Blackjack (American band)

Blackjack
Origin	United States
Genres	Hard rock
Years active	1979–1980
Labels	Polydor
Associated acts	KISS, Meat Loaf, Union, Grand Funk Railroad, Pat Travers, Joan Jett, Cyndi Lauper, The Monkees, Yellowjackets
Members	Michael Bolton Bruce Kulick Sandy Gennaro Jimmy Haslip

Blackjack was an American rock band, active 1979–1980, featuring Michael Bolton (who was performing under his real name, Michael Bolotin), Bruce Kulick, Sandy Gennaro and Jimmy Haslip. The band was short-lived, released two albums, the self-titled Blackjack in 1979 and Worlds Apart in 1980, and embarked on a small US nationwide tour.

Blackjack was formed in late 1978 after Bruce Kulick had come off the road touring with Meat Loaf behind the Bat Out of Hell album. Kulick and his older brother Bob had done a show backing up Michael Bolton, then a solo artist with two albums, at a club show in Connecticut. Afterwards both Kulick brothers were invited to join Bolotin in a proper band. While Bob declined, Bruce accepted and became the main songwriter alongside Bolotin in the as-of-yet unnamed new venture. The band's manager Steve Weiss, also an attorney for Led Zeppelin, brought drummer Sandy Gennaro and bassist Jimmy Haslip into the fold to complete the line-up.

The band was quickly signed to Polydor Records and named Blackjack. At the behest of their record company and management, the foursome went to work with producer Tom Dowd at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida to record their debut album. Blackjack was released in 1979 and peaked at No. 127 on the Billboard charts selling around 100,000 copies. The album's biggest single, "Without Your Love", reached No. 62 on Billboard. Blackjack shot videos for both "Without Your Love" and "Love Me Tonight", which were part of a 9-minute promotional movie circulated by the label, and toured with acts such as Peter Frampton and the Marshall Tucker Band.

...
Wikipedia