White Lion is a band hard rock / heavy metal from the United States / Denmark and was formed in New York City in 1983 by Mike Tramp and Vito Bratta. Active band in the 1980s and early 1990s received a double platinum status with the 8 track "Wait" and the third song, "When the Children Cry" from their second album Pride. The band continued their success with the release of their third album Big Game. Mane Attraction is the fourth album featuring adult side of this group after a little disappointed with the album Big Game.
From the fourth album rolled popular hits such as Love Do not Come Easy, You're All I Need, Broken Heart, and the songs epic Warsong
White Lion along the road that is not smooth at the beginning of their careers. Their first album FIGHT TO Survive not be released because of Elektra Records shelter where they are dissatisfied with their album. Fortunately, RCA then take this album to be distributed in Japan which was followed by Grand Slamm an indie label in the United States who released their album in the U.S. market.
The group led by Mike Tramp and Vitto Bratta this could breathe new time of their second album PRIDE taken up by Atlantic Records. The album was lifted sales by a single sweet When the Children Cry them.
Their fourth album Mane Attraction is failing in the U.S. market because of fever grunge was struck at that time. But in Indonesia, White Lion Mane Attraction is identical with this album. The songs range're All I Need, Broken Heart, and Till Death Do Us Part may still be remembered by the musical public.
White Lion decided to disband after the release of Albu to Mike Tramp 4 this but the bike still wants to continue the White Lion again even without Vitto Bratta.
Fight to Survive
After moving from Denmark to New York in 1983, vocalist Mike Tramp (Mabel, formerly of the bands (http://www.rockdoc.dk/art10072.html) and Studs) met guitarist Vito Bratta Staten Island (formerly of Dreamer) and Decided to form a band. The two recruited drummer Nicki Capozzi and bassist Felix Robinson (formerly of Angel) and named the group White Lion.
White Lion was signed by Elektra Records in 1984 and recorded Their debut album Fight to Survive. Elektra was unhappy with the final recording, and after refusing to release the album, the band's contract terminated.
Both Capozzi and Robinson soon left the band. Nicki Capozzi was replaced by former Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo, and Felix Robinson was replaced by bassist Dave Spitz (brother of Anthrax guitarist and Spitz). Within a month of joining, however, Dave Spitz left to play bass with Black Sabbath and was replaced by James LoMenzo.
The Fight to Survive album was eventually re-recorded with the new line-up and released in Japan by RCA Records in 1984. The small U.S. independent label Grand Slam Records finally released Fight To Survive in the U.S. on November 9, 1985. A few months later, the Grand Slam Records went bankrupt.
Fight to Survive charted at number 151 on The Billboard 200 [2] and featured the band's debut single, "Broken Heart".
In early 1986, White Lion, with a fictitious female member (portrayed by Louise Robey), had a brief part in the Tom Hanks / Shelley Long movie The Money Pit.
Pride
Early in 1987, the band was signed by Atlantic Records and on June 21, 1987 Their album Pride was released. The first single, "Wait", was released on June 1, 1987, but did not reach the charts for nearly seven months.
The Pride tour started in July 1987 as White Lion opened for Ace Frehley's Frehley's Comet 80s band. The next year and a half was filled with constant touring, opening for bands Such as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Stryper and KISS. In January 1988 the White Lion landed the opening slot for AC / DC on Their Blow Up Your Video American tour.
While touring with AC / DC, the Pride album and "Wait" single finally charted, due in no small part to MTV airing the "Wait" music video in regular rotation, nearly seven months after the single's release. "Wait" hits # 8 on the singles chart, while Pride hit # 11 on the album charts. Pride would REMAIN on the Billboard Top 200 album charts for a full year, selling two million copies in the U.S. alone Achieving double platinum status.
In August 1988, the album's second single, "Tell Me", reached # 58. Around the time this single was released, White Lion played at the Ritz club in New York City. The show was filmed and later aired on MTV.
The Pride album's third single, a power ballad titled "When the Children Cry", made it to # 3 on the charts with heavy MTV airplay, making Pride one of about 20 hard rock albums to ever have multiple top 10 hits.
The success of "When the Children Cry" would eventually push sales of Pride over the two million mark. In Addition, Vito Bratta was Recognized for his instrumental talents by racking up Best New Guitarist awards with both Guitar World magazine and Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. All You Need Is Rock 'n' Roll was the final single released from the album.
In the spring of 1989, the Pride tour finally ended, and They began work on Immediately Their next album
Big Game & Mane Attraction
In August 1989, the White Lion released Their third album, Big Game, a musically eclectic follow-up to Pride That featured the singles "Little Fighter" (which peaked at # 52), "Cry for Freedom" (did not chart), and a cover of Golden Earring's "Radar Love" (which peaked at # 59). The album went gold Quickly, with a peak of # 19 on the album charts. The band's success continued with more constant touring.
After two years of writing and recording, White Lion Mane Attraction is released in the summer of 1991. More of a "back to basics" album, centering on strong hooks and melodic hard rock, the album was received well by the fans. Unfortunately, the album failed to reach the top 20 like the last two albums, charting at # 61 on The Billboard 200. It received little or no airplay due to the recent explosion Grunge. The album also contained the White Lion's only instrumental song, "Blue Monday", a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, WHO had Died while the band was writing for the album. The album featured the singles "Lights and Thunder", a re-recorded version of the band's first single "Broken Heart", and "Love Do not Come Easy" which peaked at number 24 on The Mainstream Rock Charts.
Greg D'Angelo and James LoMenzo left the band soon after the album's release, citing "musical differences," but White Lion Carried on with bassist Tommy T-Bone CARADONNA and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Suicidal Tendencies, Y & T, Fiona ). After briefly touring in support of Mane Attraction, Tramp and Bratta Decided to fold the group, Their last show being held in Boston at the Channel in September 1991. Exactly one year later in September 1992, the band's first compilation album was released, titled The Best of White Lion.
Social issues
Unlike most bands of Their genre, White Lion recorded occasional songs addressed social or political That Such issues as apartheid ("Cry for Freedom") and the effect of divorce on children ("Broken Home"). The song "Little Fighter" was about the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by the environmental group Greenpeace That was destroyed by operatives of the French intelligence service. This concern for political and social issues was also hinted at in the album cover art to Their Big Game, the which featured a lion's head hidden in tall grass with the White House in the background.
After White Lion
Mike Tramp went on to form the Hard Rock band Freak of Nature, releasing three albums Between 1992 and 1998, Freak of Nature, Gathering of Freaks, and Outcasts. Following Freak of Nature Tramp moved to Australia and 2004 Between 1998 and released four studio albums and one live album as a solo artist: Capricorn, Recovering the Wasted Years, More to Life Than This, and Songs I Left Behind as studio Efforts, with Rock n 'Roll as a live album Alive.
James LoMenzo and Greg D'Angelo joined Zakk Wylde's band, Lynyrd Skynhead, in the mid 90's the which Became the band Pride & Glory when Greg D'Angelo was replaced by Brian Tichy. Pride & Glory released one album, then James LoMenzo left the band. James went on to record and tour with ex-Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and toured with Zakk Wylde's band Black Label Society. In February 2006, James joined the thrash band Megadeth on a permanent basis. Greg D'Angelo was the drummer for the band AntiProduct in 2006. Greg D'angelo recently joined Greg Leon Invasion featuring Greg Leon (formerly of Dokken and Quiet Riot).
Vito Bratta stayed briefly with Atlantic Records to help Produce an album for CPR, and later tried to form a new music group That never panned out. Despite a dedicated aficionados worldwide Following of guitar, Vito disappeared from public view from 1994 until his interview by Eddie Trunk live on February 16, 2007. Vito is also the sole owner of the original White Lion's four albums music catalogs, retaining the rights after Mike sold all his rights to the catalogs in the mid 90's. They are owned by Vavoom Music, Inc., The which is owned by Bratta.
White Lion: recent activities
A White Lion compilation "The Definitive Rock Collection" was released in 2007 and the band was set for a summer tour with Poison and Ratt only to be dropped by the tour promoter after ex-White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta threatened to take legal action over the band name. Eventually Mike Tramp was able to use the White Lion name again.
The band appeared at Rocklahoma in Pryor, OK on July 13, 2007 with Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Y&T, Gypsy Pistoleros, Dirty Penny, Greg Leon Invasion and Zendozer. After this festival they toured the US.
A new studio album entitled "Return of the Pride" was released on March 14, 2008 and the band was now once again simply known as White Lion. The band did a world tour to support the album. White Lion toured India and played to 42,000 at Shillong, Meghalaya, and a 30,000 plus crowd at the Dimapur stadium in Nagaland. The band was invited to India by the head of the Tripura Royal Family Maharaja Kirit Pradyot Deb Burman.
A live DVD was released on December 5, 2008 entitled "Bang Your Head Festival 2005".
With White Lion on hold again Tramp continues with his solo career releasing the album Mike Tramp & The Rock 'N' Roll Circuz in 2009, which is also now the name of his solo band, a Copenhagen-based band with all Danish members. In 2011 Tramp released the solo album Stand Your Ground featuring the singles "Distance" and "Hymn To Ronnie," a tribute song to former Heaven & Hell and Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who died on May 16, 2010.
