Lionheart is a British

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox (ex-

Tygers of Pan Tang Tygers of Pan Tang are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue ...

), guitarist

Dennis Stratton Dennis Stratton (born 9 October 1952) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from December 1979 to October 1980. He was also the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of Praying Mantis from 1990 ...

(ex-

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

), guitarist/keyboardist Steve Mann (ex-

Liar A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies ...

, later with

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...

Michael Schenker Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf S ...

and Eloy), and bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton (ex-

The Next Band The Next Band were a British rock trio featuring vocalist/bassist Rocky Newton, guitarist John Lockton and drummer Frank Noon, who is credited with playing drums on Def Leppard's 1979 EP '' The Def Leppard E.P.''. The band's name was later ch ...

, Wildfire), and drummer

Frank Noon Frank Noon (born 5 October 1956) is an English drummer who played with the bands Def Leppard and Roadhouse. Career Frank Noon was a member of the trio The Next Band before, during, and after the time he was in Def Leppard, and played on The ...

(ex-

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

). The band split up in 1986 but reformed in 2016 with a line-up featuring Stratton, Mann, Newton, plus vocalist Lee Small ( Shy and

Phenomena A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

) and Clive Edwards (ex-

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

and

Wild Horses The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'', sometimes tr ...

) on drums.

History

Formation to breakup

Lionheart made their debut one Saturday night at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End of London, West End. It was the location of the first ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but musical differences ended with Cox leaving the band replaced by former Lautrec frontman, Reuben Archer. Former

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

drummer

Les Binks James Leslie Binks (8 August 1951 – 15 March 2025) was a Northern Irish Heavy metal music, heavy metal drummer. He is best-known for being the drummer for Judas Priest, where he was a member from 1977 to 1979. Life and career Early years Pre ...

replaced the

-bound Noon for the 1981 UK tour with

with former Wild Horses drummer

Clive Edwards Clive Edwards (born 19 January 1953) is a drummer, who is best known as a former member of the United Kingdom, British band, UFO (band), UFO (from August 1989 to June 1993). He also featured on the Bronz second album ''Carried By The Storm''< ...

eventually replacing Binks. Archer, too, briefly spent time in Wild Horses before forming Stampede with his step son, guitarist

Laurence Archer Laurence Archer (born 9 November 1961) is a British guitarist and songwriter notable for his work with British rock bands UFO and Phil Lynott's Grand Slam. He wrote many of Grand Slam's songs together with Phil Lynott and Mark Stanway, some of ...

, Noon, and bassist Colin Bond. Allmusic Retrieved 8 August 2016 The song "Lionheart", recorded by Reuben Archer, Dennis Stratton, Steve Mann, Rocky Newton, and Frank Noon belatedly surfaced on the ''Heavy Metal Heroes Vol. 2'' (Heavy Metal Records) compilation in 1982. That track remains the only representative recording of the band's early sound, as they changed their style significantly. A demo recorded by the core of Stratton, Mann, and Newton landed Lionheart a deal with the American branch of

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records, a former name of Sony Music, a global music company * CBS/Sony, a former name of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a Japanese music company division of Sony * CBS Records International, a label for Columbia Re ...

in 1984. Enlisting new vocalist Chad Brown and securing the studio services of

Leo Sayer Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingd ...

band drummer Bob Jenkins, the band proceeded to record their debut album, ''Hot Tonight'', with

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Kevin Beamish (

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon), or simply REO, was an American Rock music, rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial suc ...

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

) at

Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a p ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. This was a slick AOR-styled effort that failed to capture the old fans' interest or that of their target audience in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1985 the band continued with former Grand Prix members, drummer Andy Bierne and keyboardist

Phil Lanzon Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced ...

, appearing on Channel 4's popular ECT program. Lanzon eventually left to join the reformed

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, ...

(and later Uriah Heep), while Brown gave way to new vocalist Keith Murrell (ex-Airrace).

Breakup

Failing to make any headway, Lionheart split up in 1986. Bierne went into management, Murrell fronted Irish rock group,

Mama's Boys Mama's Boys were a 1980s hard rock/heavy metal music, heavy metal group from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The band includes the three McManus brothers Pat, a.k.a. "The Professor", (guitar, fiddle), John (bass, vocals), and Tommy (dru ...

, and Newton and Mann joined the

McAuley Schenker Group McAuley Schenker Group (commonly abbreviated to as MSG) was a multi-national rock band based in Los Angeles featuring core members Robin McAuley (vocals) and Michael Schenker (guitar), a successor (and eventual predecessor) to Schenker's earli ...

. Dennis Stratton later found success in Japan as part of an all-star

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

touring line-up alongside former

bandmate

Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (17 May 1958 – 21 October 2024), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, was an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno ...

Interregnum

Steve Mann signed on with Sweet as the guitarist/keyboardist in late 1989, replacing his former Lionheart bandmate Lanzon. Mann stayed on into the mid 1990s when he was invited by

Frank Bornemann Frank Bornemann (born 27 April 1945) is a German guitarist and vocalist best known as part of the German progressive rock band Eloy. He is also the founder of the Horus Sound Studios in Hannover, Germany where he worked until 2014.Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany to play guitar and some keyboards for his band Eloy, completing a line-up that consisted of Klaus-Peter Matziol on bass, Michael Gerlach on keyboards, and Bodo Schopf (ex-McAuley Schenker Group, Sweet) on drums. Mann guested on both '' The Tides Return Forever'' and '' Ocean 2: The Answer'' and also took part in a tour of Germany. ''Unearthed – Raiders of the Lost Archives'', a 30-song collection of Lionheart demos, was issued in 1999 by Pony Canyon in Japan.

Reunion

Lionheart appeared on Saturday 22 October 2016, third in a seven-act line-up headlined by

Steelheart Steelheart is an American glam metal band from Norwalk, Connecticut, that formed in 1989. At the time that their debut was recorded, the band's members consisted of vocalist Miljenko Matijevic, lead guitarist Chris Risola, rhythm guitarist Fra ...

at the three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Following the Rockingham event, the band decided to continue working together, with further live performances planned and a new album, entitled Second Nature, released in Japan in June 2017 on King Records and in Europe in August 2017 on AOR Heaven, followed by a mini tour in Japan. Arrangements for release in other territories are under discussion. The album was mainly recorded at Steve Mann's Flying Vivaldi Studio in Germany, with other parts recorded by Dennis Stratton, Lee Small and Rocky Newton in the UK. Lionheart appeared at the Sweden Rock festival in June 2017. The band toured the UK with Airrace in November and December 2017. In November 2023 it was announced that Lionheart would perform at Firefest Festival (10 Years After) to be held in the UK at

Manchester Academy The Manchester Academy, originally known as the University of Manchester Main Hall, is composed of four concert venues, located on the campus of the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. The four venues are: Academy 1, 2 and 3 and ...

on 11-13 October 2024. The band performed on the Friday night, the first night of the festival.

Members

Current

– guitar (1980–1986, 2016–present) * Rocky Newton – bass, vocals (1980–1986, 2016–present) * Steve Mann – guitar, keyboards (1980–1985, 1986, 2016–present) *

– drums (1982–1983, 2016–present) * Lee Small – lead vocals (2016–present)

Former

– drums (1980–1981) * Jess Cox – lead vocals (1980) * Reuben Archer – lead vocals (1980–1983 *

– drums (1981–1982; died 2025) * Chad Brown – lead vocals (1984–1985) * Robert Jenkins – drums (1984–1985) * Andy Bierne – drums (1985–1986) * Phil Lanzon – keyboards (1985–1986) * Keith Murrell – lead vocals (1986)

Discography

* ''Hot Tonight'' (1984) * ''Unearthed – Raiders of the Lost Archives'' (1999) * ''Second Nature'' (2017) * ''The Reality of Miracles'' (2020) * ''The Grace of a Dragonfly'' (2024)

References

External links

LionheartRock.com
* *
SteveMann.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lionheart (Band) British hard rock musical groups British heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 British musical quintets