Quasar was formed in 1979 by founder Keith Turner. They found themselves to be amongst a movement of British bands during the early 1980s, including

Marillion Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...

Pendragon Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...

, IQ,

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

Solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

and

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, that continued in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

style created by 1970s bands such as

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and Yes. Though Quasar has had quiet times due to leaving members, they are now based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

History

In 1979, Quasar was formed when Keith Turner and Mike Kenwright began to write songs in the progressive rock style. Other members of the band included guitarist John Clark, drummer

Steve Clarke ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, and keyboardist Geoff Banks. It didn't take long for changes to occur, however, as Clark left to replace Allan Holdsworth in

Bill Bruford William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English former drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording ...

's band (credited as "The Unknown" John Clark), whilst

left to tour with

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian Americans, Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was indu ...

, with Kenwright and Banks also departing the band. Turner brought in Cyrus Khajavi on guitar, Paul Vigrass on vocals, Peter Ware on keyboards, Peter Shade on percussion and keyboards, and Steen Doosing on drums. In 1982 this lineup released the debut album ''Fire in the Sky''. After a short burst of live shows further lineup changes occurred when Vigrass, Doosing, Shade, and Ware departed the band to be replaced by former

vocalist Susan Robinson, drummer David Cairns, and keyboardist Dillon Tonkin. This stable line-up did hundreds of shows over the next few years culminating in headliners 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 whe ...

in the same months as their contemporaries,

, Pendragon, IQ,

, Solstice and

. In 1985, David Cairns and Cyrus Khajavi were replaced by Dave Wagstaffe and Kevin Fitzgerald respectively, and this lineup recorded a new track for the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

compilation album "Fire in Harmony" which reached number 49 in the

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off ...

! rock album charts. Not long after "Fire in Harmony"'s release, Fitzgerald, Robinson, and Tonkin were replaced by Uwe D'Rose, Nick Williams, and Steve Leigh respectively. After a few months and some of the hardest gigs known to mankind Williams left and

Tracy Hitchings Tracy Hitchings (11 October 1962 – December 2022) was an English musician, and former lead vocalist for the progressive rock band Landmarq. Her musical credits spanned from 1989 to 2022 with many notable sessions with various bands and artist ...

took his place. The band's second album ''The Loreli'' was started, but during recording, D'Rose and Leigh left, with the former being replaced by Toshi Tsuchiya. ''The Loreli'' was released in 1989 and this took the band further to perform in Europe as well as the UK. Despite this, the band lost several members shortly thereafter, with Wagstaffe joining the previously departed D'Rose and Leigh in forming

Landmarq Landmarq (pronounced like "landmark") are a British neo-progressive rock band. Since forming in 1990, they have so far released a total of ten albums, four of which were recorded live at various concerts in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, plus ...

, whom Hitchings would later join. Quasar moved to California and with some new members, started performing there. New members PJ Shadowhawk (Drums/Percussion), and Enrico Goias (Guitars) joined in 2005. Enrico moved on in 2006 and was replaced by Robert Hunt Robinson (vocals/keyboards), and Greg Studley (guitars). In 2010, Shadowhawk left due to illness and was replaced by Paul Johnson. Studley was replaced by Clancy Ferrill in 2012. Keren Gaiser (Vocals/keyboards) joined in 2011 to round out the current lineup. Quasar released a live 2011 CD while the band's third album was written and recorded and released in April 2017.

Personnel

Members

;Current members *Keith Turner - bass, keyboards (1979–present) *Keren Gaiser - vocals, keyboards (2010–present) *Robert Hunt Robinson - vocals, keyboards (2006–present) *Paul Johnson - drums, percussion (2010–present) *Clancy Ferrill - guitars (2012–present) ;Former members *Geoff Banks - keyboards (1979–1980) *John Clark - guitars (1979–1980) *Steve Clarke - drums (1979–1980) *Mike Kenwright - vocals (1979–1980) *Cyrus Khajavi - guitars (1980–1985) *Steen Doosing - drums (1980–1981) *Peter Shade - percussion, keyboards (1980–1981) *Paul Vigrass - vocals (1980–1981) *Peter Ware - keyboards (1980–1981) *Susan Robinson - vocals (1981–1985) *Dillon Tonkin - keyboards (1981–1985) *David Cairns - drums (1981–1985) *Dave Wagstaffe - drums (1985–1989) *Kevin Fitzgerald - guitars (1985) *Uwe D'Rose - guitars (1985–1989) *Steve Leigh - keyboards (1985–1989) *Nick Williams - vocals (1985) *

- vocals (1985–1990) *Toshi Tsuchiya - guitars (1990) *PJ Shadowhawk - drums (2005–2010) *Greg Studley - guitars (2006–2012)

Lineups

Discography

;Studio * ''Fire in the Sky'' (1982) * ''The Loreli'' (1989) * ''Memories of Times Yet to Be'' (2016) ;Live and compilations * ''Fire in Harmony'' (1985) * ''Quasar Live 1984–1990'' (2011) * ''Live 2011'' (2012)

References

*House Of Prog ''Fire In The Sky'' review August 2013. *House of Prog ''The Loreli'' review August 2013. *Background Magazine ''Live 2011'' review 2013. *Within a Heart of Sound-The NorCalProg Festival 2012. *Prog Female Voices, January 17, 2016 ''Tracy Hitchings opened the way for female singers''. *Profil Radio, Quebec - Review of Memories Of Times Yet To Be 2017.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quasar (Band) English rock music groups English progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1979