Player (band)

Player
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Soft rock
Years active	1976–82, 1995–2003, 2007–present
Labels	RSO, Philips, Casablanca, RCA, Frontiers
Website	Official website
Members	Peter Beckett Ronn Moss Rob Math
Past members	John Charles "J.C." Crowley John Friesen Miles Joseph Gabriel Katona Rusty Buchanan Elliot Easton Burleigh Drummond Tony Sciuto Steve Farris Michael Hakes Ricky Zacharaides Ed Roth Craig Pilo John Walsh Jimmy Carnelli

Player is an American rock band that made their mark during the late 1970s. The group scored several US Hot 100 hits, three of which went into the Top 40; two of those single releases went Top 10, including the No. 1 hit "Baby Come Back", written by group members Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley.

Player first came together in Los Angeles, California. The original members included Peter Beckett (lead vocals, guitar), John Charles "J.C." Crowley (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ronn Moss (bass, vocals), and John Friesen (drums).

Beckett, a transplanted Englishman, had been in a group called Skyband with Australian Steve Kipner (who had also played with the Australian band Tin Tin). After Skyband broke up in 1975, Beckett was in Los Angeles and met Crowley at a party. He and Crowley teamed up in a new band called Riff Raff, which soon changed its name to Bandana and released a single, "Jukebox Saturday Night", on Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter's Haven label. Steve Kipner and former Grass Roots guitarist Reed Kailing were also members of Riff Raff/Bandana, but Kipner was gone before the single's recording and Kailing was aced out after its release, though some of the Bandana tracks with Kailing's playing and co-writing later appeared on Player's debut.

When Haven folded soon afterward, Lambert and Potter brought the others over to RSO Records in 1976, and Beckett and Crowley started anew with Moss and Friesen (a former percussionist and musical director for the Ice Follies) as Player. Wayne Cook, a keyboardist/session player and former member of Steppenwolf, was an additional bandmember for its live performances; he is the curly-haired keyboardist in the band's videos from the 1970s.

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