Great White a roots metal band
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Members of the Los Angeles rock group Great White are shown in this 1993 file photo. Standing is Jack Russell. Seated from left are Audie Desbrow, Mark Kendall and Michael Lardie.
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Devastated, Great White singer Jack Russell tells affiliate WCVB how he reacted as flames consumed the wall behind his band. He says the band had permission for the pyrotechnic show. (February 21)
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(CNN) -- Great White, the band performing in the Rhode Island nightclub engulfed in a horrific Thursday night fire, first came to fame during the mid- and late '80s days of heavy metal resurgence and rode that trend to a hit single, a 1989 cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."
But unlike its counterparts, such as Poison and Warrant, Great White disdained the teased hair and makeup of the "hair-metal" bands in favor of a straight-ahead sound influenced by Led Zeppelin and other early '70s hard-rock heroes.
According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Great White formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, and recorded an EP and LP for EMI Records in the early 1980s. The lack of success of these two records prompted EMI to drop the group, and it signed to the smaller, idiosyncratic Los Angeles label Enigma Records.
The band's 1986 record, "Shot in the Dark," hit the Top 100 on the album charts, and the group was picked up by Enigma's parent Capitol (ironically a part of the worldwide EMI empire).
Its 1987 recording "Once Bitten" hit the Top 30, laying the groundwork for 1989's "Twice Shy," which featured the Hunter-written single and hit the Top 10, selling more than 2 million copies.
The band produced a Led Zeppelin tribute in 1999 and re-recorded a number of its best-known songs in 2000.
The band toured constantly in the 1990s, dropping some members and picking up others. The main constant was lead singer Jack Russell, who has been with Great White since its inception.
As of Friday morning, Guitarist Ty Longley was still missing.
The band's indoor pyrotechnic display apparently ignited the fire in The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, near Providence, and the blaze quickly spread through the building.
