Great White has tapped Mitch Malloy to be their next lead singer, following the departure of Terry Ilous, who had been with the band since 2012. Malloy is the third vocalist in Great White’s 36-year history, following Ilous and original longtime frontman Jack Russell. “Mitch is an incredible singer, artist, songwriter and engineer,” guitarist Mark Kendall said. “We’re beyond excited to stretch our musical muscles with a fresh, new take on Great White’s catalog of hits. Terry Ilous has been released to join his other projects. We wish him the best of luck and thank him for his run with Great White.” Malloy, who originally hails from Dickinson, North Dakota, charted his first solo single, “Anything At All” in 1992. His subsequent hits “ “Nobody Wins In This War” and “Our Love Will Never Die” also made Billboard’s Top 100. Malloy has been in this is this situation before. In 1996, Van Halen asked Malloy to take the reigns as its singer. Although Malloy didn’t take the gig, he further established his reputation as a universally- respected frontman. “I have to represent this music honorably,” Malloy said. “I respect what has come before me, and have to remind fans of where they were when they first heard these songs. I also have to be myself at the same time. When I first heard my own voice with Great White’s music, I knew something special was going on.” Guitarist and keyboardist Michael Lardie praised Malloy for his musical chops and reputation. “We had an immediate rapport with Mitch,” Lardie said. “I’m positive the fans will embrace Mitch and continue to support Great White. This music is bigger than any one person.” Great White has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, has six Top 100 Billboard hits, nine Top 200 Billboard albums, and two platinum albums. The band is now comprised of Mark Kendall (lead guitar), Michael Lardie (guitar, keyboards), Audie Desbrow (drums, percussion), Scott Synder (bass) and Mitch Malloy (vocals). Fans can get a closer look at the new lineup when Great White performs on the Bud Light Free Stage during the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 15. Posted: Aug. 25, 2013 A lifelong fisherman who lives on a boat docked off the Southern California coast, Jack Russell, founder and lead vocalist for '80s metal band Great White, knows better than most that a shark that stops moving dies. "There was a time when I was thinking about hanging it up and going on disability, and my wife talked me out of it," says Russell of the one time he thought about giving up on music. "She said, ?Jack, are you really ready just to fish every day of your life? You're going to be happy doing that?' Nah, I would be miserable." After a decade of tragedy and tribulations that would have broken most men, Russell somehow keeps on moving even if some people wish he wouldn't. On Monday he brings the latest incarnation of the band he founded in 1982, now formally retitled Jack Russell's Great White after a protracted legal battle, to Rockhouse Live, the city's new hard-rock music venue located in Raleigh. In the weird, twisted soap opera that is heavy metal, Great White's storyline is one of the saddest. Founded by Russell and his childhood friend, guitarist Mark Kendall ? the band's name is, according to Russell, a nod to his love for shark fishing and his ex-partner's pallor ? the group emerged in the middle of the decade as one of the stars of music video-fueled hair metal explosion. They enjoyed ubiquitous hits such as "Rock Me" and "Once Bitten, Twice Shy." In the '90s, Great White's fortunes waned with the popularity of the genre in the face of grunge and other music trends, but the band continued to make major-label records and tour through the decade. By 2001, though, the members needed a break. Russell and Kendall made solo records. In 2002, Russell put the band back together for a club tour, and in February 2003, that tour brought them to the Station, a nightclub in West Warwick, RI. Moments into the band's opening number, their pyrotechnics started a fire that engulfed the club, killing 100 people and injuring 230 more. In the aftermath, the band's manager and the club's owners were convicted for their involvement in the tragedy. More than $175 million, including a $1 million settlement from the band's insurance company and larger settlements from Anheuser-Busch as the maker of the club's sound insulation, was paid out to families of the victims. Following the fire, Great White somehow stumbled along. It would be Russell's personal struggles with substance dependency and the health problems arising from it that would ultimately tear the band apart. In 2010, he suffered a perforated bowel that left him in a coma. When he awoke, his band had dropped him and taken the rights to the name. The next year he formed Jack Russell's Great White with former Great White members Tony Montana (bass), Derrick Pontier (drums) and guitarist Robby Lochner. Kendall and the rest of the band, who still perform as Great White, sued. In July the two parties settled, allowing Russell to resume his comeback under the banner Jack Russell's Great White. "I shook (Mark's) hand at our last meeting at the courthouse and he said, ?Nice one, dude,' which is a Kendall-ism," says Russell of his and his bandmate's relationship now. "The door's always open. I have nothing against Mark. I'll always love Mark. We've gone through so much together. We started playing together when I was 17 years old." It is, by anyone's estimate, going to be a tough climb for Russell. As the face of Great White, he has, over the past decade, become the face of the Station fire. A February article in The Boston Globe on the anniversary of the tragedy painted an unflattering portrait of an aging, clueless rocker in decline. It also depicted a benefit show he held for the Station Fire Memorial Fund that raised an estimated $180 from about 30 attendees. "There's nothing I can say that's going to make anybody feel better," says Russell, sounding genuinely contrite if tired of being made the villain. "I can't bring anybody back. I'm so sorry that people got hurt or killed. There's nothing I could have done in my day-to-day routine that would have changed that from happening. I can't just get over it because I can't even imagine losing a husband or a wife or a son or a daughter. I can't imagine that kind of pain, but I know the pain I went through losing 100 fans and friends who I'd watched grow up since they were kids." The events of 2003 still haunt Russell, but he doesn't understand people's fixation on him or their reluctance to let him move on. Recovered from his physical ailments, drug- and alcohol-free for two years, and newly married to one of his hospital nurses, he wants do just that. "I'm in a great place," he says, getting ready for a show in Pennsylvania. "We just got the sound check. I'm gonna go out and sign some autographs. Go do our sound check and go back to the hotel, warm my voice up some more and get ready to kick some butt." Jack Russell's Great White with 714 and Twin Soul Monday at Rockhouse Live, 5709 Raleigh-LaGrange. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets: $25, available in advance by phone at 901-386-7222. Visit rockhouselive.com. |
What happened to the lead singer of Great White?
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