During the Seventies when disco and punk were the rage, only a handful of bands were daring enough to play hard rock and heavy metal music. "You could almost count those bands on one hand," said Starz lead guitarist Richie Ranno. "They were Aerosmith, KISS, Queen, Ted Nugent, Starz and Angel. We kept the flame alive between the original hard rock groups and heavy metal today."
All together Starz recorded four studio albums, Starz, Violation, Attention Shoppers, and Colesium Rock and gathered critical acclaim with their ability to mesh the smooth with the hard. "We loved pop melodies," admitted Ranno in retrospect, "and we also loved heavy guitars. We liked to combine hooks with a harder edge. Our singer Michael Lee Smith had a great sense of melody. In the course of four albums, we only used orchestrations or keyboards once, preferring to mix heavy rock productions with melodic overtones."
Their success has been documented in the historical chapters of hard rock and heavy metal. In Kerrang's critical listing of the 100 greatest heavy metal albums of all time, Starz was listed at 94, with Violation at 84. In a similar poll in Hit Parader magazine, Violation was listed at 82. Starz's greatest asset was their live performance and until a chance meeting between Metal Blade's founder and Starz guitarist Richie Ranno, one of rock's greatest secrets was buried in the archives. At the height of their career, Starz released a special "radio only" live record intended for broadcast, bot not liscenced for sale. It was called Live In Louisville and only a scant 2,000 copies were pressed. It was heralded by Kerrang as the greatest live record never released!
"We always considered ourselves a live band," Richie confessed. "In fact, we toured with Peter Frampton in major halls before we even had any product to sell! We felt confident that we could get any audience up on their feet and got encores wherever we played."
Many of the Eighties most successful bands were influenced by Starz, from Cinderella and Poison to Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. Tom Keifer said the first concert he ever went to was a Starz show. "They really kicked ass," he remembered. Jon Bon Jovi met guitarist Richie Ranno backstage at a Bon Jovi concert in New Jersey and took the time to tell 30,000 screaming fans that when he was young, he looked up to Starz. They were the band he imitated when practicing in the garage. In Jon's words, "What ever your dreams may be, always shoot for the Starz!"
In 2003,Starz reunited for the first time in over 20 years. Original members Michael Lee Smith,Richie Ranno,Brendan Harkin,and Joe X. Dube,along with new bass player George DiAna replacing the late Peter Sweval played 3 East Coast dates.The fans were thrilled,and the band sounded as good as ever.
By popular demand,Starz hit the road again in 2004,playing Texas,as well as shows through the Midwest and the East Coast. Once more,the band killed,and the fans in every city went home happy.
In 2005,Rykodisc reissued the 4 Starz studio albums on CD,remastered,and with bonus tracks. The band made Starz history by performing at the first Starzfest in New Jersey. In front of their most loyal fans,the band played every song from all 4 of their classic albums.Starz also played on the West Coast for the first time in 25 years.
There are some very exciting things on the horizon for Starz and their fans. Keep watching this site, along with www.starzcentral.com for the latest news.
