Lionheart is a British hard rock band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox (ex-

Tygers of Pan Tang Tygers of Pan Tang are an English heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue to record and perf ...

), guitarist

Dennis Stratton Dennis Stratton (born 9 October 1952) is an English guitarist who is best known as a former member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from December 1979 to October 1980. Biography Born in Canning Town, London, Stratton showed early promise a ...

(ex-

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

), guitarist Steve Mann (ex- Liar, later with

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...

Michael Schenker Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group. He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf Schenker ...

and Eloy), and bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton (ex- The Next Band, Wildfire), and drummer

Frank Noon Frank Noon (born 25 December 1959 in London) is a British drummer who played with the bands Def Leppard and Roadhouse. Career Frank Noon was a member of the trio The Next Band before, during, and after the time he was in Def Leppard, and pl ...

(ex- The Next Band,

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), ...

). The band split up in 1986 but reformed in 2016 with a line-up featuring Stratton, Mann, Newton, plus vocalist Lee Small ( Shy and Phenomena) and Clive Edwards (ex-

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

and Wild Horses) on drums.

History

Formation to breakup

Lionheart made their debut one Saturday night at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed wh ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

but musical differences ended with Cox leaving the band replaced by former Lautrec frontman, Reuben Archer. Former Judas Priest drummer

Les Binks James Leslie Binks (born in Portadown, Northern Ireland), is a Northern Irish heavy metal drummer. He was the drummer for Judas Priest from 1977 to 1979. History Previously working for Eric Burdon, Binks was a drummer on Roger Glover's album ' ...

replaced the Wild Horses-bound Noon for the 1981 UK tour with

with former Wild Horses drummer

Clive Edwards Clive Edwards (born 19 January 1953, Hounslow, Middlesex, England) is a drummer, who is best known as a former member of the British band, UFO (from August 1989 to June 1993). He also featured on the Bronz second album ''Carried By The Storm' ...

eventually replacing Binks. Archer, too, briefly spent time in Wild Horses before forming Stampede with his step son, guitarist

Laurence Archer Laurence Archer (born 9 November 1961 in London) is a British guitarist and songwriter notable for his work with British rock bands UFO and Phil Lynott's Grand Slam. He wrote many of Grand Slam's songs together with Phil Lynott and Mark Stanway ...

, Noon, and bassist Colin Bond. Allmusic Retrieved 8 August 2016 The song "Lionheart", recorded by Reuben Archer, Dennis Stratton, Steve Mann, Rocky Newton, and Frank Noon belatedly surfaced on the ''Heavy Metal Heroes Vol. 2'' (Heavy Metal Records) compilation in 1982. That track remains the only representative recording of the band's early sound, as they changed their style significantly. A demo recorded by the core of Stratton, Mann, and Newton landed Lionheart a deal with the American branch of

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

in 1984. Enlisting new vocalist Chad Brown and securing the studio services of

Leo Sayer Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...

band drummer Bob Jenkins, the band proceeded to record their debut album, ''Hot Tonight'', with

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Kevin Beamish ( REO Speedwagon, Starship) at

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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 ...

. This was a slick AOR-styled effort that failed to capture the old fans' interest or that of their target audience in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. In 1985 the band continued with former Grand Prix members, drummer Andy Bierne and keyboardist

Phil Lanzon Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced ...

, appearing on Channel 4's popular ECT program. Lanzon eventually left to join the reformed

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

(and later Uriah Heep), while Brown gave way to new vocalist Keith Murrell (ex-Airrace).

Breakup

Failing to make any headway, Lionheart split up in 1986. Bierne went into management, Murrell fronted Irish rock group,

Mama's Boys Mama's Boys were a 1980s hard rock/ heavy metal group from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The band includes the three McManus brothers Pat, a.k.a. "The Professor", (guitar, fiddle), John (bass, vocals), and Tommy (drums). Later in the ...

, and Newton and Mann joined the

McAuley Schenker Group McAuley Schenker Group were an American rock band based in Los Angeles featuring core members Robin McAuley (vocals) and Michael Schenker (guitar), a successor (and eventual predecessor) to Schenker's earlier band Michael Schenker Group. McAu ...

. Dennis Stratton later found success in Japan as part of an all-star

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

touring line-up alongside former

bandmate

Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is a British/Brazilian heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno has issued numerous albu ...

Interregnum

Steve Mann signed on with Sweet as the guitarist/keyboardist in late 1989, replacing his former Lionheart bandmate Lanzon. Mann stayed on into the mid 1990s when he was invited by

Frank Bornemann Frank Bornemann (born 27 April 1945) is a German guitarist and vocalist best known as part of the German progressive rock band Eloy. He is also the founder of the Horus Sound Studios in Hannover, Germany where he worked until 2014.Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany to play guitar and some keyboards for his band Eloy, completing a line-up that consisted of Klaus-Peter Matziol on bass, Michael Gerlach on keyboards, and Bodo Schopf (ex-McAuley Schenker Group, Sweet) on drums. Mann guested on both '' The Tides Return Forever'' and '' Ocean 2: The Answer'' and also took part in a tour of Germany. ''Unearthed – Raiders of the Lost Archives'', a 30-song collection of Lionheart demos, was issued in 1999 by Pony Canyon in Japan.

Reunion

Lionheart appeared on Saturday 22 October 2016, third in a seven-act line-up headlined by Steelheart at the three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Following the Rockingham event, the band decided to continue working together, with further live performances planned and a new album, entitled Second Nature, released in Japan in June 2017 on King Records and in Europe in August 2017 on AOR Heaven, followed by a mini tour in Japan. Arrangements for release in other territories are under discussion. The album was mainly recorded at Steve Mann's Flying Vivaldi Studio in Germany, with other parts recorded by Dennis Stratton, Lee Small and Rocky Newton in the UK. Lionheart appeared at the Sweden Rock festival in June 2017. The band toured the UK with Airrace in November and December 2017.

Discography

* ''Hot Tonight'' (1984) * ''Unearthed – Raiders of the Lost Archives'' (1999) * ''Second Nature'' (2017) * ''The Reality of Miracles'' (2020)

References

External links

LionheartRock.com
*
SteveMann.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lionheart (Band) British hard rock musical groups British heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Musical quartets