Jack Blades WebSite:
www.jackblades.net

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In addition to fronting one of the mid ’80s most successful mainstream/arena rock bands, Night Ranger, bassist/singer Jack Blades has either recorded with, penned songs for, or produced albums for some of rock's biggest names.

Originally hailing from Palm Desert, California, Jack started playing guitar at the age of eight. Jack played in local bands in the Southern California area during the early ‘70s, at which time he attended San Diego State University as a pre-med student.

By the latter part of the decade, Jack relocated to San Francisco and recorded with Sly Stone at the legendary Record Plant Studios in Sausalito.

He joined the funk rock group Rubicon, formed by Jerry Martini (sax player for Sly and the Family Stone). Rubicon issued a pair of releases, 1978's self-titled debut and 1979'sAmerica Dreams. Shortly after splitting up, Blades and Rubicon guitarist Brad Gillis decided to form a new band together, one that would be more aligned to hard rock than their previous outfit.

The early ’80s saw the formation of Night Ranger. With members Alan Fitzgerald (keyboards), Jeff Watson (guitar), and Kelly Keagy (drums, vocals), Night Ranger fit in perfectly with such then-thriving rockers as Journey, Def Leppard, and Van Halen.

Propelled by Blades’ songwriting, driving guitars, and on the strength of such releases as 1982's Dawn Patrol, 1983's Midnight Madness, 1985's 7 Wishes, and 1987’s Big Life, the group scored several major US hits including “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” “Rock in America,” “Sister Christian,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” and “Sentimental Street” selling in excess of 10 million albums. But after one more release, 1988's Man in Motion, the quintet split up.

It didn't take long for Blades to re-appear in another band however, the all-star Damn Yankees, which consisted of Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw from Styx and Michael Cartellone.

The Damn Yankees enjoyed substantial hits with their 1990 self-titled release, an album that went multi platinum and included the gold single smash, “High Enough.”

The streak continued with 1992’s Don’t Tread but the band then decided to take a hiatus as Nugent was committed to a solo album and Blades had been touring, writing and recording non-stop with no break since the early Night Ranger days.

That didn’t last long for Jack however and Blades and Shaw opted to record together, releasing 1995’s Hallucination under the name of Shaw/Blades.

The later ’90s saw Blades reunite with his old pals in Night Ranger for tours and two albums (1997's Neverland and 1998's Seven).

Converting his barn into a state of the art recording studio, Jack uses his ranch in Sonoma County, California as a writing and recording retreat.

Jack has penned songs for country, pop and rock artists including Aerosmith, Cher, Kelli Bryan of Eternal, Alice Cooper, Sons of the Desert, Roger Daltrey, Journey, John Berry, Vince Neil, Ozzy Osbourne, Styx and Kourtny Kale and has produced for Great White, Samantha 7 and Ted Nugent.

Many of Blades songs have ended up in such TV and movies as Armageddon, Tommy Boyand South Park’s Chef Aid. Jack was also asked to play with Ringo Starr for the ex-Beatle's 1998 release, VH1 Storytellers.

With countless songwriting and production credits to his name, Jack returned to his work as a musician. He signed with Sanctuary and prepared for the first solo album of his career. The self-titled release, which appeared in spring 2004, was classic Blades with its guitar-driven backdrop and anthemic songwriting.

Also in 2004, Blades co-wrote, recorded and toured Japan with the Tak Matsumoto Group (TMG), a group formed by Japan’s favorite son Tak Matsumoto, guitarist for the mega group B’z.

The album scored #1 on Japan’s domestic Billboard chart, with multi platinum status and a sold out a July-August tour of Japan that ended at the famous Budokan in September 2004.

In 2007 Jack co-produced Ted Nugent’s Love Grenade, an album that was recorded at his Northern California Studio. The same year Jack and another of his Damn Yankees band mates, Tommy Shaw, released their second Shaw/Blades album Influence on the VH1 Classic label. This collection of some of Jack and Tommy’s favorite tunes from the ‘60s and ‘70s met with considerable critical acclaim and the accompanying headlining tour generated a buzz with new and old fans alike.

--Greg Prato, All Music Guide