Juan Croucier (born August 22, 1959) is a Cuban-born American musician. He is best known as the bassist for the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

band

Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...

Career

Croucier attended

Torrance High School Torrance High School is a high school located in Torrance, California. Founded in 1917, it is one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in California and is the oldest of the four high schools in the Torrance Unified School District. Four of ...

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

, and played in various bands. He began playing original songs in his bands, and joined a band called Spike by age 16 that was strictly playing originals. In 1977 he started a new band called FireFoxx along with Ron Abrams on guitar and Bobby Blotzer on drums. Croucier served as bassist for

during the 1980s, and was also very briefly in

Quiet Riot Quiet Riot is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni. The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow and drummer Drew F ...

and DuBrow. Croucier played with Quiet Riot shortly before

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo alb ...

left to play with Ozzy Osbourne and played with DuBrow in 1981 but did not record with either. Before he left DuBrow he introduced band leader Kevin DuBrow to Frankie Banali. They went on to form a new version of Quiet Riot, resulting in the debut record ''Metal Health''. Croucier played with Dokken for about four years and toured Germany with the band several times. He was a member of both Ratt and Dokken simultaneously for approximately 18 months before leaving Dokken. He played and sang backup on Dokken's ''Breaking the Chains'' album, and co-wrote two songs. His replacement,

Jeff Pilson Jeffrey Steven Pilson (born January 19, 1959) is an American musician best known for being the bass player in the glam metal band Dokken and currently classic rock band Foreigner. He has also had an extended stint with Dio in the 1990s. He is ...

, appears in the title track video from the album. With Ratt, Croucier wrote many of the band's biggest hits such as "

Lack of Communication ''Lack of Communication'' is the debut studio album by garage rock revival band The Von Bondies. It was produced by Jack White of The White Stripes, a band that also had the Von Bondies open their shows for them during one of their tours. The ...

" and " You're in Love". His backing vocals also became a trademark part of Ratt's sound. Croucier went on to own and operate a recording studio in Los Angeles called The Cellar where he recorded, produced and engineered hundreds of records for various bands and solo artists. Croucier formed a new band Liquid Sunday in 1997, a project based on his solo album of the same name. Croucier sings and also, plays bass and guitar on the album. His brother Rick plays drums on the album as well. ''Liquid Sunday'' played on the same bill for one show with Pearcy during the summer of 2006 and later formed a new band called Dirty Rats, consisting of Croucier on bass and lead vocals,

Carlos Cavazo Carlos Cavazo (born July 8, 1957) is an American guitarist best known as the guitarist for Quiet Riot during their commercial peak. He has also played with Snow, 3 Legged Dogg, Hollywood Allstarz, and Ratt. Biography Cavazo was born in Atlanta, ...

on guitar, and John Medina on drums. On May 12, 2012, Croucier reunited with Ratt and performed with the band at the M3 Rock Festival for the first time since 1991.

Discography

Dokken

*'' Back in the Streets'' (1979) *'' Breaking the Chains'' (1981) *''The Lost Songs: 1978–1981'' (2020)

Ratt

*''

'' (1983) *''

Out of the Cellar ''Out of the Cellar'' is the debut studio album by American glam metal band Ratt. Released in 1984, it was an immediate success, with wide airplay on radio and heavy rotation on MTV of its singles, especially the hit " Round and Round". The albu ...

'' (1984) *''

Invasion of Your Privacy ''Invasion of Your Privacy'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Ratt. It was released in 1985 and featured the singles " Lay It Down", " You're in Love" and "What You Give Is What You Get". Beau Hill produced the album, and ...

'' (1985) *''

Dancing Undercover ''Dancing Undercover'' is the third studio album by American glam metal band Ratt, released in 1986. The album was produced by Beau Hill and contains the hit single/video " Dance", which appeared in the Miami Vice episode "Down for the Count". T ...

'' (1986) *''

Reach for the Sky ''Reach for the Sky'' is a 1956 British biographical film about aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Bes ...

'' (1988) *''

Detonator A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common. The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...

'' (1990)

Solo

*''Liquid Sunday'' (2001)

References

External links

*
Juan Croucier Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Croucier, Juan 1959 births Living people American entertainers of Cuban descent American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Cuban emigrants to the United States Dokken members Glam metal musicians Ratt members 20th-century American bass guitarists Torrance High School alumni