Lone Star (band)

Lone Star
Image taken in 1977. From left to right: John Sloman, Tony Smith, Pete Hurley, Dixie Lee, Rick Worsnop, Paul "Tonka" Chapman.
Background information
Origin	Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Genres	Progressive rock, hard rock, symphonic rock
Years active	1975–1978
Labels	CBS Records, Windsong, Beat Goes On, Zoom Club
Associated acts	Iona, Quest, Budgie, Kimla Taz, Skid Row, UFO, Trapper, Uriah Heep, Pulsar, Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Ozz, Persian Risk, Gary Moore, John Sloman's Badlands, Wild Horses, Screen Idols, Lion, Waysted, Circus Circus, Paul Chapman's Ghost, The Red Hot Pokers, Van Morrison, Gator County, Waterloo Road, Kenny Driscoll Band, Hiding Place
Website	Lone Star MySpace
Past members	Members

Lone Star was a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1975. An embryonic line-up consisted of former Iona members, Kenny Driscoll and Tony Smith, former Quest bassist Ray Jones, and drummer Jim Mathews. The band took on the Lone Star moniker in early 1975 with the addition of new rhythm section, Pete Hurley on bass and Dixie Lee on drums, and noted guitarist Paul "Tonka" Chapman (a cousin of famed Welsh rocker Dave Edmunds), whose credits included the bands Universe, Skid Row (where he had replaced Gary Moore), Kimla Taz, and most notably, UFO, in a short-lived 1974 dual guitar configuration alongside Michael Schenker. Canadian keyboardist Rick Worsnop completed the line-up.

Lone Star recorded a studio session for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in early 1976, and signed to CBS Records, releasing their self-titled Roy Thomas Baker-produced debut album in August 1976. It charted at No. 47 on the UK Album Charts and was supported by a UK tour with label mate Ted Nugent. A second BBC session was recorded and broadcast around the time of the first album's release. The band's profile would get a further boost with a BBC Radio One In Concert broadcast, recorded at the Paris Theatre in London on 23 September 1976 while on tour as openers for Mott.

1977 saw original vocalist Kenny Driscoll replaced by 20-year-old newcomer John Sloman (ex-Trapper). The band's third BBC Studio Session, with Sloman now on vocals, was recorded in February 1977, and broadcast in July of that year on Alan Freeman's Saturday Show. This was an experimental quadrophonic broadcast trialling the BBC's Matrix H system. The band's second album, Firing on All Six, produced by Gary Lyons and released in August 1977, bettered its predecessor and reached No. 36 on the UK charts. That same month, the band would undertake their most high-profile gig yet with an appearance at the prestigious Reading Festival on 26 August, followed by a live broadcast on the BBC's Sight & Sound programme on 29 September, recorded at Queen Mary College in East London whilst sharing a bill with Canadian guitarist Pat Travers. Both the BBC In Concert and Sight & Sound broadcasts were released in 1994 as the BBC Radio One Live In Concert CD.