ABBA

Kansas City rockers who burst on the scene in 1979 after years of playing together in a variety of incarnations. The Shooting Stars actually started in the early '60s as a garage band comprising two pairs of brothers, Craig & Van McElvain and John & Ron Verlin. The McElvains re-located, however, and the band was nixed. Years later, serendipity drew Ron and Van back together at Shawnee Mission South High School. Eager to put a band together again, they reformed The Shooting Stars, with The Galaxys dancers, no less, and jumped on the early-'70s, '50s-retro bandwagon, playing country clubs, fraternity parties, and sock hops. The band took a different tack in the mid-'70s as Van honed his songwriting craft and laid down a demo that they shopped around in London, of all places. Much to their delight and surprise, they were snapped up by Arista Records. It was a short-lived run. As bad luck would have it, their first release was entitled "Take the Money and Run", which shared its title with a Steve Miller hit issued shortly thereafter. Arista Records dropped them almost as quickly as they had signed them, and it was back to Kansas City for some home-cooked barbecue. Undaunted, they added former Missouri front man Gary West to their ranks, singularized their name, became the first American band to ink a deal with Virgin Records, and released the self-titled Shooting Star in 1980 with none other than Gus Dudgeon at the production helm. The album peaked at a modest #147 on the Billboard Top 200, but gave the band their first taste of chart success. Two years later, they released a follow-up album entitled Hang On For Your Life, which spawned the hits "Breakout", "Flesh and Blood" and "Hollywood", as well as the title track. Subsequent tours in support of the album included opening for the likes of Cheap Trick, Jefferson Starship, Journey, Todd Rundgren, and ZZ Top. They hooked up with Journey's production whiz Kevin Elson for III Wishes in 1982, going back on the road to tirelessly promote the album, this time playing in concert with Kansas, John Mellencamp and REO Speedwagon. Burning was released in 1983 and included the hits "Straight Ahead", "Train Rolls On", and "Winner". Ron Verlin quit the band and was replaced in 1985 by bassist Norm Dahlor in time for the release of their fifth studio LP, Silent Scream. "Summer Sun" was the lone hit from this album, but the band was recruited to lay down a couple of tracks for the motion picture Up the Creek. Perhaps the title of the movie was appropo. In 1986, the band split. Three years later, on the strength of a best-of package, and a clamouring from their fans to get back together, Shooting Star re-united and signed with Enigma Records. Ron Verlin came back, as did Van McElvain, who had inexplicably shortened his last name at some point to "McLain". Dennis Laffoon, Rod Lincoln, and Keith Mitchell comprised the rest of the band. " Touch Me Tonight" peaked at #67 on the Billboard chart, their biggest hit to date. It's Not Over turned out to be the fateful title of their follow-up album. In spite of finding a European audience, the band decided to quit recording and just get together every once in a while to perform live. Shooting Star Live was released in 1996. Van was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, which he gamely battled, and a chance meeting with Dudgeon protige Kevin Beamish led to the recording of a seventh Shooting Star album entitled Leap of Faith, which marked the twentieth anniversary of the band in 2000. Shooting Star continues to play selected live events, and enjoy a hometown following in Kansas City, as well as an inscrutable popularity in Cincinnati, Ohio. As recently as 2006, they recorded their eighth album, Circles. Their original keyboardist, Bill Guffey, passed away on 12 April 2007. That very same month, Ronnie Platt replaced Kevin Chalfant on lead vocals. In the '90s, the band acquired the rights to their music and shortly after the turn of the millennium, started up their own record label. The happy result of this is the re-release of The Best of Shooting Star, as well as their eponymous debut album and a live concert DVD recorded in Kansas City, Missouri.

Shooting Star recordings

1. Preview (Instrumental) 2. Straight Ahead (Van McLain/Gary West)

Straight Ahead (Van McLain/Gary West)

Sources: