Lazarus were a 1970s American soft rock band, consisting of principal members

Billie Hughes Billie Keith Hughes (April 4, 1948 – July 3, 1998) was an American recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known for his successful artist career in Japan, lead vocalist of his band Lazarus and his collaboratio ...

, Gary Dye, and Carl Keesee. Hughes was the leader of the band, serving as lead singer and songwriter, and playing guitar and violin. The band are considered early artists in the Contemporary Christian movement.

Background

The band members of Lazarus met in 1968 in Abilene, Texas, while Hughes and Keesee were attending Abilene Christian College. Hughes, Keesee and Gary Dye formed a band, initially named Shiloh. At a

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reperto ...

concert March 20, 1968, at the ACC Moody Coliseum Auditorium, they were able to meet

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...

backstage and play him their demo tape. Lazarus returned to Abilene, Texas to appear with Peter Yarrow in his concert at the Civic Center in April 1972. In association with Yarrow and producer

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business pa ...

, Lazarus moved to Peter Yarrow's cabin in Woodstock, N.Y., signing with the newly formed Bearsville Records (Warner Bros.) label, under the direction of

Albert Grossman Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk an ...

Releases

Lazarus released two albums, the self-titled '' Lazarus'', and '' A Fool's Paradise'' on Bearsville Records, both produced by Peter Yarrow and Phil Ramone. The band won a Clio Award for Best Commercial of the Year for the

Life Savers Life Savers (stylized as LifeSavers) is an American brand of ring-shaped hard and soft candy. Its range of mints and fruit-flavored candies is known for its distinctive packaging, coming in paper-wrapped aluminum foil rolls. Candy manufacturer ...

campaign. The self-titled debut album '' Lazarus'' was the second album released on the Bearsville label. On the album's release,

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

wrote about the band: "A find of PP&M's Peter Yarrow, Lazarus is a highly talented folkish trio very much in the strain of Crosby, Stills et al. Group has a quality of presence, unsurpassed. April 1972, a launch celebration in London with Albert Grossman in attendance, was hosted by Kinney (WEA), set to distribute the Bearsville label in the UK, with initial album releases by

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

, Lazarus and

Foghat Foghat are an English rock band formed in London in 1971. The band is known for the use of electric slide guitar in its music. The band has achieved eight gold records, one platinum and one double platinum record, and despite several line-up ...

. Released in 1971, this first album featured the single " Warmth of Your Eyes," which became a moderate hit the following year. Their second and final album, '' A Fool's Paradise'', followed in 1973, from which "Ladyfriends I (Sing a Song to Your Lady)" was tagged as a single. Both albums were produced by Yarrow and Phil Ramone.

Touring

Lazarus played The Troubadour, Los Angeles, toured with Peter Yarrow, and over the next four years, performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada. In a review of The Troubadour, show, Eliot Tiegel wrote: "This is a totally enjoyable twin bill which is touring the country...Lazarus showed off a fine harmonic ability with its three members holding their voices in line and also performing adequately on piano/organ, guitar/violin and bass." Lazarus was represented by the booking agency East-West Talent, Inc. who also represented The Band,

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

, Hello People, and

. They opened for Rundgren at his USD concert in

Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion ( lkt, Waséoyuze; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city in and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-largest city. According to the 2020 ...

, a city that Rundgren name-drops on his Back to the Bars live album. In a review of a Toronto show, RPM wrote: “When Carl Keesee/bass, Gary Dye/piano and Bill Hughes/guitar & violin, blend their voices together the resulting sound is supreme harmony…their songs are full of love, happiness and peace, and they give an overall tranquil feeling when they play.”

Life Savers commercial

In 1976, the band won the Clio Award for

Best Commercial of the Year. The "Life Savers" TV commercial with the song written and performed by the band Lazarus ran nine years nationwide. The commercial starred

Peter Billingsley Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1971), also known as Peter Michaelsen and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, is an American actor and filmmaker. His acting roles include Ralphie Parker in the 1983 movie ''A Christmas Story'' and its 2022 sequel ' ...

and Suzanne Somers in different versions of the commercial, respectively.

Solo careers

Following Lazarus' disbandment, Hughes went on to pursue a solo career and later formed a successful songwriting partnership with

Roxanne Seeman Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and in ...

. Carl Keesee went to Canada to play a gig and remained there. "Ladyfriends" from '' A Fool's Paradise'' was included in the Bearsville Anthology released in 2006.

References

* {{authority control American soft rock music groups American folk rock groups Bearsville Records artists Musical groups from Texas Performers of Christian music Christian musical groups American performers of Christian music