Rare Earth (band)

Rare Earth American rock band,

Rare Earth is an American rock band affiliated with Motown's Rare Earth record label (which was named after the band), who prospered in 1970-1972. Although not the first white band signed to Motown, Rare Earth was the first big hit-making act signed by Motown that consisted only of white members. (The Rustix were signed before them and were an all white act, but did not have any hits)

History

The group formed in 1960 as "The Sunliners" and changed their name to "Rare Earth" in 1968. After recording an unsuccessful debut album "Dream/Answers" on the Verve label in 1968, they were signed to Motown in 1969.[1] The band was the first act signed to a new Motown imprint that would be dedicated to white rock acts. The record company didn't have a name for the new label yet and the band jokingly suggested Motown call the label "Rare Earth." To the band's surprise, Motown decided to do just that.

The main personnel in the group included Gil Bridges (saxophone, flute and vocals ), Peter Rivera a.k.a. Peter Hoorelbeke (lead vocals and drums), John Persh a.k.a. John Parrish (bass guitar, trombone and vocals), Rod Richards (born Rod Cox, guitar, vocals)(www.rodrichards.com) and Kenny James (born Ken Folcik, keyboards).

During 1969 the group contributed music to the movie "Generation" that starred David Janssen and Kim Darby. But a proposed accompanying soundtrack album was canceled after the movie bombed at the box office and many of the songs ended up on the band's next album, Ecology, in 1970.

Rare Earth had a number of Top 40 hits in the 1970-1971 period, including covers of The Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (which was used in the documentary video It's Time) and "Get Ready". The cover of "Get Ready" was their biggest hit, peaking at #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, a more successful performance than the original. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a Gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. The group gained a bit of notoriety when it was mentioned dismissively in the lyrics to Gil Scott-Heron's 1970 poem, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which included the line, "The theme song [to the revolution] will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth."

In late 1969 Edward "Eddie" Guzman (congas and assorted percussive instruments) was added to the group.

In 1971, Richards left after musical differences and James, weary of their increased touring schedule, split as well. Ray Monette(guitar) and Mark Olson(keyboards, vocals) joined to replace them.

Other hits in 1971 were "I Just Want to Celebrate", which peaked at #7 on the pop charts, and "Hey, Big Brother", which peaked at #19. They did not chart significantly after 1971, although they continued to record into the 1980s.

By 1972 Motown had decided to relocate from Detroit to Los Angeles and Rare Earth soon followed suit. Persh, however, decided not to make the move and was succeeded in the band by Mike Urso(Persh later died from a hospital staph infection on January 27, 1981).

Their 1973 album Ma, written and produced by Norman Whitfield, is considered one of their best overall works, and features their version of "Hum Along and Dance".

Rare Earth was the opening act at California Jam festival in Ontario, California on April 6, 1974. Attracting over 200,000 fans, appearing alongside 70's rock giants Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple, Earth, Wind & Fire, Seals & Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, and Eagles. Portions of the show were telecast on ABC Television in the US, exposing the band to a wider audience.

In 1974 the group divided after Rivera had severe personal and business disagreements with their manager, Ron Strasner, and departed after the other members sided with Strasner against him. Mike Urso left the group along with Rivera and they formed a new outfit, HUB, with Rare Earth's 1970-1972 co-producer, Tom Baird, using the initials of their surnames(Hoorelbeke, Urso and Baird). HUB went on to record two albums for Capital Records but came to a sudden end in November 1975 after Baird was killed in a boating accident.

The others(minus Olson who left to join the backup band for Jennifer Warnes) decided to continue as Rare Earth and brought in new players: Jerry La Croix(vocals, sax, harmonica, formerly of Edgar Winter's White Trash and Blood Sweat and Tears), Paul Warren(guitar, backing vocals), Barry "Frosty" Frost(formerly with Sweathog and Lee Michaels, drums), Reggie McBride(ex-Stevie Wonder, bass) and Gabriel Katona(keyboards). The new lineup put out Back to Earth in 1975 and Midnight Lady(minus Warren, Frosty and Katona) in 1976. Frank Westbrook replaced Katona on keyboards for Midnight Lady. But neither of these releases sold in the big numbers the band had been used to and they soon found themselves bogged down and unable to tour when they brought a lawsuit against former member Rivera, falsely claiming that he'd tried to make off with the group's name and retirement monies. The lawsuit was eventually settled in Rivera's favor and he was given a settlement.

In late 1976 a former Motown bigwig and vice president, Barney Ales, an earlier champion of Rare Earth, returned to the company to head up one of their new offshoot labels, Prodigal Records. He made an offer to the group to reunite with Peter Rivera. So the 1972-1974 lineup of the band(Rivera, Bridges, Urso, Olson, Monette and Guzman) were slated to gather together to record a new album on Prodigal. However, Monette & Olson did not agree to the reunion's terms and decided to sit out. Session players Dan Ferguson(guitar) and Ron Fransen(keyboards) were brought in instead to play on Rarearth, which was produced by James Anthony Carmichael(who would go onto huge success with The Commodores and Lionel Richie) and released in 1977. But it failed to live up to expectations.

Later in 1977 the group assembled again with Chicago based producer John Ryan(who'd worked with Styx and others) to begin work on two new albums. This time Monette & Olson agreed to join in and the results were Band Together and Grand Slam, both released in 1978 and featuring more of a late 70s disco sound, with the former providing the Bee Gees penned hit "Warm Ride", which peaked at #39. Other than the one fluke hit, neither album was a big seller and the band soon found themselves without a home.

In June 1979 Urso left the band again. On Urso's recommendation and after hearing several bass players, he was replaced by bassist Ken Johnston, who continued with the group's road tour for 2 years until June 1981. Johnston had just completed a tour with jazz singer Maxine Weldon and had rejoined Las Vegas comedian/songster, Kenny Laursen. He interrupted his tour with Laursen to join Rare Earth in Florida.

Former Motown writer Dino Fekaris, who'd penned the band's hits "I Just Want to Celebrate and "Hey Big Brother", was next to step back into the group's life in 1980. He'd just come off back to back successes with Gloria Gaynor and Peaches & Herb and had won a Grammy for Gaynor's huge hit "I Will Survive". RCA expressed interest in the band's new project and gave them an advance to go ahead and start recording. The project was originally to be titled King of the Mountain, with the title track slated to be the theme of a 1981 movie of the same name that starred Harry Hamlin. But the movie people passed on the song, and when the record was done, RCA wasn't happy with Fekaris' production, so they passed as well. This album, retitled Tight & Hot, saw a very limited release in 1982 in Canada only.

By the summer of 1981, Mike Urso had returned to RE after a two year absence, but he left for good by the fall of 1983. By the tail end of that same year, Peter Rivera was gone from the band as well after disagreements with Gil Bridges(Rivera went on to form The Classic Rock All-Stars in 1992). By that time most of the members of the band had moved back to Detroit and continued to tour playing clubs despite the lack of a recording contract. One of the band's roadies, Tim McCormick, was brought in as the new bass player and a drummer named Tony replaced Rivera before McCormick brought in his friend Bob Weaver to take over the drum chair.

Personnel shuffles abounded in the mid-80s: McCormick was replaced in 1984 by Andy Merrild, a friend of Weaver's, and yet another of the group's roadies, Randy "Bird" Burghdoff, took over for Merrild in 1985. Drummer Bob Rock(not the famous producer) had a brief tenure on drums in 1985 before Jerry LeBloch joined later that year. Mark Olson, who'd taken over much of the lead singing after Rivera left, was let go in 1986 after increasing personal and substance abuse troubles (Olson died on April 14, 1991, at the age of 41, from liver disease). Rick Warner was then rolled in as the band's new keyboardist and Wayne Baraks, who was brought in in 1987 on rhythm guitar, took over much of the lead vocals as well.

In the late 80s and early 90s the musical chairs slowed down somewhat as things stabilized and the band found itself in demand to play on "oldies" bills with other acts of the 60s and 70s.

Drummer Dean Boucher replaced LeBloch on drums in 1990 and RE signed with the small label Koch International and began work on a new album. The result was Different World(released in 1993) which was a fine collection containing a few covers of older songs and new material. Sadly, it was mostly overlooked by the public.

On July 29, 1993, the band suffered the loss of another member when long time percussionist Eddie Guzman (age 49) died at his home in Howell, Michigan after complications from diabetes and alcoholism.

The group kept going, though, and brought in new drummer Floyd Stokes Jr., who also took over for the departing Boucher, and took on lead vocal duties too after guitarist Baraks pulled out of the group in 1994.

Other than Mike Bruner's succeeding Rick Warner in January 1998 and Ivan Greilich's filling in for Ray Monette for five years (beginning in 2004), the lineup has been stable overall during the last decade or so.

Rare Earth continues to perform at corporate events and on the oldies circuit. Bits from their recordings have been used as samples on recordings as diverse as Beck's "Derelict", UNKLE, and DJ Shadow's "GDMFSOB (feat. Roots Manuva - U.N.K.L.E. uncensored version)", Black Sheep's "Try Counting Sheep", Peanut Butter Wolf's "Tale of Five Cities", Scarface's "Faith", NWA's "Real Niggaz Don't Die" and Eric B. and Rakim's "What's Going On". In 2005, Rare Earth was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

Their hit "I Just Want to Celebrate" has been used in major national advertising campaigns by Ford Motor Company and AT&T. It appeared in the final episode of the TV show Six Feet Under and has also been prominently featured in the movie Three Kings, A Knight's Tale and Land of the Lost, in the trailer for the movie Tropic Thunder and in the end credits music in episode 24 ("One Day in the Valley") of Entourage. It was sampled as well in the opening song, "Sirens", on the 2007 Little Brother album Getback and was done as "We Celebrate" on the new Ghostface Killah album The Big Doe Rehab.

On October 27 & 28, 2007, heavy metal band Metallica performed "I Just Want to Celebrate" during their acoustic performances at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit show.

Discography

"Get Ready" -- Rare Earth version

Released in 1970 as a single from Get Ready.

Problems listening to this file? See media help.

[edit]Studio albums

1968 Dreams/Answers

1969 Get Ready

1969 Generation (Unreleased Soundtrack)

1970 Ecology

1971 One World

1972 Willie Remembers

1973 Ma

1975 Back to Earth

1976 Midnight Lady

1977 Rarearth

1978 Band Together

1978 Grand Slam

1982 Tight and Hot (Limited Release In Canada Only)

1993 Different World

2005 Rare Earth (Features re-recording of their most well known songs plus one new song)

2008 A Brand New World

Live Albums

1971 Rare Earth in Concert

1974 Live in Chicago

1989 Made in Switzerland

Singles

"Generation, Light Up the Sky" - 1969 (Rare Earth Records R 5010)

"Get Ready" - 1970 (Rare Earth Records R 5012)

"(I Know) I'm Losing You" - 1970 (Rare Earth Records R 5017)

"Born to Wander" - 1970 (Rare Earth Records R 5021)

"I Just Want to Celebrate" - 1971 (Rare Earth Records R 5031)

"Hey Big Brother" - 1971 (Rare Earth Records R 5038)

"What'd I Say" - 1972 (Rare Earth Records R 5043)

"Good Time Sally" - 1972 (Rare Earth Records R 5048)

"We're Gonna Have a Good Time" - 1972 (Rare Earth Records R 5052)

"Ma (Vocal)" - 1973 (Rare Earth Records R 5053)

"Hum Along and Dance" - 1973 (Rare Earth Records R 5054)

"Big John Is My Name" - 1973 (Rare Earth Records R 5056)

"Chained" - 1974 (Rare Earth Records R 5057)

"Keepin' Me Out of the Storm" - 1975 (Rare Earth Records R 5059)

"It Makes You Happy (But It Ain't Gonna Last Too Long)" - 1975 (Rare Earth Records R 5058)

"Midnight Lady" - 1976 (Rare Earth Records R 5060)

"Warm Ride" - 1978 (Prodigal Records)

Compilations

1975 Masters of Rock

1976 Disque d'Or

1981 Motown Superstar Series, Vol. 16

1988 Get Ready/Ecology

1991 Greatest Hits & Rare Classics

1994 Earth Tones: Essential

1995 Anthology: The Best of Rare Earth

1996 Rare Earth featuring Peter Rivera

1998 The Very Best of Rare Earth

2001 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rare Earth

2004 The Collection

2005 Get Ready and More Hits

2006 Best of Rare Earth

2008 Fill Your Head: The Studio Albums 1969-1974

(source:wikipedia)