Fortune is a 1980s

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band that had a number of minor hits in the early 1980s including "Airwaves" from ''

The Last American Virgin ''The Last American Virgin'' is a 1982 American sex comedy film written and directed by Boaz Davidson. It is a remake of Davidson's 1978 Israeli film '' Eskimo Limon (Lemon Popsicle)''. After the success of the original film and its sequels in I ...

'' movie soundtrack and from their second 1985 album release including: "Stacy," "Dearborn Station," and "Thrill of it All."

History

1978–1984: Formation, first studio album and ''The Last American Virgin''

The Fortune Band began in the late 70's when brothers Richard Fortune on guitar and Mick Fortune on drums decided to join together and form a band. The first Fortune self-titled album was released on Warner Bros in 1978 with follow-up WB singles releases including a cover of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

group

The Undisputed Truth The Undisputed Truth was an American Motown recording act, assembled by record producer Norman Whitfield as a means for being able to experiment with his psychedelic soul production techniques. Joe "Pep" Harris served as main lead singer, with ...

's "Squeeze Me, Tease Me" and the original song "Saddle The Wind". In the early 80's, keyboardist Ray Barrett and bassist David de Leon (formerly Stanley Clarke's touring support bassist ) teamed up with the brothers, and the band began its move more toward the pop rock style of the time. This phase of the band capped with a show at Aloha Stadium Summer Blowout 1981, opening for Heart and Blue Oyster Cult. The band began to receive some national attention with the 1982 Columbia Records/CBS Inc. release of "Airwaves" on ''

'' motion picture soundtrack. The movie is considered by many to be a cult classic of the time and the soundtrack proved to be a memorable compendium of 1980s radio hits with Fortune sharing the bill with bands such as U2, Journey, Blondie, REO Speedwagon and the Police. As Fortune began to gain momentum, the core of the band, Richard, Mick and David, decided to take their music more mainstream and that some adjustment in personnel was now necessary to move in that direction. By Fall of 1982, the band had recruited keyboardist

Roger Scott Craig Roger Scott Craig is an Irish musician, songwriter, and composer. He is a former member of the rock bands Liverpool Express, Fortune, Nina Hagen, Harlan Cage, and 101 South. Liverpool Express Roger started his career with the band The Merseybea ...

. Craig had formerly played with

Liverpool Express Liverpool Express (also known as L.E.X.) are a British pop rock band formed in 1975. They are best known for charting hit songs such as "You Are My Love" (which Paul McCartney once declared one of his favourite songs), "Every Man Must Have a D ...

, a British-based group known in Europe and South America. By end of 1982, Fortune's singer (Richard's wife, Colleen Fortune) had left the band and was replaced by vocalist Larry Greene. The band began writing all new songs, to which Roger and Larry contributed significantly. Over the next two years, Fortune spent much of their time in the studio recording demos for CBS records and performing live gigs in clubs around Los Angeles, also opening a stadium show in Hawaii. Unfortunately, the band was unable to get traction during this time and eventually disbanded in 1984.

1985: Second studio album and disbandonment

In 1985, Camel/MCA Records came on the scene and offered to release a Fortune album. The band regrouped with Bobby Birch on bass. Greene and Craig had been collaboratively songwriting and landed most of their songs on this second 1985 Fortune album. The album was released, and was believed to have achieved significant sales in Europe and Japan. During this period, Camel/MCA had under-marketed and understated album sales to the band. While well received by the public, the band itself received virtually no revenue or recognition from the album. Camel Records shortly thereafter unexpectedly declared bankruptcy for undisclosed reasons and refused to give up the masters of the album, making an album re-release almost impossible. Fortune disbanded a second time.

2004–2017: Remastering, regrouping and live performances

Fortune's second album was remastered and re-released on Gypsy Rock Records in 2004. This version includes three bonus tracks: one studio track, "Home Free", and two live tracks. The album was remastered and re-released again in 2011 on AOR Heaven with the studio bonus track, "Home Free", only. The band regrouped again in 2006 as a power trio with original Fortune band members Richard Fortune on vocals/guitar, Mick Fortune on drums/vocals and Dave de Leon on bass/vocals. The band went back into the studio in mid-2008 to record new songs with plans in the works to release a new FORTUNE album. In 2016 it was disclosed that Fortune would appear at the three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Fortune appeared on Sunday 23 October, fourth in a seven-act line-up headlined by

Kevin Chalfant Kevin Chalfant is an American singer and a native of Streator, Illinois. He obtained a BMI award for co-writing and singing on one of the most frequently aired rock radio hits of 1992 and 1993, "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", by The St ...

. In February 2017 it was announced that Fortune would appear at Rockingham Festival 2017, this to be held at Nottingham Trent University, UK, between 20 and 22 October 2017, the band scheduled to appear on Saturday 21st.

2019–present: New studio album

On April 26, 2019, Fortune released their third studio album and first in 34 years titled, ''Fortune II''.

Style

Fortune's style is similar to that of similar 80's

Arena rock Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of po ...

artists, such as

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

, Survivor, Foreigner, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Fortune'' (1978) * ''Fortune'' (1985) * ''II'' (2019) * ''Level Ground'' (2022)

Live albums

* ''The Gun's Still Smokin (2020)

Soundtrack appearances

* "Airwaves" (from ''

'') (1982)https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084234/soundtrack "Airwaves" soundtrack

References

{{Authority control Hard rock musical groups from California Musical groups established in 1978 Progressive rock musical groups from California