Little Caesar is an American
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. They are remembered for their version of the
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
song "
Chain of Fools", a 1990 hit single from their self-titled debut album.
History
The band was founded late in the 1980s by vocalist Ron Young, who had previously worked as a nightclub
bouncer.
The group independently released an
EP and were featured on the 1989
Metal Blade compilation ''Street Survivors'' with one song "Down to the Wire", which led to their signing with
DGC Records, a subsidiary of
Geffen Records
Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
, in 1989.
John Kalodner did
A&R work for the group, and
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer and musician.
In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he coll ...
produced their debut self-titled album, which was released in 1990 to positive reviews.
[ Eduardo Rivadavia of ]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
retrospectively gave the album three stars out of five, writing it "may not be the most innovative recording of 1989, but it's honest and consistently satisfying." On the strength of the singles " Chain of Fools" (a cover of the Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
song) and "In Your Arms", ''Little Caesar'' hit number 139 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 in 1990. Lead vocalist Ron Young made a brief cameo in James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...
's '' Terminator 2'', as the biker thrown through the window of the bar by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
.
Despite the group's chart success, they had problems with exposure on then-critical MTV, due in part to the band being less than photogenic and "looking like a gang of Hell's Angels."[ They remained with DGC/Geffen for a sophomore release, ''Influence'' in 1992, but neither Rock nor Kalodner continued working with them.] By this time, guitarist Apache had left and was replaced with Earl Slick. After ''Influence'' failed to match the success of their debut, the group disbanded. They were one of many metal bands whose careers faltered with the early 1990s rise of alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
. DGC - initially a label strongly devoted to metal/progressive rock label - began to favor alternative bands. Ron Young later went on to sing in The Four Horsemen, Manic Eden, and Dirt.
The band reformed for some live shows in 2001, and released a new album, ''Redemption'', in 2009. They also introduced new guitar player Joey Brasler (who had played with Etta James, Bob Welch, Cherie Currie) replacing original member Apache. After touring in the US, Europe and the UK during 2010/2011, Little Caesar released their fourth album entitled ''American Dream'' on the Unison Music Group label in May, 2012. It was produced by Bruce Witkin. They embarked on a tour of Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and culminating in Wales in December 2012.
On 25 March 2013, it was announced that band would perform at the Download Festival on the 16 June 2013. Frontman Ron Young explained: “20 years ago we were offered to play the festival when it was called Monsters Of Rock. We had to turn it down because our label would not give us the funds to get there. Today, with no label, manager or big-money supporters, we finally made it. We got there because we have some amazing people that prop us up, inspire us, and bless us with their talent, energies – and most priceless, their friendship. They’ve helped us accomplish what we couldn’t do with a lot of powerful people behind us.”
Band members
;Current members
* Ron Young – vocals (1987–1992, 2001–present)
* Tom Morris – drums (1987–1992, 2001–present)
* Loren Molinare – guitar (1987–1992, 2001–present)
* Mark Tremalgia – guitar (2017–present)
* Pharoah Barrett – bass (2015–present)
;Former members
* Jimmy Hayne (Apache) – guitar (1987–1991, 2008)
* Earl Slick – guitar (1991–1992)
* Marc Danzeisen – drums (1992 touring only)
* Joey Brasler – guitar (2009–2013)
* Joey Malone – guitar (2014–2015)
* Alex Kane – guitar (2015–2017)
* Fidel Paniagua – bass (1987–1992, 2001–2015)
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Little Caesar'' (1990)
* ''Influence'' (1992)
* ''This Time It's Different'' (1998)
* ''Redemption'' (2009 + 2010 Reissue + 2021 Deluxe Edition)
* ''American Dream'' (2012 + 2022 Deluxe Edition)
* ''Eight'' (2018)
Live albums
* ''Brutally Honest Live from Holland'' (2015)
Extended plays
* ''Name Your Poison'' (1989)
Singles
Soundtrack appearances
References
External links
Official band page
Official Band MySpace
Sleazeroxx.com writeup
{{Authority control
Glam metal musical groups from California
Hard rock musical groups from California
Heavy metal musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1987
Musical groups disestablished in 1992
Musical groups reestablished in 2001
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Geffen Records artists
DGC Records artists
Restless Records artists