| White Lion | |
|---|---|
White Lion as seen in 1989. From left to right: Greg D'Angelo, Mike Tramp, James LoMenzo, and Vito Bratta. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | New York City, New York, United States |
| Genres | Glam metal, hard rock, Heavy metal |
| Years active | 1983–1992 1999–present |
| Labels | Atlantic, Frontiers |
| Associated acts | Mabel, Freak of Nature, Pride & Glory, Megadeth, Anthrax, Zakk Wylde, Black Sabbath, AntiProduct, Alice Cooper, Y&T |
| Members | |
| Mike Tramp Jamie Law Troy Patrick Farrell Claus Langeskov Henning Wanner |
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| Past members | |
| Vito Bratta James LoMenzo Greg D'Angelo Felix Robinson Nicki Capozzi Dave Spitz Dan Hemmer Kasper Damgard Nils Kroyer Bjarne T. Holm Tommy T-Bone Caradonna Jimmy DeGrasso Bruno Ravel |
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White Lion is an American/Danish hard rock/heavy metal band that was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist Mike Tramp and American guitarist Vito Bratta. Mainly active in the 1980s and early 1990s, the band achieved double platinum status with their #8 hit "Wait" and #3 hit "When the Children Cry" from their second album Pride.[1] The band continued their success with their third album Big Game. After the fourth album Mane Attraction, White Lion disbanded in 1992, but was reformed again by Tramp in 1999 with all new musicians.
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After moving from Denmark to New York in 1983, vocalist Mike Tramp (formerly of the bands Mabel 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 their 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. A few months later, Grand Slam Records went bankrupt.The album charted at number 151 on The Billboard 200[2].
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.
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 #8 on the singles chart, while Pride hit #11 on the album charts. Pride would remain on the Top 200 Billboard album charts for a full year, selling two million copies in the US alone.[3]
In August 1988, the album's second single, "Tell Me", reached #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 #3 on the charts with heavy MTV airplay, making Pride one of about 20 hard rock albums to ever have multiple top 10 hits.
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
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 #52), "Cry for Freedom" (did not chart), and a cover of Golden Earring's "Radar Love" (which peaked at #59). The album quickly went gold, with a peak of #19 on the album charts.[4].
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 #61 on The Billboard 200.[5]. It received little or no airplay due to the recent Grunge explosion and subsequent backlash on all things "hair metal". 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, Broken Heart '91 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.
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.
Mike Tramp went on to form Freak of Nature, releasing three albums, Freak of Nature, Gathering of Freaks, and Outcasts. Tramp also 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. Tramp also reformed White Lion with all new musicians. Today, Tramp continues his solo career, now fronting his latest act, "Mike Tramp & the Rock n Roll Circuz", a Copenhagen-based band with all Danish members.
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 Lions 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 which is owned by Bratta.
In 1999 Mike Tramp, with all new musicians, released Remembering White Lion, which featured new versions of some of White Lion's classic songs. 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".
In 2005, Mike Tramp organized another group of unknown musicians and due to legal issues with former members named the act Tramp's White Lion. '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.
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.
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.
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. Eventually Mike Tramp was able to use the White Lion name again.
The band appeared at Rocklahoma in Pryor, OK on July 13, 2007 with Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Y&T, Gypsy Pistoleros, Dirty Penny, Greg Leon Invasion and Zendozer. After this festival they toured the US.
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. 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.
A live DVD was released on December 5, 2008 entitled "Bang Your Head Festival 2005".
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Fight to Survive | Asylum Records |
| 1987 | Pride | Atlantic Records |
| 1989 | Big Game | |
| 1991 | Mane Attraction | |
| 1999 | Remembering White Lion | Cleopatra Records |
| 2008 | Return of the Pride | Frontiers Records |
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