Cinderella in Concert, with Sebastian Bach and Quiet Riot

Friday, July 20, 2012

Times: 8 p.m.
Location: Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater
Phone: (417) 779-1222
Web: http://www.blkoakamp.com

CINDERELLA

Hard rock icons Cinderella are back with the all original line-up of Tom Keifer (vocals, guitar), Eric Brittingham (bass), Jeff LaBar (guitar) and Fred Coury (drums). The band is gearing up for a Summer tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Night Songs. The band will be tearing through a set spanning all four of their records including their biggest hits.

Cinderella was formed in Philadelphia in 1982 by singer-songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Tom Keifer and bassist Eric Brittingham. Cinderella got their big break when Jon Bon Jovi saw them perform at the Empire Rock Club in Philadelphia and recommended that his A&R rep see them as well. In 1985, the band entered the studio with legendary producer Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin) to record their debut album "Night Songs". "Night Songs" was released in June 1986 and eventually achieved triple platinum status, selling 50,000 copies per week at one point.

Cinderella's second album, Long Cold Winter, was released in 1988. It signified a shift towards a blues-rock sound, though it could still be described as glam metal. A 254-show tour to support the album lasted over 14 months and included dates on the Moscow Music Peace Festival alongside other metal acts, such as Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, and Skid Row. The tour's stage show included Tom Keifer being lowered to the stage while playing a white piano during their radio hit "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)".

Their third album, "Heartbreak Station", was released in 1990 followed by "Still Climbing" in 1994. The later two albums featured songs more influenced by Keifer's love of the blues. CINDERELLA has sold over 20 million albums to date worldwide.

SEBASTIAN BACH

Sebastian Bach is a Canadian heavy metal singer who achieved mainstream success as frontman of Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. Since his departure from Skid Row, he has had many television roles, acted within Broadway plays, and leads a successful solo career. 

Skid Row initially formed in the late eighties with lead singer Matt Fallon. They began playing at various New Jersey clubs. Fallon would soon leave the band in 1987, leaving Skid Row without a singer. Bach was spotted singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding and the members asked him to join. He turned them down, but changed his mind after hearing the demo tapes of "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life". 

He sent them a demo of him singing "Saved By Love." They loved it and flew him to New Jersey where they began playing gigs. Sebastian also recorded demos with Bon Jovi & Sabo's friend Jack Ponti. (The song "She's on Top" later came out on Jack Ponti Presents Vol. 1)

Bach's career ended with Skid Row after booking a show where Skid Row would have opened for KISS in 1996. Other band members told Bach that Skid Row was too big to be an opening act and that they weren't going to do the show. Bach then left a message on a bandmate's answering machine telling him that you're never too big to open up for KISS, and subsequently left the band. Ironically enough, four years later, Skid Row was one of the opening acts for the 2000 Kiss Farewell Tour sans Bach.

Sebastian Bach has continued a succesful solo career both in metal and on Broadway, starring as the lead in Jekyll & Hyde, as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as the host of VH1's Forever Wild, as Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, as the singer on the Frameshift album An Absence Of Emapthy, as a part of the Supergroup Damnocracy with Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Evan Seinfield and Jason Bonham, as the supporting act for Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy Tour and as a solo artist. He is supporting his new album Kicking And Screaming on this tour.

QUIET RIOT

Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal band. They are best known for their hit singles "Metal Health" and "Cum On Feel the Noize". They were founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni, under the original name Mach 1, before changing the name to Little Women and finally Quiet Riot in May 1975. The original line-up featured Rhoads and lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow, Garni, and drummer Drew Forsyth. Their current lineup features longtime members drummer Frankie Banali, bassist Chuck Wright and guitarist Alex Grossi. They recently added lead vocalist Scott Vokoun in March 2012. They are ranked at No. 100 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".

On August 27, 1983, Quiet Riot's second single "Cum On Feel the Noize" was released. Their cover of the 1973 Slade hit spent two weeks at No. 5 on the Billboard chart in November 1983 and was the first heavy metal song to make the Top 5 on Billboard's "Hot 100 singles chart" (a.k.a. "Pop Chart"). The success of the single helped carry Metal Health to the top of Billboard pop album charts, making it the first American heavy metal debut album to ever reach No. 1 in the United States. It reached No. 1 on November 26, 1983, making Quiet Riot the first heavy metal band to have a top 5 hit and No. 1 album the same week, which was unheard of in 1983 for a heavy metal band. Their success was aided in no small part by the "Cum On Feel the Noize" video's heavy rotation on MTV.

Metal Health paved the way for a new, stronger commercial viability for heavy metal. The album displaced The Police's hugely successful Synchronicity album from No. 1 and stayed there for just a week until Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down took over the No. 1 spot for three weeks before being surpassed by Michael Jackson's Thriller, which returned to the top after a long hiatus. Metal Health's title song, which was released as a single on March 11, 1983, finally charted in early 1984 and peaked at No. 31. This could be attributed to the song's appearance in the 1984 movie Footloose, as well as another heavy rotation video on MTV. It was No. 41 on the VH1's Top 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. The Metal Health album would ultimately sell over 6 million copies in the U.S.

Quiet Riot has gone through several incarnations and suffered a difficult blow with the untimely death of longtime lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow in 2007. Despite his previous insistence that Quiet Riot could never return as a live performing entity, Frankie Banali announced a new version of Quiet Riot in September 2010.