Gamma was an American band formed by guitarist

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

and singer Davey Pattison in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States in 1979. They released four albums: ''

Gamma 1 ''Gamma 1'', released in 1979, is Gamma's debut album. It reached No. 131 on the Billboard Album charts, totalling seventeen weeks on the survey. "I'm Alive" reached No. 60 on the Billboard singles charts. "I'm Alive" is a cover of The Hollies so ...

'' (1979), ''

Gamma 2 ''Gamma 2'' is Gamma's second album, released in 1980. On this album Ronnie Montrose keeps his streak of not having the same personnel on two albums in a row, changing the line-up once again. Davey Pattison (vocals), Montrose (guitar), and Jim ...

'' (1980), ''

Gamma 3 ''Gamma 3'' is the third studio album released by the rock band Gamma (band), Gamma. It was released in 1982. Track listing All songs by Ronnie Montrose, Mitchell Froom and Jerry Stahl, except where indicated. ;Side one #"What's Gone Is Gone" � ...

'' (1982) (all on Elektra Records) and ''

Gamma 4 ''Gamma 4'' is Gamma (band), Gamma's fourth and final album and was originally released on Ronnie Montrose's own label, RoMoCo, in 2000. In 2005, it was re-released by Wounded Bird Records. Track listing All credits adapted from the original r ...

'' (2000). Their biggest hit was 1982's "Right the First Time", which was a minor chart entry in the US, but a top 40 hit in Canada. Some of their other best known songs include "Fight to the Finish" from their first album, and "Meanstreak" and "Voyager" from the second album.

History

Original incarnation (1979–1983)

Ronnie Montrose put the band together after having released a solo album '' Open Fire'' in 1978, after having disbanded the hard rock band Montrose in 1977. Gamma was a far more AOR-oriented band than Montrose, and used a lot of the latest keyboard technology in its sound. The debut album ''

'' was released in 1979 and reached No. 131 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

, totalling 17 weeks on the chart. Gamma scored a hit single with "I'm Alive" which got to No. 60 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

chart. The original lineup of

(guitars), Davey Pattison (vocals),

Alan Fitzgerald Francis Alan Fitzgerald (born July 16, 1949) is an American musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known as the second bassist of Montrose and as keyboardist for Night Ranger. He has also performed with Gamma, and former Montrose bandmat ...

(bass),

Jim Alcivar Jim Alcivar is an American keyboard and synthesizer player and sound engineer. He is most noted for his connection to guitarist Ronnie Montrose and appearing in his bands Montrose and Gamma and on his first solo album ''Open Fire''. His father i ...

(keyboards) and Skip Gillette (drums) recorded this album. Guitarist Montrose, bassist Fitzgerald and keyboardist Alcivar had all been members of the band Montrose. ''

'' was issued in 1980. Alan Fitzgerald (who later joined

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, ...

as their keyboardist) was replaced by bassist

Glenn Letsch Glenn Letsch (born June 23, 1949) is an American bass guitarist. He was in a Los Angeles band with Mitchell Froom called "Bullet Park" . After Ronnie Montrose produced their demo, he asked Letsch to join his band Gamma, where Letsch became friend ...

, and

Denny Carmassi Denny Carmassi (born April 30, 1947) is an American drummer most notable for playing with many rock bands. Biography Carmassi was born into a family of drummers; his father, his uncle, and his brother each played the drums. Some of Denny's e ...

(another ex-Montrose member) came in on drums. The album had a cover design by Mick Haggerty, featuring two sharks with only their fins visible burrowing through a lawn that was being sprinkled. The album peaked at No. 65, and featured a heavier sound. (e.g. "Mean Streak" and "Cat on a Leash"). There was also a cover version of

Thunderclap Newman Thunderclap Newman were an English rock band that Pete Townshend of the Who and Kit Lambert formed in 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John "Speedy" Keen, Jimmy McCulloch, and Andy "Thunderclap" Newman. Their single, " Something in ...

's "

Something in the Air "Something in the Air" is a song by English rock band Thunderclap Newman, written by Speedy Keen who also sang the song. It was a No. 1 single for three weeks in the UK Singles Chart in July 1969. The song has been used for films, television ...

". It was produced by

Gary Lyons Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

and Ronnie Montrose. Keyboardist Jim Alcivar was replaced by

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, including R ...

and ''

'' was released in 1982. The album reached No. 72 and produced the single "Right the First Time" which reached No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on '' Billboard''s Album Rock Tracks chart. In Canada, "Right the First Time" peaked at No. 27, making the song the band's only top 40 hit on their national pop chart. The album's opening track, "What's Gone Is Gone", and tracks like "No Way Out", were arena rockers, while others like "Condition Yellow" and "Moving Violation", continued the odd writing style and sounds that the band started with on their debut album. However, Gamma's label Elektra Records never really promoted the band, and with only moderate sales, they disbanded.

Post-break-up activities

resumed solo activities, releasing a series of instrumental albums with little success, before reforming Montrose in 1987 with a new lineup. He committed suicide on March 3, 2012. * Davey Pattison went on to sing for

Robin Trower Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band. Biography Robin Trowe ...

, and also sang on two songs on Ronnie Montrose's 1990 solo album, '' The Diva Station''. *

went on to drum for over a decade with

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

, then played with Coverdale/Page and

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own en ...

. In 2002 he joined Foreigner for touring duties. *

went on to become a record producer in the 1980s and 1990s, producing albums for Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Crowded House, Suzanne Vega,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, the

Del Fuegos The Del Fuegos were an American 1980s garage-style rock band. Formed in 1980, the Boston, Massachusetts, United States-based band gained success in 1986 with their songs "Don't Run Wild" and "I Still Want You" and appearing in a widely seen tel ...

, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. *

went on to work with

Monty Byrom Monty Byrom (born 1958) is an American rock, blues and country guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. He fronted the rock band Billy Satellite and wrote hit songs for Eddie Money. Later while leading the "soul country" band Big House, By ...

in the band New Frontier. He has also performed the bass on Montrose's ''

Mean There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

'' (1987) album and toured with Robin Trower.

Reunion (2000)

Montrose reunited with Pattison in the 1990s and reactivated the band in 2000. The new line-up was Davey Pattison (vocals), Ronnie Montrose (guitar), Denny Carmassi (drums), Glenn Letsch (bass), and

Ed Roth Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001) was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in S ...

(keyboards). Carmassi and Letsch had also played on ''Gamma 2'' and ''3''; Roth was a new addition to the band. In an interview around the time of the release of ''

'' (2000) Carmassi stated "For me, it was a chance to play with Ronnie again. I always loved playing with him. There are certain people you "get off" playing with. I've played with many guitar players over the years, some with big reputations, and Ronnie stands out as one of the best." The group recorded the album ''Gamma 4'' before once again dissolving.

Remastering (2011–2013)

In 2011, Rock Candy Records, a reissue label in the UK, began remastering and releasing the Gamma catalogue. They started with ''Gamma 2'' which includes 24 bit remastering from original source tapes and extensive liner notes with comments from Glenn Letsch. ''Gamma 1'' was remastered in 2013 by

Jon Astley Jon Astley is a British record producer who has also recorded and released two albums as a singer-songwriter in the late 1980s. His most commercially successful song was "Jane's Getting Serious", later popularized by a Heinz ketchup television ...

, (who remixed the remasters for

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

) and features a new interview with vocalist Davey Pattison. ''Gamma 3'' includes interview comments from Glenn Letsch, Davey Pattison and drummer Denny Carmassi plus a single edit of "Right the First Time" as a bonus track.

Gamma (2013–present)

After the death of Ronnie Montrose on 3 March 2012, the original members of Gamma (plus

Marc Bonilla Marc Henry Bonilla (born July 3, 1955) is an American guitarist and composer, who has worked as a sideman to artists such as Keith Emerson, Ronnie Montrose, Glenn Hughes (British musician), Glenn Hughes, Edgar Winter and David Coverdale. Career ...

on guitar) performed to a sell out memorial concert in

, California. It was here that former Montrose manager/promoter

Jim Douglas James Holley Douglas (born June 21, 1951) is an American politician from the state of Vermont. A Republican, he served the 80th governor of Vermont from 2003 to 2011. On August 27, 2009, Douglas announced that he would not seek re-election fo ...

of Primetime Entertainment suggested that Pattison form a new band. Gamma was reformed with Pattison on vocals, Dan Buch (Butch) on drums, Van Spragins on bass, Tommy Merry on guitar and Brad Barth on keyboards. Notably Gamma performed with Deep Purple in Saratoga, California in the summer of 2014 and with

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in Lincoln, California in the summer of 2016.

Personnel

* Davey Pattison – vocals *

– guitar *

– keyboards (''Gamma 1'' & ''2'') *

– keyboards (''Gamma 3'') *

– keyboards (''Gamma 4'') *

– bass (''Gamma 1'') *

– bass (''Gamma 2, 3 & 4'') * Skip Gillette – drums (''Gamma 1'') *

– drums (''Gamma 2, 3 & 4'') * Dan Buch – drums * Tommy Merry – guitar * Van Spragins – bass * Brad Barth – keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (1979) *''

'' (1980) *''

'' (1982) *''

'' (2000)

Live albums

*''Concert Classics'' (1998) (a bootleg of a 1979 concert in Denver, Colorado, USA)

Compilation albums

*''

The Best of Gamma ''The Best of Gamma'' is a compilation of music from the first three Gamma albums. Track listing # Mean Streak (Alcivar, Montrose, Pattison) – 4:50 ** # Four Horsemen (Montrose, Pattison) – 4:48 ** # Dirty City (Montrose, Pattison) – 4:0 ...

'' (1992)

References

External links

Ronnie Montrose's Official site

{{Authority control Rock music groups from California Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1983