Formed 1989, U.S.A.
Albums:
1990
Damn Yankees
1992
Don't Tread
2002
The Essentials
2003
High Enough & Other Hits
DVDs:
1992
Uprising
History:
An unlikely mish-mash of personalities, the Damn Yankees super group managed to
resurrect several waning careers. The hype and success was short lived however, and
like so many bands in the early 90s they just faded away.
Los Angeles, California was where Damn Yankees was put together by
Styx's Tommy Shaw (guitar/vocals), the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent
(guitar/vocals), Night Ranger's Jack Blades (bass/vocals) and
drummer Michael Cartellone. With the name recognition of the members, the debut
album managed to work its way to #13 on the Billboard charts while selling over two
million copies. Singles "Coming Of Age" and "Come Again" would chart, but it was the
power balled "High Enough" (which peaked at #3) which propelled the band.
The follow-up Don't Tread spawned the hit singles "Where You Goin' Now"
and "Silence Is Broken", but album sales failed miserably compared to the debut.
In 1993 Damn Yankees realized that they were commercially unviable in a changing
musical state and disbanded, with members returning to their previous careers.
In 2000 Damn Yankees reformed to work on a new album with Brother
Cane's Damon Johnson and Night Ranger's Kelly Keagy replacing Shaw and
Cartellone respectively. As worked progressed both Shaw and
Cartellone would return to the band and the album recording was wrapped up.
However the band was horrified with the final mix of the album and it remains unreleased
to this very day. Keagy returned to Night Ranger and Cartellone became the drummer for southern
rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Links:
The Official Tommy Shaw Page
The Official Ted Nugent Page
The Official Jack Blades Page
The Official Michael Cartellone Page
The Official Damon Johnson Page
The Official Kelly Keagy Page
Buy Damn Yankees CDs:
Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at CDUniverse.com
Purchase at eBay.com