707 was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band of the early 1980s, best known for the rock radio hits "I Could Be Good For You" and "Mega Force".

"I Could Be Good for You"

The original members included Phil Bryant ( bass,

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

), Jim McClarty ( drums), Duke McFadden ( keyboards/ synthesizers, vocals), and Kevin Russell (

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, vocals). Initially signed to

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

, they achieved significant rock radio airplay with "I Could Be Good for You", written by McFadden and McClarty. It peaked at No. 52 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was featured on their first album, simply entitled ''707''. McFadden left the band before their second album. "I Could Be Good For You" was included in the Adam Sandler film, '' Grown Ups.''

''The Second Album''

"Strings Around My Heart" failed to repeat their first single's success, but that did not stop ''The Second Album'' from hitting the charts, peaking at No. 159 in the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

in 1981. Recording sessions began for a third album, ''The Bridge'', featuring the addition of keyboardist/guitarist

Tod Howarth Tod Howarth (born September 24, 1957) is an American rock musician from San Diego, California. He is best known as serving as a keyboardist, a guitarist, and vocalist for the melodic hard rock group Frehley's Comet, led by former Kiss guitarist ...

. While being musically inventive and clearly demonstrating Howarth's influence, the recordings languished unreleased for 18 years due to contract disputes. During 1981, 707 performed "Tonite's Your Night" on '' The Midnight Special''.

''The Bridge''

The third 707 album was recorded in 1981 after completing a tour together opening for REO Speedwagon. The line-up was Kevin Russell (guitar), Phil Bryant (vocals/bass), Jim McClarty (drums) and Todd Howarth (keys/guitar). The album was shelved until it was finally released in 2004.

''Mega Force''

The band departed Casablanca, and signed with Boardwalk Records, re-joining Bruce Bird and Neil Bogart, who had originally signed the band to Casablanca. In the tradition of other successful bands of the 1960s (

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

) and 1970s ( Styx,

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

), 707 did not have a single lead vocalist, and featured different band members taking lead vocals on different tracks; some songs even featured different vocalists within the same song. The label decided that 707 needed a single, distinguishable vocal front man, and

Kevin Chalfant Kevin Chalfant is an American singer and a native of Streator, Illinois. He obtained a BMI award for co-writing and singing on one of the most frequently aired rock radio hits of 1992 and 1993, "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", by The St ...

was added to the Megaforce lineup to take that role. The result of those changes was the band's most successful album, ''Mega Force''. The album peaked at No. 129 in 1982. The title track, originally recorded as the theme to the motion picture '' Megaforce'', repeated the success of their first hit, reaching No. 12 on ''Billboards

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

charts and rising to No. 62 on the Hot 100. The band played for stadium crowds as the opening act for several successful acts at their commercial peak, including

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...

, Loverboy,

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and REO Speedwagon's tour in support of their album ''Good Trouble''. Despite that success, the group disbanded in 1983 due to internal strife within the band.

Other work

Chalfant later enjoyed some success in the early 1990s with The Storm. After a hiatus from music in the mid-1990s, he has remained active in solo and group projects, and has stepped in as temporary lead vocalist for

(1993) and

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompan ...

(2003).

enjoyed success with

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

guitarist

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

's solo outing which re-wrote "Mega Force" with

Jonathan Cain Jonathan Leonard Friga (born February 26, 1950), known professionally as Jonathan Cain, is an American musician and songwriter best known as the keyboardist for Journey. He has also worked with the Babys and Bad English. Cain was inducted into ...

's writing credit removed and Frehley's added. They titled the song "Calling To You" since Ace did not want to use the name Megaforce since he was signed to

Megaforce Records Megaforce Records is an American independent record label founded in 1982 by Jon Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula to release the first works of Metallica, and devoted primarily to hard rock and heavy metal. It has offices in New York City (whe ...

). Howarth had stints in Ted Nugent's band, his own solo career, and as a longtime touring keyboardist for

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen ...

. Kevin Russell fashioned a successful career as a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and guitarist for numerous acts, including

Rick Derringer Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

, and

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own en ...

. After parting from 707, Jim McClarty worked in television and audio production before devoting himself to the ministry. He is currently a pastor near

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. In 2006 he returned to his 707 roots, mastering the band's album ''The Fourth Decade'' for Renaissance Records. Duke McFadden died on April 5, 2005, from heart complications. In 2000, 707 regrouped briefly around guitarist Russell and independent record label releases have featured early demos, live tracks, and new material, as well as CD re-releases of their 1980s albums.

Discography

References

External links

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

{{Authority control Musical groups from Detroit Rock music groups from Michigan 1977 establishments in Michigan