XYZ (American band)

XYZ was originally created in Lyon, France, where Patt Fontaine and Terry Ilous were born and grew up. In 1984 they moved to Los Angeles, California, United States. XYZ started off as the unofficial house band of "The Whisky A Go Go" nightclub in Los Angeles. The original members were Terry Ilous (vocals), Bobby Pieper (guitars), Patt Fontaine (bass) and Joey Pafumi (drums). A tour of the US with Ted Nugent followed the success of their 1989 Enigma released debut album, and they were signed by major label Capitol for their second.[1]

XYZ
OriginLos Angeles, California, United States
GenresGlam metal, heavy metal, hard rock
Years active1986–1992, 2002–present
LabelsEnigma, Axe Killer Records, Capitol
WebsiteOfficial website
MembersTerry Ilous
Patt Fontaine
Tony Marcus
Joey Shapiro
Past membersBobby Pieper
Joey Pafumi
Mark Diglio
Paul Monroe
Tony Burnett

History

The band played clubs throughout the mid 1980s and first got a record deal in 1989 with Don Dokken as their producer.[2] Ilous and Fontaine then recruited Marc Diglio (guitars) and Paul Monroe (drums) to replace the departing Pieper and Pafumi, to record a debut album, produced by Don Dokken.[2] The album was released in 1989 and contained the hits "Inside Out" and "What Keeps Me Loving You". Videos for both songs received reasonable airplay managing to reach No. 99 on the Billboard 200. A third single from the album, "Maggy" was used in the 1990 Dolph Lundgren movie I Come in Peace. The next album, Hungry, released in 1991, had less commercial success — not charting at all.[2] Diglio and Monroe left the band and were replaced by Tony Marcus and Joey Shapiro, respectively. After the next tour was finished, band members went separate ways once again.[2] They reunited in 2008 with the lineup of Ilous, Fontaine, Tony Marcus, and Shapiro, and still perform to the present day.

Recent events

XYZ actively continues to play festivals and shows across USA and Europe. In addition to fronting XYZ, Terry Ilous also served as lead vocalist for Great White (2010-2018).

Terry Ilous was interviewed by Argentinean rock journalist Lucas H. Gordon, where the singer talked about a charity event called 80's Rockers for Japan, organized by Ilous to raise money for the Red Cross from Japan, to help victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The event featured many hard rock musicians, including ex-Toto singer Bobby Kimball, Paul Shortino, Rudy Sarzo, Michael T. Ross, John Payne, Carmine Appice, Vinny Appice, Lorraine Lewis, and others.

XYZ performed at Rocklahoma Festival in 2008, the M3 Rock Festival, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, and Firefest, Rock City, Nottingham, England, in 2012.

Drummer Joey Shapiro recently purchased drumstick and guitar pick grip company Gorilla Snot.[3]

Paul Monroe, drummer from the classic line-up, was a contestant with his daughter on a 2016 episode of That Awkward Game Show on Spike TV.

Members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album details Peak positions
US
1983 XYZ (EP) —
1989 XYZ 99
1991 Hungry
  • Release date: September 3, 1991
  • Label: Capitol/EMI America
 —
2003 Letter to God
  • Release date: May 13, 2003
  • Label: MTM Music / FYCO Records
 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Compilation albums
Year Album details
2005 Rainy Days (demos)
  • Release date: May 14, 2005
  • Label: unofficial release
2005 Forbidden Demos
  • Release date: November 14, 2005
  • Label: FYCO Records
2008 Best of XYZ
  • Release date: October 7, 2008
  • Label: Perris / FYCO Records

Live albums
Year Album details
1995 Take What You Can Live
  • Release date: 1995
  • Label: FYCO Records
1997 Take What You Can Live (European Edition)
  • Release date: 1997
  • Label: Axe Killer

Notes
  1. "NME artist biographies and discographies". NME. Archived from the original on October 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  2. Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who’s Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 393/4. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.
  3. "About Us". Gorillasnotusa.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.