Fortune (band)

"This article is about the band Fortune. For other uses of the term, see Fortune (disambiguation)."Infobox musical artist
Background=group_or_band
Name=Fortune
Years_active= 1978, 1981-1984, 1985, 2004, 2006 – present
Origin=Los Angeles
Genre=Rock Progressive rock Hard rock Soft Rock New Wave
Current_members=Richard Fortune Mick Fortune Dave de Leon

Past_members = Larry Greene Roger Scott Craig Bobby Birch Colleen Fortune Ray Barrett |URL= [http://www.thefortuneband.com/]

Fortune is an 80s AOR band that had a number of minor hits in the early 80's including "Airwaves" from the "The Last American Virgin" movie soundtrack and from their second 1985 album release including: "Dearborn Station," and "Thrill of it All."

History

Formation

The Fortune Band began in the late 70's when brothers Richard Fortune on guitar and Mick Fortune on drums decided to join together and form a band. The first Fortune self-titled album was released on Warner Bros in 1978 with follow up WB singles releases including "Squeeze me, Tease Me" and "Saddle in the Wind". In the early 80's keyboardist Ray Barrett and bassist David de Leon (formerly Stanley Clarke's touring support bassist [http://www.answers.com/topic/i-wanna-play-for-you?cat=entertainment] ) teamed up with the brothers and the band began it's move more toward the pop rock style of the time. This phase of the band capped with a show at Aloha Stadium Summer Blowout 1981 opening for Heart and Blue Oyster Cult. The band began to receive some national attention with the 1982 Columbia Records/CBS Inc. release of "Airwaves" on The Last American Virgin motion picture soundtrack. The movie is considered by many to be a cult classic of the time and the soundtrack proved to be a memorable compendium of 1980s radio hits with Fortune sharing the bill with bands such as U2, Journey, Blondie, REO Speedwagon and the Police.

As Fortune began to gain momentum, Richard, Mick and David, the core of the band, decided to take their music more mainstream and that some adjustment in personnel was now necessary to move in that direction. By Fall of 1982 the band had recruited keyboardist Roger Scott Craig. Craig, formerly with Liverpool Express, a British based group known for its number one hits in Europe and South America, [http://www.rockreport.be/interview.asp?id=3] “You Are My Love” and “Every Man Must Have A Dream.” They toured with Rod Stewart and Foreigner in the late 70's, the experience proving to be influential in Craig's later music writing style. By year-end of 1982 Fortune's singer (Richard's wife Colleen Fortune) had left the band and was replaced by vocalist Larry Greene.

The band began writing all new songs of which Roger and Larry contributed significantly. Over the next two years Fortune spent much of their time in the studio recording demos for CBS records and performing live gigs in clubs around Los Angeles and opened a stadium show in Hawaii. Unfortunately the band was unable to get traction during this time and eventually disbanded in 1984.

Fortune 1985

In 1985 Camel/MCA Records came on the scene and offered to release a Fortune album. The band regrouped with Bobby Birch on bass. Greene and Craig had been collaboratively songwriting and landed most of their songs in the second 1985 Fortune album. The album was released, and was believed to have achieved significant sales in Europe and Japan. While very well received by the public, the band itself received virtually no revenue or recognition from the album. During this period Camel/MCA had undermarketed and understated album sales. Camel Records shortly thereafter unexpectedly declared bankruptcy for undisclosed reasons and refused to give up the masters of the album, making an album re-release almost impossible. Fortune disbanded a second time.

Fortune - Present

The band regrouped again in 2006 as a power trio with original Fortune band members Richard Fortune on vocals/guitar, Mick Fortune on drums and Dave de Leon on bass. It's now September 2008 and there's a plan in the works to release a new FORTUNE CD involving the members of the original band.

tyle

Fortune's style is similar to that of similar 80's anthem rock artists, such as Journey, Styx, Survivor, Foreigner , and Asia.

Discography

Albums

* "Fortune", Warner Bros 1978 (BSK 3246) [http://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/warner/warner3100.html]
* " Last American Virgin Movie Soundtrack, "Airwaves" " 1982 CBS Inc. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084234/soundtrack]
* "Fortune", 1985
* "Fortune" (Re-release), 2004

Fortune: Tracks

*"Fortune 1978"
**Saddle The Wind
**Squeeze Me, Tease Me
**Certain Kind Of Feeling
**Bein' Real With The Feelin'
**Forget About Tomorrow
**Country Love
**Heavy
**Love
**Swinging From The Stars
**Rainy Day Woman

*"Last American Virgin Soundtrack 1982"
**Airwaves

*"Fortune 1985"
**Thill of It All,
**Smoke From a Gun,
**Stacy,
**Bad Blood,
**Dearborn Station,
**Lonely Hunter,
**Deep in the Heat of the Night,
**Stormy Love,
**Out in the Streets,
**98 In the Shade,

*"Fortune - 20th Anniversay Re-Release 2004"

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/thefortuneband]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=81183686]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~synergysys/]