38 Special (band)

38 Special
38 Special (2010)
Background information
Origin	Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Genres	Southern rock, hard rock, country rock, blues rock
Years active	1974–present
Labels	A&M
Associated acts	Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Zant, Trace Adkins, Grand Funk Railroad
Website	www.38special.com
Members	Don Barnes Danny Chauncey Bobby Capps Gary Moffatt Barry Dunaway
Past members	Donnie Van Zant Jeff Carlisi Jack Grondin Steve Brookins Ken Lyons Larry Junstrom Carol Bristow Dale Krantz Nancy Henderson Lu Moss Steve McCray Lynn Hineman Max Carl Scott Meeder Scott Hoffman

38 Special (also written .38 Special or Thirty-Eight Special) is an American rock band that was formed by neighborhood friends Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant in 1974 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The band's first two albums had a strong southern rock influence. By the early 1980s, .38 Special shifted to a more accessible arena rock style without abandoning its southern rock roots. This shift helped to usher in a string of successful albums and singles. Survivor co-founder Jim Peterik has been a frequent songwriting collaborator of the band since 1980, which may account for this shift and subsequent success.

Their breakthrough hit was "Hold On Loosely" (1981). "Caught Up in You" (1982) and "If I'd Been the One" (1984) both hit No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Album Rock Tracks chart. "Back Where You Belong" (1984) continued the annual sequence of radio favorites. In 1985 they had another hit with "Teacher Teacher", written by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams. The song climbed to #4 on the Billboard Top Tracks Chart, spending 10 weeks on the chart from the soundtrack of the 1984 film Teachers. "Second Chance" was a No. 1 hit on Billboard's adult contemporary chart in 1989, from Rock & Roll Strategy, followed by "The Sound of Your Voice" in 1991 (Billboard Hot 100 #33) from Bone Against Steel and "Fade to Blue" from the album Resolution which made it to #33 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1997.