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Jack Blades | |
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 Blades performing in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Jack Martin Blades (1954-04-24)April 24, 1954 (age 71) Palm Desert, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
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| Years active | 1977–present |
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| Formerly of | |
Jack Martin Blades (born April 24, 1954) is an American rock musician.[1] He has worked in the bandsRubicon,Night Ranger (as bassist and one of the lead vocalists), andDamn Yankees (as one of the founding members). He has also recorded withTommy Shaw under the nameShaw Blades and has done work alongside theTak Matsumoto Group. Blades' most recent efforts include a second solo album and three albums withRevolution Saints, which he was a member of until 2022.
Born inPalm Desert, California, Blades started playing guitar at eight years old when his parents gave him a plastic ukulele. He attended Arcadia High School (1968/69) in Scottsdale, Arizona, then graduated fromIndio High School in 1972, where he was the senior class president. While attendingCollege of the Desert inPalm Desert, he met and jammed withPat Rizzo, the then the sax player forSly and the Family Stone, who introduced him toJerry Martini, the original sax player forSly. Blades went to college atSan Diego State University as apre-med student but dropped out in 1975 to move to San Francisco. Martini and Blades, as well asBrad Gillis, formed the bandRubicon.
One of Blades' sons, Colin, has co-written and performed songs with him[2] and has also released his own solo material.[3] Blades also has another son, James.[4]
Blades has released two solo albums and has written or co-written songs forAerosmith,Cher,Ozzy Osbourne,Alice Cooper,Roger Daltrey, and other artists. Blades has also produced or co-produced albums for Night Ranger,Shaw Blades, and several other artists includingGreat White,Ted Nugent, andSamantha 7, among others. Blades appears onMötley Crüe'sDr. Feelgood album, which was released in 1989. In the 1990s, Blades co-wrote fourAerosmith songs withSteven Tyler,Joe Perry, andTommy Shaw – "Shut Up and Dance" (1993), "Can't Stop Messin'" (1993), "Walk on Water" (1994), "What Kind of Love Are You On" (1998). In 1998, Blades was asked byRingo Starr to play bass in Starr'sVH1 Storytellers withJoe Walsh andSimon Kirke.
FormerSly and the Family StonesaxophonistJerry Martini formed thefunk bandRubicon with Blades as bass player and future fellowNight Ranger memberBrad Gillis on guitar. The band recorded two albums on20th Century Fox Records –Rubicon, andAmerican Dreams. They had one hit single titled "I'm Gonna Take Care of Everything". They playedCal Jam 2, held at theOntario Motor Speedway in California before 250,000 people. Rubicon broke up in 1979 and Blades formed the short-lived club band Stereo with Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy, the latter of whom had joined as touring drummer for Rubicon.
Blades' roommate at the beginning of the '80s wasAlan "Fitz" Fitzgerald, bass player forMontrose andGamma and keyboard player forSammy Hagar. He suggested they form a band. Fitz knew another guitar player inSacramento,Jeff Watson, along with guitarist Gillis and Keagy, and Ranger was formed in 1980. The band recorded demos and played shows around the Bay area for two years. They were signed toBoardwalk Records and released their first album,Dawn Patrol in 1982. Prior to the release, it was discovered that there was a country band by the name of The Rangers. Blades had written the song "Night Ranger" for the album, so the band changed their name to Night Ranger to avoid any potential problems. Night Ranger went on through the '80s releasing albums that sold by the millions, as well as several hit singles. The band toured constantly both in theUS and inJapan, where they continue to be popular today. In 1989, Blades leftNight Ranger and formed theDamn Yankees. Blades re-formed Night Ranger with the original members in 1996. They recorded three albums –Neverland in 1997,Seven in 1998, andHole in the Sun in 2008. Night Ranger continues to tour today.
In 1989,Damn Yankees was co-founded by Blades,Ted Nugent, andStyx guitaristTommy Shaw. The band had multi-platinum success with two albums,Damn Yankees,Don't Tread, and a gold-selling single, "High Enough". They recorded and toured non-stop for four years. In 1996,Ted Nugent left the band to revive his solo career. Blades and bandmate Tommy Shaw continued to produce music asShaw Blades. Although they have not released any new music since 1992 and have made sporadic appearances through the 2000s onstage, the band is considered to be on hiatus but "has met multiple times to meet and write over the years."
After theDamn Yankees decided to take a break in 1994, Blades and Shaw decided to record together under the name Shaw Blades. They wrote and recorded the first album together,Hallucination, which was released in 1995. In 2007, they releasedInfluence, which is a collection of cover songs that influenced them. Shaw Blades have toured acoustically across the US.
In 2004, Blades recorded an album and toured Japan withTak Matsumoto Group (TMG), formed by guitaristTak Matsumoto of the Japanese bandB'z. TMG scored a top 10 single ("Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~") and a No. 1 album (TMG I) onOricon's domestic chart. With TMG, Blades performed "Never Good-Bye", the ending credits theme for the 2004 filmUltraman (a.k.a.Ultraman: The Next). The song appears on the 2005 soundtrack album for the movie and onTMG I. On February 28, 2024, in an interview withRockpages.gr, Blades revealed that the band would be reforming.[5] A week later, on March 8, the band officially announced its reformation, with a second album and a nationwide tour across Japan in the works.[6]
Blades released his first solo album in 2004,Jack Blades. His second solo effort,Rock n' Roll Ride, followed in 2012.
In 2014, he formed the bandRevolution Saints withDeen Castronovo ofJourney andDoug Aldrich ofWhitesnake. He performed on their first three albums,Revolution Saints,Light in the Dark, andRise, but left in 2022, along with Aldrich.
Blades continues to record new material with Night Ranger as they also still tour around the world. He also played at theRepublican National Convention on August 29, 2012.
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