Rusty Day (born Russell Edward Davidson; December 29, 1945 – June 3, 1982) was an American rock singer, best known for his work with

Cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

the Amboy Dukes The Amboy Dukes may refer to: * ''The Amboy Dukes'' (novel), 1947 American novel about juvenile delinquents * The Amboy Dukes (band), American rock band founded 1964 ** ''The Amboy Dukes'' (album), 1967 album by that band {{disambig ...

, and

Steve Gaines Steven Earl Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. He is best known as a guitarist and backing vocalist with rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976 until his death in the October 1977 airplane crash that claime ...

Career with the Amboy Dukes

Day joined the Amboy Dukes in 1969 after their former vocalist was fired. Day had just quit his own band, Rusty Day & the Midnighters. He stayed only for one album, ''

Migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

''.

Career with Cactus

was conceived in late

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

as a supergroup of the

Vanilla Fudge Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of the Supremes' " You Keep Me Hangin' On". The band's original line–up was vocali ...

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Tim Bogert John Voorhis "Tim" Bogert III (August 27, 1944 – January 14, 2021) was an American musician. As a bass guitarist and vocalist he was best known for his powerful vocal ability and his fast runs, fluid agility and ground-breaking sound on hi ...

and drummer

Carmine Appice Carmine Appice ( ; born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is the older brother ...

, plus guitarist

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

and singer

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

. However, Beck had an automobile accident and Stewart joined

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

Faces The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect the ...

. Out of frustration, Bogert and Appice formed what became Cactus in early 1970. The cast was complete when Day joined them on vocals and

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only founding member to still tou ...

joined on

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

. Having made a name for himself in Detroit's rock scene, Day worked to restore the Band Detroit to national prominence. The Band Detroit was formed as an offshoot of the Detroit Wheels by members

(who later joined

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

), Teddy "T-Mel" Smith, Nathaniel Peterson, Terry Emery, Bill Hodgeson, and others. There is a recording of Rusty Day, Steve Gaines, and the rest of the band performing in 1973 called ''The Band Detroit – The Driftwood Tapes'', which was released as a Lynyrd Skynyrd bootleg in 1998. In 1976, Day re-incarnated Cactus by placing an ad in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' which stated that he needed exceptionally good guitar, bass, and drums. This lineup lasted from 1976 until 1979, and featured Gary "Madman" Moffatt, who currently plays drums for .38 Special. Day claimed to have turned down

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

's request to have him join their band to replace

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...

, and Rossington-Collins's request to have him replace

Ronnie Van Zant Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer, best known as the founding lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of Johnny Van Zant, the cu ...

. The veracity of these claims has long been questioned. He eventually formed the Uncle Acid & the Permanent Damage Band, which gained him a deal with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. Rusty Day formed his last band, the Rusty Day Band, in 1979 and hired Jacksonville guitarist Mike Owings. Owings had just left the Jacksonville, Florida band Lizzy Borden with Steve Gaines' brother, Bob Gaines, as drummer. Owings was then 20 years old.

Death

Day was fatally shot at his home on June 3, 1982. His 11-year-old son, his dog, and Garth McRae were also fatally shot. The murder officially remains unsolved, although the Seminole County Sheriff's Office believe the victims may have known the perpetrator, and that the killings may have been drug-related. In 2011 and 2015, it was asserted that Ron Sanders, guitarist and bandmate in Uncle Acid & the Permanent Damage Band, was the perpetrator of the shooting. Sanders shot himself six weeks after the murders, when police surrounded his home on other matters.

References

Sources

*Knight, K. J. ''Knight Moves: The K. J. Knight Story''. S.l.: Trafford On Demand Pub, 2011. Print. *Miller, Steve. ''Detroit Rock City: The Uncensored History Of Rock & Roll In America's Loudest City'', 2013,

External links