Rare Earth

Saxophonist Gil Bridges and drummer Pete Rivera formed their first R&B band, the Sunliners, in Detroit in 1961. Bassist John Parrish joined in 1962; guitarist Rod Richards and keyboards player Kenny James followed in 1966. After years of playing in local clubs, they were signed to Motown in 1969, where they were renamed Rare Earth after the label's newly-formed progressive rock subsidiary. They scored immediate success with a rock-flavoured version of the Temptations’ hit Get Ready, which reached the US Top 10. The single was edited down from a 20-minute recording which occupied one side of their debut album: it showcased the band's instrumental prowess, but also typified their tendency towards artistic excess. A cover of another Temptations’ classic, (I Know) I'm Losing You, brought them more success in 1970, as did original material like Born To Wander and I Just Want To Celebrate. But Rare Earth had already suffered the first in a bewildering series of personnel changes which dogged their progress over the next decade, as Rod Richards and Kenny James were replaced by Ray Manette and Mark Olson respectively, and Ed Guzman (b. c.1944, d. 29 July 1993) was added on percussion. This line-up scored several minor US hits in the early '70s, until internal upheavals in 1973 led to a complete revamp of the band's style. The Temptations’ mentor, Norman Whitfield, produced the highly-regarded MA that year, with new band leader Peter Hoorelbeke on vocals. By the release of BACK TO EARTH in 1975, he in turn had been supplanted by Jerry La Croix. Subsequent releases proved commercially unsuccessful, though the band continued to record and tour into the '80s. Former members Peter Hoorelbeke, Gil Bridges and Michael Urso later combined as Hub for an album on Capitol Records. At the turn of the decade the line-up comprised, Gil Bridges, Ray Monette, Edward Guzman, Wayne Baraks, Rick Warner, Dean Boucher, Randy Burghdoff. They joined Ian Levine's Motor City label in 1990 and issued Love Is Here And Now You've Gone. The band continue to be hugely successful in Germany.