The Sharks were a
rhythm and blues band from Albany N.Y. from early 80's to mid 90's and opened for numerous recording artists such as Tower of Power, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
History
The band members started by playing cover versions of songs by new wave artists such as
Elvis Costello,
U2, and
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
, but soon progressed to performing their own material as The Sharks.
The band built up a regular following, playing gigs up and down the East coast, and their first single caught the ear of
Billy Terrel, who asked the band to record a cover of "
Fly Like an Eagle" for the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
Super Bowl XV team.
This led to a guest spot on ''AM Philadelphia'' and gigs at venues such as New York's
CBGB
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...
.
They won
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's Basement Tape Competition in 1985 by the largest margin in the history of the MTV Basement Tape Competition, leading to a four-EP contract with
Elektra Records,
[Smart, Gil (2006) "A Shark's Tale", Sunday News, Lancaster, PA, March 19, 2006] who immediately put The Sharks into RPM Studios and The Power Station in NYC to record ''In A Black and White World'' which featured "On My Own" and "Only Time Will Tell". Videos for both songs were shot on location in Times Square in NYC. "Only Time Will Tell" was the second most requested song during MTV's Top 10 Countdown for 2 weeks in a row in 1988. With the success of the Elektra release and the support of MTV, the Sharks toured and shared the stage with
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboar ...
,
A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave band formed in Liverpool in 1979. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds, hit the peak of their chart success in the early 1980s.
The ...
,
Robert Palmer,
Joan Jett
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...
and The Blackhearts, The Romantics, Night Ranger,
The Fixx
The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...
, and
The Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in th ...
. The band had a falling out with Elektra, but continued to tour and record.
In 1986 guitarist Steve Zero, was replaced by Philadelphia-based guitarist, Roger Girke, who had previously been with Robert Hazard, The Front and Pegasus. Girke stayed with the band until his departure in 1989. With 12 successful years and a lifetime of great memories, The Sharks decided to call it quits in 1992, when they realized that Elektra records was not holding up to their promise. The Sharks, with members Shea Quinn, Sam Lugar, Doug Phillips, Mark Showers and Steve Zero, have reunited yearly at
The Village Nightclub in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for reunion concerts, where the band started. Sheaffer is a music teacher for the ELCO Middle school and Girke has been an active blues performer since 1990.
On October 8, 2009, lead singer Sam (Lugar) Rawhauser died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
, disbanding the band.
Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed October 2009
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The Sharks have been performing with Sam's son singing lead vocals.
Photos
File:Sharksballoon2.jpg, The Sharks - (Shea Quinn / Doug Phillips) The Stone Balloon - Newark, Delaware - circa 1986
File:Sharksballoon4.jpg, The Sharks - (Sam Lugar / Shea Quinn / Doug Phillips) The Stone Balloon - Newark, Delaware - circa 1986
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharks, The
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups from Pennsylvania
American new wave musical groups