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Missing Persons | |
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 Missing Persons in 2016 | |
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| Also known as | Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
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Missing Persons is an Americanrock band founded in 1980 in Los Angeles by guitaristWarren Cuccurullo, vocalistDale Bozzio and drummerTerry Bozzio. They later added bassistPatrick O'Hearn and keyboardistChuck Wild. Dale's quirky voice and heavy makeup made the band a favorite onMTV in the early 1980s.[1]
Dale and Terry Bozzio met while working withFrank Zappa, and they married in 1979.[2] Cuccurullo encountered the pair while contributing to the Zappa albumJoe's Garage (1979). O'Hearn was also a former member of Zappa's touring band, and Wild had played with a variety of bands before joining.
In 1980 the band was a trio consisting of Bozzio, Bozzio and Cuccurullo. Augmented by session musicians, the group made its first record, a 4-song EP entitledMissing Persons, in Zappa's brand-newUtility Muffin Research Kitchen studios; the recording was financed by Cuccurullo's father. The band toured, promoted the EP, appeared in the filmLunch Wagon (1981), and became a must-see band among the Los Angeles live music crowd. "Mental Hopscotch" was aNo. 1 record on local radio stationKROQ-FM, and the self-promoted EP sold 7,000 copies.[citation needed]
Two years of hard work led up to a signing withCapitol Records in 1982. With label support, the re-released 4-song EP—with the song "Words" replacing the Doors cover "Hello, I Love You"—sold another 250,000 units. By this time, the band had added Wild (a session player on the debut EP) and O'Hearn (Terry Bozzio's former Frank Zappa bandmate) to the line-up, and they recorded a new full-length albumSpring Session M (1982), the title of which is ananagram of 'Missing Persons'. The album included both "Words" and "Destination Unknown" from the initial EP, and wentgold.
Spring Session M spun off four singles: "Destination Unknown", "Words", "Walking in L.A.", and "Windows", all of which made theBillboard Hot 100, although none charted higher than #42. The band did experience considerable success in the local markets of Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. As well, the visual effects used in the music video for "Words" were unusual for the time, making it popular on the fledgling cable TV channelMTV.[citation needed]
Missing Persons appeared at a three-day Southern California concert known as theUS Festival, in 1983, along withDavid Bowie,the Pretenders,U2 andStevie Nicks.[citation needed]
The group followed up their debut with the experimental albumRhyme & Reason (1984), which was neither a commercial nor a critical success. The video for "Surrender Your Heart" was designed byPeter Max and received play on MTV, but the track failed to reach the Hot 100. Only the single "Give" met with any chart response.Chuck Wild left Missing Persons after this album, and was not replaced.
Capitol was not happy about the direction the band was taking, as well as their commercial downturn. Consequently, production reins for the third album were given toBernard Edwards of proven hitmakersChic; he had also recently producedThe Power Station. The result was the more conventional albumColor in Your Life which was issued in June 1986 and only had a minor hit "I Can't Think About Dancin'".
During the short-lived promotional tour forColor in Your Life, increasing tensions between Terry and Dale Bozzio led to the end of the tour, the couple's marriage, and the band.[citation needed]
In late 2000, Cuccurullo and Dale Bozzio again began discussing a Missing Persons reunion. In May 2001, after Cuccurullo's split withDuran Duran, the new Missing Persons appeared, consisting of original members Cuccurullo, Dale and Terry Bozzio. Joining them were Ron Poster (jazz pianist and organist for theBoston Bruins home hockey arena) and Cuccurullo's bassist,Wes Wehmiller (formerly Duran Duran's tour bassist from 1997 to 2001). The short-lived, official reunion consisted of promotional activities and three live performances in July 2001. The studio tracks "Dark and Dangerous Guy" and "Throw Money" that appear onLost Tracks (2002) were recorded at this time, as well as the live performances of "Face to Face" and "Give" on the same album.
Late 2002/early 2003 brought 'Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo'. They were joined again by Poster and Wehmiller and new drummer Joe Travers (formerly in Cuccurullo's solo band and Duran Duran's tour drummer from 1999 to 2001). This version of Missing Persons was featured onAccess Hollywood (performing "Destination Unknown") and did three live performances in February 2003, but disbanded shortly after.[3]
In 2009, Dale Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo again reunited the band; with the line-up this time consisting of Bozzio, Cuccurullo, Travers, keyboardistScheila Gonzalez, and bassist Doug Lunn.[4]
On May 11, 2011, it was announced on Dale Bozzio's website that "Dale and Warren have reformed Missing Persons for an incredible reunion tour in anticipation of the 30th Anniversary ofSpring Session M, the band's groundbreaking, certified-Gold album originally released in 1982." In the same announcement, Terry Bozzio's absence in this reunion was explained by stating that "rock bands are dysfunctional families at best, and sometimes, the show just can't go on with all on-board."[5] In addition to Bozzio and Cuccurullo, this line-up consisted ofPrescott Niles ofthe Knack on bass, Patrick Bolen on guitars, Fred Bensi on keyboards, and Andy Sanesi on drums. Cuccurullo again departed the band following the end of the 2011 shows; but the band has not officially dissolved since then.
On March 4, 2014, a new Missing Persons album was issued, entitledMissing in Action and credited to "Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio". Missing Persons now consisted of Dale Bozzio and multi-instrumentalistBilly Sherwood. Sherwood played almost all the instruments on the record, wrote most of the material, and produced; Bozzio sang, and also co-wrote two songs.
In March 2020, another new album appeared credited to Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio, entitledDreaming. The group now consisted of Dale Bozzio on vocals, and Adam Hamilton producing and playing almost every instrument. This album consisted mostly of radically re-worked covers of songs by 1960s and 70s artists such asthe Mamas & the Papas,the Cars,the The (Matt Johnson), andJoy Division; Bozzio and Hamilton also wrote three originals for the album.
Missing Persons released their first album of completely original material in 37 years,Hollywood Lie, on November 10, 2023.[6][7]
Since 1986, Warren Cuccurullo, Terry Bozzio, and Patrick O'Hearn have continued to support each other's solo projects. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, Cuccurullo and Bozzio performed on some of O'Hearn's albums.[8][9][10] Also, O'Hearn performed in a jazz fusion group called OUTtrio with Terry Bozzio,[11] and Bozzio is featured on Warren Cuccurullo's CDPlaying in Tongues that was released in March 2009.[12]
After the band broke up Cuccurullo had his greatest commercial success as guitarist forDuran Duran.[13] Replacing original guitaristAndy Taylor in August 1986, he performed on the band's fourth and fifth studio albums,Notorious (1986) andBig Thing (1988), and was the sole guitarist on the global tours that followed. Becoming an official member in June 1989, he appeared on the group's next five studio albums, and was a co-writer of the hit singles "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". He left Duran Duran in 2001 due to a reunion of the group's original members. Cuccurullo also recorded several solo albums before leaving Duran Duran. Later he collaborated withNeil Carlill in the experimental rock bandChicanery. In 2022, Cuccurullo was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Duran Duran. In 2023, he performed on the band's sixteenth studio album,Danse Macabre, his first appearance on a Duran Duran album since their tenth studio album,Pop Trash (2000).
Dale Bozzio scored success as a solo performer under the nameDale with a top 40 hit on theBillboard Dance Chart, "Simon Simon", produced byRobert Brookins. Her albumRiot in English was released in 1988 onPrince'sPaisley Park label and her albumMake Love Not War andTalk Talk EP were released on related labels in 2010. WithCleopatra Records she releasedNew Wave Sessions in 2007 andMissing in Action in 2014.
Terry Bozzio worked in 1987 withMick Jagger andJeff Beck. He has played with several groups and artists as a session or tour drummer includingthe Knack. He records albums and instructional videos in multiple styles and is a highly sought-after session/tour drummer as well as performing constantly at European music festivals and worldwide drum clinics. Most recently,[when?] Bozzio performed and recorded with Californianu metal bandKorn, in place of regular band drummerDavid Silveria, in preparation for theiruntitled eighth studio album.[citation needed]
Patrick O'Hearn is acomposer and performer ofambient instrumental music on his own albums, and for television and movies.[citation needed]
Chuck Wild became an in-demand session player, playing keyboards on albums forMichael Jackson,Paula Abdul, andthe Pointer Sisters. He composesnew-age andmeditation music under the name Liquid Mind,[14] and also has released a digital only project entitledSoundtrack of the Inner World with singer-songwriter Seven Whitfield.
Spring Session M was released on CD in 1995, followed byRhyme & Reason andColor in Your Life in 2000. All three reissues included unreleased B-sides and/or live tracks.Classic Masters is a compilation of remastered tracks and dance mixes issued by Capitol Records.[15]
Beginning in 1997, Cuccurullo began work on his Missing Persons Archival Trilogy project. The first CD to be released wasLate Nights Early Days in 1998, a live concert recorded in 1981 with the added 1980 studio track "Action/Reaction". This was followed up by a compilation of modern remixes of classic MP tracks,Missing Persons Remixed Hits (1999) which included theTV Mania remix of "Destination Unknown". In 2002Lost Tracks was released, a collection of rare Missing Persons studio, live and remixed tracks from five different eras of the band.
In January 2021, the band's first three albumsSpring Session M,Rhyme & Reason andColor in Your Life were remastered and reissued with bonus tracks on Rubellan Remasters.[16]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [17] | AUS [18] | CAN [19] | |||
| Missing Persons |
| 46 | — | — | |
| Spring Session M |
| 17 | 40 | 38 | |
| Rhyme & Reason |
| 43 | — | 89 | |
| Color in Your Life |
| 86 | — | — | |
| Missing in Action |
| — | — | — | |
| Dreaming |
| — | — | — | |
| Hollywood Lie |
| — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 100 [21] | US Main. [22] | US Dance [22] | US C-Box [23] | AUS [18][24] | |||
| "Mental Hopscotch" | 1982 | — | — | — | — | — | Missing Persons |
| "Words" | 42 | 60 | — | 37 | 10 | Spring Session M | |
| "Destination Unknown" | 42 | 24 | — | 40 | 89 | ||
| "Windows" | 1983 | 63 | 22 | — | — | — | |
| "Walking in L.A." | 70 | 12 | — | — | — | ||
| "Give" | 1984 | 67 | 29 | 46 | 78 | — | Rhyme & Reason |
| "Right Now" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Surrender Your Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "I Can't Think About Dancin'" | 1986 | — | — | 34 | — | — | Color in Your Life |
| "Color in Your Life" / "Go Against the Flow" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Hello, Hello" (as Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | — | Missing in Action |
| "Lipstick" (as Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio) | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | Dreaming |
| "Ice Blue Eyes" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | Hollywood Lie |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||
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