| Elf | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Blues rock, hard rock,[1][2] country rock, jazz rock,[1] heavy metal[2] |
| Years active | 1967–1975 |
| Labels | Decca Records Purple Records |
| Associated acts | Rainbow, The Rods, Dio |
| Past members | |
| Ronnie James Dio Gary Driscoll David Feinstein Doug Thaler Nick Pantas Micky Lee Soule Steve Edwards Craig Gruber Mark Nauseef |
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Elf was a rock band founded in 1967[1] by the late singer and bassist Ronnie James Dio,[2] keyboardist Doug Thaler,[1] drummer Gary Driscoll,[2] and guitarists Nick Pantas[1] and David Feinstein[2] (Dio's cousin).[1] The band was originally called The Electric Elves,[2] but was shortened to The Elves in 1968 and finally Elf in 1972.[1] Elf disbanded in 1975 after recording three albums and after most of the lineup had been absorbed into Ritchie Blackmore's new group, Rainbow.[2]
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In 1968, the band was involved in an automobile accident which claimed the life of Nick Pantas,[1] whom the band decided not to replace. After recovering from his injuries, Doug Thaler played keyboards with the band for one more year. He quit the band after their 1972 album, Live at the Bank, and was replaced by Micky Lee Soule.[1] (Upon leaving in 1972, Thaler moved to New York and got a job as a booking agent — Elf was one of the bands he booked.)
Elf's self-titled debut album was produced by Deep Purple members Roger Glover[2] and Ian Paice,[1] who happened to see Elf auditioning in 1972.[1] For the next few years, the band enjoyed mild success as an opening act for Deep Purple.[1]
Dio both sang and played the bass guitar until, in 1973, bass player Craig Gruber was asked to join.[1] The same year saw Feinstein quit the band, to be replaced by Steve Edwards.[1] Feinstein formed a band called The Rods, which met with a moderate amount of success, touring with groups such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, as well as Metallica, before finally retiring from the music industry.[3] He would not return to the music scene until 2004, when his band, Feinstein, released the album Third Wish on the Magic Circle Music label.[3]
In 1974, Dio was asked by Glover to sing on his solo album The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast.[1] Dio's voice gained the attention of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore who had just left Deep Purple and was looking for musicians for his first solo album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Apart from guitarist Steve Edwards, he decided to use all of the musicians in Elf for this album, and the band Rainbow was thus formed,[2] with Blackmore replacing Edwards. After they finished recording the album, however, Driscoll, Gruber, and Soule were replaced by Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain and Tony Carey, who played with Dio and Blackmore during the subsequent tour; Elf was no more.
In 2009, Ronnie James Dio spoke to Classic Rock magazine about the possibility of an Elf reunion in the future: "I’ve been talking to my cousin ‘Rock’ [guitarist David 'Rock' Feinstein] about getting that band back together, and it’s certainly on the cards. But, as usual, it’s dependent on schedules coinciding."[4] On the possibility of a new Elf studio album, Dio said, "I’d only want to do an Elf tour if we could come up with a new album. That would include reworkings of some of the older songs, which I don’t think we ever did justice in the studio, plus also a few new tracks."[4] On May 16, 2010, singer Ronnie James Dio died from stomach cancer,[5] making an Elf reunion impossible. However, before his death, he did manage to record a track on Feinstein's solo album entitled "Metal Will Never Die".[6]