — | |
"Win Some, Lose Some" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"The Warrior" | 1984 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 86 | Warrior |
"Hands Tied" | 41 | 21 | 83 | — | — | — | ||
"Beat of a Heart" | 1985 | 41 | 10 | — | — | — | — | |
"Silent Night" | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Scandal has music videos for the following songs:
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Patricia Smyth is an American singer and songwriter. She first came into national attention with the rock band Scandal and went on to record and perform as a solo artist. Her distinctive voice and new wave image gained broad exposure through video recordings aired on cable music video channels such as MTV. Her debut solo album Never Enough was well received, and generated a pair of Top 100 hits. In the early 1990s she reached the top 10 with the hit single "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough," a duet with Don Henley of Eagles. She performed and co-wrote with James Ingram the song "Look What Love Has Done" for the 1994 motion picture Junior. The work earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
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Frankie LaRocka, born Frank LaRocca, was an American rock musician and producer. He was a member of Scandal, playing drums on their debut EP, and, at various stages, played the drums with Bon Jovi, David Johansen, Bryan Adams, and John Waite. In the 1990s, he became an A&R man and producer with his most notable work being with the Spin Doctors on their breakthrough album Pocket Full of Kryptonite.
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Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
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Scandal is a self-titled debut EP by American rock band Scandal, released in 1982 by Columbia Records. Although the EP was never released on CD, all five of the EP's songs along with the "Goodbye to You" B-side "All My Life" are found on the VH1 Scandal compilation album We Are the '80s (2006). An alternate photo from the same photoshoot of the EP was used for the VH1 compilation cover as well as Playlist: The Very Best of Scandal (2008), with the track listing for Playlist being identical to We Are the '80s. All five of the EP's songs can also be found on the remastered and expanded 2014 Rock Candy Records version of Scandal's 1984 album Warrior.
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