Great White et White Lion

Great White came together thanks to the musical partnership of singer Jack Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall. Initially, Russell asked Kendall to join the band he was fronting at the time, but their creative chemistry proved so potent that they went off together to form their own band. They wrote and rehearsed together until 1979, when Russell botched a robbery he was committing and accidentally shot a live-in maid in the house he had broken into. Quite rightly, he was caught and sentenced to eight years in prison, and Kendall was left to pick up the pieces on his own. He did actually put together a band called Dante Fox, and played some shows around the Orange County area of California with them. However, Russell was released from his prison sentence after 18 months and rejoined Kendall soon afterwards.

The band played their debut show with Russell at Hollywood’s legendary Troubadour venue and after recording some demo tapes, they secured the services of Alan Niven as their manager. Niven’s first act as manager was to change the band’s name to a nickname that Kendall had picked up around the L.A rock scene. Due to his naturally platinum blonde hair, his white Fender Telecaster and his habit of wearing a white jumpsuit with matching shoes on stage, he’d been given the nickname Great White after the band’s first few gigs. The band unanimously agreed on their new name and by 1982, the band were known as Great White.

By the same year, Niven had formed Aegean, his own independent record label, and with his backing the band hit the studio to record their debut E.P “Out Of The Night”. In the end, not only did he put the record out but he also convinced the L.A Radio Station KMET to playlist a couple of songs from the E.P. They ended up playing the songs so regularly that the bands profile shot up within months, and by the end of the year they were headlining and selling out concert halls all over California. By the end of 1983 the band had signed to EMI America and their self-titled debut album was released early the following year.

The band rode out the rest of the decade as the connoisseur’s hair metal band of choice. They opened for everyone from Judas Priest, and Whitesnake to Dokken and had their 1987 album “Once Bitten…” certified platinum in April the following year. Its follow up “…Twice Shy” was an even bigger deal, achieving double platinum status within five months of its release. Ever since then the band have become one of the most fondly remembered acts of the hair metal era. They were always a little more respectable than the likes of Poison and their ilk, willing to rock out in a way that arguably made them pave the way for Guns N’ Roses. To this day both incarnations of the band that still play can blow the roof of any venue they play, and with a back catalogue like theirs, they come highly recommended.