Starcastle is an American

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. In ...

band from

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

, United States. Formed in 1969, the group played many shows under the names Pegasus and Mad John Fever before eventually settling on Starcastle. They inked their first record deal with Epic Records in 1974, and received extensive airplay and frequently played in the

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

area. The original lineup included former REO Speedwagon vocalist

Terry Luttrell Terry Luttrell (born 1947 Champaign, Illinois) is an American rock singer/musician best known as lead vocalist for both REO Speedwagon (1968–1972) and Starcastle (1973–1979). Bands Luttrell had played guitar with a local Champaign band, ...

and computing author/programmer

Herb Schildt Herbert Schildt is an American computing author, programmer and musician. He has written books about various programming languages. He was also a founding member of the progressive rock band Starcastle. Life Schildt holds both graduate and un ...

, while the mid-1980s lineup would briefly include guitarist Mark McGee, who went on to join

Vicious Rumors Vicious Rumors are an American power metal band, originally formed in 1979 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was conceived by founder and guitarist/vocalist Geoff Thorpe, and has been actively recording and touring worldwide since their ...

. They released four albums on both the Epic and CBS labels. The band's debut album '' Starcastle'' sold well, garnering worldwide airplay. Their later albums ''Fountains of Light'', ''Citadel'', and ''Real to Reel'' did not sell as well as the first and they were often criticized for sounding too musically similar to Yes. They were opening acts for such bands as Jethro Tull,

Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...

, Fleetwood Mac,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Rush,

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

, and others. After several line-up changes, the band went on a ten-year hiatus from 1987. In 2002, Gary Strater, Steve Tassler and Steve Hagler all released solo albums on the band's own Sunsinger label. This led to work on the band's final album '' Song of Times'', before Gary Strater's death on September 19, 2004, from pancreatic cancer. ''Song of Times'' was released in 2007. In November 2018, the band's official website announced the release of ''

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

'', an archive release of studio and live material from the band's 1980s line-up. Additionally, their website announced a new line-up of the band consisting of George Harp (vocals) and Bruce Botts (guitar), both of whom were in the 1980s line-up.

Players

Past * Gary Strater – Bass,

Moog Taurus The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

, Backing Vocals (1969–1987, 1997–2004; died 2004) * Matt Stewart – Guitar, Backing Vocals (1969–1981, 1997–2006) * Steve Hagler – Guitar, Backing Vocals (1969–1980, 2006) * Steve Tassler – Drums, Backing Vocals (1969–1980, 2006) *

– Keyboards (1969–1978, 1997–2006) *

– Lead Vocals (1973–1978, 2006) * Ralph Goldheim ("Caribou Ralph") – Lead Vocals, Keyboards (1979–1981) * Bruce Botts – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals (1982–2019) * Scott McKenzie – Drums, Backing Vocals (1982–1987) * Mark McGee – Guitar (1985–1986) * George Harp - Lead Vocals (1982- 1986 - 2015-2019)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:350 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1969 till:12/31/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_albums id:bars value:gray(0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1 BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1969 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1969 BarData = bar:Terry text:Terry Luttrell bar:Ralph text:Ralph Goldhiem bar:George text:George Harp bar:Herb text:Herb Schildt bar:Gary text:Gary Strater bar:Matt text:Matt Stewart bar:SteveH text:Steve Hagler bar:Bruce text:Bruce Botts bar:Mark text:Mark McGee bar:SteveT text:Steve Tassler bar:Mauro text:Mauro Magellan bar:Scott text:Scott McKenzie PlotData= width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Ralph from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1981 color:keys bar:Gary from:01/01/1981 till:01/01/1987 color:keys bar:Bruce from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1985 color:keys bar:Matt from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass bar:SteveH from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass bar:Bruce from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:SteveH from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:keys bar:Bruce from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:keys width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Terry from:01/01/1973 till:12/01/1978 color:vocals bar:Ralph from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1981 color:vocals bar:George from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1987 color:vocals bar:Terry from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:vocals bar:George from:11/01/2018 till:end color:vocals bar:Gary from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1987 color:bass bar:Gary from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/2004 color:bass bar:Herb from:01/01/1969 till:12/01/1978 color:keys bar:Herb from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2006 color:keys bar:Matt from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1981 color:guitar bar:SteveH from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1980 color:guitar bar:Bruce from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1985 color:guitar bar:Mark from:01/01/1985 till:01/01/1986 color:guitar bar:Matt from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar bar:Bruce from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar bar:SteveH from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:guitar bar:Bruce from:11/01/2018 till:end color:guitar bar:SteveT from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1980 color:drums bar:SteveT from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:drums bar:Mauro from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:drums bar:Scott from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1987 color:drums LineData = at:02/01/1976 color:lines1 layer:back at:01/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back at:10/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back at:10/21/1978 color:lines1 layer:back at:01/01/2007 color:lines1 layer:back

Discography

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Musical groups from Champaign, Illinois Progressive rock musical groups from Illinois