WHITE LION
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Biography
After
moving from Denmark to Spain and to New York in 1983, vocalist Mike Tramp
(formerly of the bands Mabel[2] and Studs) met Staten Island guitarist Vito
Bratta (formerly of Dreamer) and decided to form a band. The two recruited
drummer Nicki Capozzi and bassist Felix Robinson (formerly of Angel) and named
the group White Lion.
White
Lion was signed by Elektra Records in 1984 and recorded their debut album Fight
to Survive. Elektra was unhappy with the final recording, and after refusing to
release the album, terminated the band's contract.
Both
Capozzi and Robinson soon left the band. Nicki Capozzi was replaced by former
Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo, and Felix Robinson was replaced by bassist Dave
Spitz (brother of Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz). Within a month of joining,
however, Dave Spitz left to play bass with Black Sabbath and was replaced by
James LoMenzo.
The album
Fight to Survive was eventually re-recorded with the new line-up and released
in Japan by RCA Records in 1984. The small US independent label Grand Slam
Records finally released Fight To Survive in the US on November 9, 1985.[4] A
few months later, Grand Slam Records went bankrupt.
Fight to
Survive charted at number 151 on The Billboard 200[5] and featured the band's
debut single, "Broken Heart".
In early
1986, White Lion, with a fictitious female member (portrayed by Louise Robey),
had a brief part in the Tom Hanks/Shelley Long movie The Money Pit.
[edit]
Pride
Early in
1987, the band was signed by Atlantic Records and on June 21, 1987 their album
Pride was released. The first single, "Wait", was released on June 1,
1987, but did not reach the charts for nearly seven months.
The Pride
tour started in July 1987 as White Lion opened for Ace Frehley's 80s band
Frehley's Comet. The next year and a half was filled with constant touring,
opening for such bands as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Stryper and Kiss. In
January 1988 White Lion landed the opening slot for AC/DC on their Blow Up Your
Video American tour.
While
touring with AC/DC, the Pride album and "Wait" single finally
charted, due in no small part to MTV airing the "Wait" music video in
regular rotation—nearly seven months after the single's release.
"Wait" hit No. 8 on the singles chart, while Pride hit No. 11 on the
album charts.[6] Pride would remain on the Top 200 Billboard album charts for a
full year, selling two million copies in the US alone achieving double platinum
status.[7]
In August
1988, the album's second single, "Tell Me", reached No. 58. Around
the time this single was released, White Lion played at the Ritz club in New
York City. The show was filmed and later aired on MTV.
The Pride
album's third single, a power ballad titled "When the Children Cry",
made it to No. 3 on the charts with heavy MTV airplay.
The
success of "When the Children Cry" would eventually push sales of
Pride over the two million mark. In addition, Vito Bratta was recognized for
his instrumental talents by racking up Best New Guitarist awards with both
Guitar World magazine and Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. All You
Need Is Rock 'n' Roll was the final single released from the album.
In the
spring of 1989, the Pride tour finally ended, and they immediately began work
on their next album.
[edit]
Big Game & Mane Attraction
In August
1989, White Lion released their third album, Big Game, a musically eclectic
follow-up to Pride that featured the singles "Little Fighter" (which
peaked at No. 52), "Cry for Freedom" (did not chart), and a cover of
Golden Earring's "Radar Love" (which peaked at No. 59). The album
quickly went gold, with a peak of No. 19 on the album charts.[8] The band's
success continued with more constant touring.
After two
years of writing and recording, White Lion released Mane Attraction in the
summer of 1991. More of a "back to basics" album, centering on strong
hooks and melodic hard rock, the album was received well by the fans.
Unfortunately, the album failed to reach the top 20 like the last two albums,
charting at No. 61 on The Billboard 200.[9] It received little or no airplay
due to the recent Grunge explosion. The album also contained White Lion's only
instrumental song, "Blue Monday", a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan,
who had died while the band was writing for the album. The album featured the
singles "Lights and Thunder", a re-recorded version of the band's
first single "Broken Heart", and "Love Don't Come Easy"
which peaked at number 24 on The Mainstream Rock Charts.
Greg
D'Angelo and James LoMenzo left the band soon after the album's release, citing
"musical differences," but White Lion carried on with bassist Tommy
T-Bone Caradonna and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Suicidal
Tendencies, Y&T, Fiona). After briefly touring in support of Mane
Attraction, Tramp and Bratta decided to fold the group, their last show being
held in Boston at the Channel in September 1991. Exactly one year later in
September 1992, the band's first compilation album was released, titled The
Best of White Lion. A Video/DVD album featuring concert footage, behind the
scenes interviews and all of the bands music videos was also released, titled
Escape from Brooklyn.
[edit]
Social issues
Unlike
most bands of their genre, White Lion recorded occasional songs that addressed
social or political issues such as apartheid ("Cry for Freedom") and
the effect of divorce on children ("Broken Home"). The song
"Little Fighter" was about the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by the
environmental group Greenpeace that was destroyed by operatives of the French
intelligence service. This concern for political and social issues was also
hinted at in the cover art to their album Big Game, which featured a lion's
head hidden in tall grass with the White House in the background.
[edit]
After White Lion
Mike
Tramp went on to form the Hard Rock band Freak of Nature, releasing three
albums between 1992 and 1998, Freak of Nature, Gathering of Freaks, and
Outcasts. Following Freak of Nature Tramp moved to Australia and between 1998
and 2004 released four studio albums and one live album as a solo artist:
Capricorn, Recovering the Wasted Years, More to Life Than This, and Songs I
Left Behind as studio efforts, with Rock n' Roll Alive as a live album.[10]
James
LoMenzo and Greg D'Angelo joined Zakk Wylde's band, Lynyrd Skynhead, in the mid
90's which became the band Pride & Glory when Greg D'Angelo was replaced by
Brian Tichy. Pride & Glory released one album, then James LoMenzo left the
band. James went on to record and tour with ex-Van Halen frontman David Lee
Roth and toured with Zakk Wylde's band Black Label Society. In February 2006,
James joined the thrash band Megadeth on a permanent basis. Greg D'Angelo was
the drummer for the band AntiProduct in 2006. Greg D'angelo recently joined
Greg Leon Invasion featuring Greg Leon (formerly of Dokken and Quiet Riot).
Vito
Bratta stayed briefly with Atlantic Records to help produce an album for CPR,
and later tried to form a new music group that never panned out. Despite a
dedicated worldwide following of guitar aficionados, Vito disappeared from public
view from 1994 until his interview by Eddie Trunk live on February 16, 2007.
Vito is also the sole owner of the original White Lion's four album music
catalogs, retaining the rights after Mike sold all his rights to the catalogs
in the mid 90's. They are owned by Vavoom Music, Inc., which is owned by
Bratta.
[edit]
The new White Lion and legal issues
In 1999
Mike Tramp, with all new musicians, released Remembering White Lion, which
featured new versions of some of White Lion's classic songs and started what
would be a long battle to reform White Lion.
In
October 2003, Tramp announced a White Lion reunion with the original members.
This statement was quickly denied by the other former members. Later Tramp said
that Vito Bratta wanted nothing to do with a reunion. With summer festivals in
Europe already booked, Tramp attempted to put together a "new White
Lion" featuring former members James LoMenzo and Jimmy DeGrasso, along
with Warren DeMartini of Ratt. Vito Bratta filed suit claiming partial
ownership of the name, and the tour was scrapped. Tramp later commented that
despite his willingness, "There will never be an original White Lion
reunion".[11]
In 2004
due to legal issues the album Remembering White Lion was re-released under the
new title Last Roar featuring the band name Tramp's White Lion.
In 2005,
Mike Tramp organized another group of unknown musicians and attempted to
continue with a new White Lion under the act Tramp's White Lion, this however
did not stop the persistant legal issues with former members. Despite all the
issues 'TWL' (aka White Lion 2) played and re recorded White Lion songs,
touring and releasing a double-live CD entitled Rocking the USA in 2005. In
November and December 2006, Tramp's White Lion played several dates in Europe including
Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and
Denmark.
In 2006
Anthology 83-89 album was released which featured never before released songs
and demo versions of White Lion classic songs from previous albums.
On
February 16, 2007, Vito Bratta appeared on the Eddie Trunk radio show in New
York, stating that despite what Mike Tramp said, he had never refused a White
Lion reunion, stating that the only reason he was unable to participate was due
to the illness of his father. He added that he would still be open to the idea
and has not closed the door to returning to the music industry again. Trunk
made it clear that Bratta's involvement in the show was something that he had
wanted to happen since White Lion first broke up in 1991. Bratta took calls and
answered questions from fans for almost 3 hours. On April 6 and 7, 2007, at the
L'Amours Reunion Shows in New York, Bratta made his first public musical
appearances in over 15 years.[12]
Three
weeks later Mike Tramp called the same show from Australia, speaking about
Bratta and the band's new album, including the tour dates that Tramp's White
Lion had recently confirmed. Tramp said that he was thankful that Bratta had
finally answered fan's questions, the same questions he himself had been asked
many times over the past 15 years. He also stated that he felt uncomfortable
answering on Vito's behalf, and that he was upset that Vito had withdrawn
himself from the music industry.
Mike
Tramp in June 2008
[edit]
White Lion: recent activities
A White
Lion compilation "The Definitive Rock Collection" was released in
2007 and the band was set for a summer tour with Poison and Ratt only to be
dropped by the tour promoter after ex-White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta
threatened to take legal action over the band name.[13]
In
response to the rumors surrounding WHITE LION and the POISON/RATT summer tour,
Tramp issued a statement explaining that tour promoters Live Nation's decision
was not based on any controversy over whether Mike Tramp has the legal right to
perform as White Lion. Live Nation's decision was based upon the threatened
lawsuit by Vito Bratta. Even though Live Nation believed Vito's lawsuit to be
frivolous and had confirmed that Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as
WHITE LION, they did not want to spend 'one dollar' on litigation. Faced with
the cancellation of a tour that was to begin within weeks, the bands attorneys
went the extra mile to work out a deal with Vito Bratta to drop his threatened
lawsuit but even with the threat of litigation eliminated, Live Nation
continued on their ill-informed course of dropping White Lion from the Poison
tour. Extremley upset with the decision Tramp acknowledges the many fans across
the United States who are also extremely disappointed by Live Nation's
decision.[14]
Despite
the threatened legal action and the band's removal from the POISON/RATT tour,
White Lion continued touring and fulfilled their many headline shows in the
U.S. that were scheduled between the Poison shows, including the Rocklahoma
festival with Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Y&T, Gypsy Pistoleros,
Dirty Penny, Greg Leon Invasion and Zendozer. Tramp also confirmed to
MelodicRock.com that the band has just finished recording its new studio album
and The CD will be mixed by Dennis Ward and will be titled "Return of the
Pride".
A new
studio album entitled "Return of the Pride" was released on March 14,
2008 and the band was now once again simply known as White Lion.[15] The band
did a world tour to support the album. White Lion toured India and played to
42,000 at Shillong, Meghalaya, and a 30,000 plus crowd at the Dimapur stadium
in Nagaland. The band was invited to India by the head of the Tripura Royal
Family Maharaja Kirit Pradyot Deb Burman.[16]
A live DVD
was released on December 5, 2008 entitled "Bang Your Head Festival
2005".[17]
With
White Lion on hold again Tramp continues with his solo career releasing the
album Mike Tramp & The Rock 'N' Roll Circuz in 2009, which is also now the
name of his solo band, a Copenhagen-based band with all Danish members. In 2011
Tramp released the solo album Stand Your Ground featuring the singles
"Distance" and "Hymn To Ronnie," a tribute song to former
Heaven & Hell and Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who died on May
16, 2010.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lion)
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