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NEW
ENGLAND BIOGRAPHY |
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New
England set the music world on fire with their AOR anthem
Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya
in 1979. John Fannon (guitar & vocals), Hirsh Gardner
(drums and vocals), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards and vocals) and
Gary Shea (bass) broke out of the local Boston scene with
the release of their self-titled album on Infinity / MCA
in 1979. The album was produced by Mike Stone and Paul Stanley
of Kiss, whom New England toured with for much of 1979 and
1980. For their sophomore effort, entitled Explorer
Suite, the foursome once again called upon veteran
knob-twirler Mike Stone. Highlights from this album are
the orchestral title track, It's Never Too Late, and Conversation,
which features New England's trademark lush background vocals.
The touring never let up for the boys from Boston as they
split their time on the Explorer Suite tour between headlining
large clubs and sharing arena billing with Journey, AC/DC,
Cheap Trick, and Kiss among others. |
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For
the third album, Walking Wild,
the legendary Todd Rundgren was at the helm. The results
of these sessions were hard-driving tunes such as Don't
Ever Let Me Go, L-5 (co-written by Fannon, Waldo &
Rundgren) and the kick-ass rocker Holdin' Out On Me, which
features Hirsh Gardner on lead vocals. The frustration
over the lack of label support grew and the band parted
ways. While Fannon & Gardner went on to successful
careers as producers and Shea & Waldo formed Alcatrazz
with Graham Bonnet & Yngwie Malmsteen, nothing seemed
to match the excitement of New England. The real strength
of New England was the combination of four strong &
diverse individuals: Fannon's lead vocals & songwriting,
Waldo's whirling keyboards, Gardner's driving skin-pounding
and high-pitched vocals and Shea's thunderous bass lines.
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While
the records speak for themselves, the fans are the reason
New England lives. Waldo explains,
" I would tour
all over the world with Alcatrazz and every country we'd
go to people would have New England albums for me to sign.
It really shows you the power of music. We have fans all
over Europe & Japan, places we never even toured.
It's amazing."
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1998
marked the 20th anniversary of the birth of New England.
The first new music heard from New England in 15 years
was released as part of the CD entitled 1978, which
features the original versions of seven classic New
England tunes plus three never before released songs.
The CD was released worldwide along with the re-issues
of Walking Wild and Explorer Suite. All titles are available
on the GB Music label in the United States & Europe,
and Maquee / Avalon in Japan. It's 2002 and the members
find themselves working on a variety of projects,however
the demand for a New England reunion is strong."Who
knows where it will lead," Gardner quips. "We
have been talking about a reunion album and world tour.
We will take it one step at a time, but you never know."
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