About Night Ranger
Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1979, and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, though bassist Jack Blades performed on all but one of their albums. Other current members of the band include guitarist Keri Kelli and keyboardist Eric Levy.
The band's first five albums sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and the group has sold 17 million albums total. The quintet is best known for the power ballad "Sister Christian", which peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1984, along with several other top 40 hit singles in the 1980s, including "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", "When You Close Your Eyes", "Sentimental Street", "Four in the Morning ", and "Goodbye."
After their success waned in the late 1980s, the band split up in 1989, and its members pursued other musical endeavors, including group and solo efforts. Brad Gillis and Kelly Keagy teamed up with bassist Gary Moon and released an album in 1995 under the Night Ranger moniker without the other original members, but the band reunited with Blades, Watson and Fitzgerald in 1996 to release two new albums in the latter half of the decade. Though there have been lineup changes since that time, the band continues to record and tour.
The group's origin can be traced to Rubicon, a pop/funk group led by former Sly and the Family Stone saxophonist Jerry Martini. After Rubicon's demise in 1979, bassist Jack Blades formed a trio with two other Rubicon members, drummer Kelly Keagy and guitarist Brad Gillis. Performing under the name Stereo, the threesome added former Montrose keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald in 1980. Fitzgerald recommended enlisting a second virtuoso guitarist and Jeff Watson was added to the group. As Stereo, the band played small clubs around San Francisco such as the Palms in the Tenderloin neighborhood. By late that year, the band changed their name to "Ranger" and began opening for acts such as Sammy Hagar.
In 1982 the band changed its name to Night Ranger after a country band, the Rangers, claimed a trademark infringement. By this point, they had recorded their debut album Dawn Patrol for Boardwalk Records and done opening stints for ZZ Top and Ozzy Osbourne; the latter had employed Brad Gillis as a replacement guitarist for the recently deceased Randy Rhoads, in the spring and summer of 1982. After Boardwalk folded, producer Bruce Bird secured Night Ranger a deal with MCA on their Camel subsidiary in 1983.
Rolling Stone magazine took a swipe at Night Ranger's "formula" of "sub-Broadway" ballads. Other critics were even less flattering, with terms such as "poseurs" and "pomp-rockers" put forth in various music guides, but favorable critics, such as Hit Parader, underscored Jack Blades' puppy-dog appeal, which won over female fans, while Gillis and Watson's dueling guitars pleased the same male audience that guitar-driven bands such as Van Halen had already begun to cultivate. Both guitarists also featured prominently in magazines such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician.
Map & Directions To Venue
