About
Kansas is a 1970s American rock band, specializing in progressive rock with a distinctly American flavor. In spite of a harsh critical reception now and then, Kansas has remained a classic rock radio staple.
Lynn Meredith, Don Montre, Dan Wright and Kerry Livgren were together in 1969 in a band called The Reasons Why. They changed their name to Saratoga and started playing Livgren's original material with Scott Kessler on bass and Zeke Lowe on drums. They soon changed their name again to Kansas and took on some new band members in 1970.
Dave Hope (bass), Phil Ehart (drums), and Kerry Livgren (guitar, and later keyboards) formed the progressive rock group named Kansas in 1970 in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas, along with vocalist Lynn Meredith from Manhattan, Kansas, keyboardist Don Montre, keyboardist Dan Wright, and saxophonist Larry Baker. This was the first lineup of Kansas and lasted until 1971, when Ehart left for England. Fans refer to this lineup as Kansas I.
Ehart was replaced by Zeke Lowe and later Brad Schulz. Hope was replaced by Rod Mikinski on bass, and Baker was replaced by John Bolton on saxophone and flute. Fans refer to this lineup as Kansas II.
In the meantime, Ehart and Hope formed a group called White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (violin, vocals), Steve Walsh (keyboards, vocals) and Rich Williams (guitar). They changed their name to Kansas when they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. A demo, cut at a small studio in Liberal, KS for a $300 fee wound up in the hands of a contact on the east coast, and good news came about the tape while the band was gigging at "The Opera House" in Ellinwood, KS in 1973.[1] This old 2-story converted vaudville theatre was a favorite and welcome club for the progressive orginial music of both White Clover, the Kansas that signed with Kirshner Records. Jeff Glixman from "Cocky Fox" was either still playing Hammond B-3 (yep, 2 B-3's with Steve Walsh also in White Clover) or had recently moved to the Front Of House sound mixing and went on to produce the first 7 or so Kansas albums. Wally Gold came to audition Kansas at the Opera House, looking for a "house band" for the newly created TV show "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" and competed with "Wolfman Jack's Midnight Special", all prior to MTV. Kansas (White Clover) stacked their deck to impress Wally Gold. The cover charge that night was twenty-five cents + all the beer you could drink. The place was packed and exciting and the band was on-fire. Kansas III soon received a record deal with Don Kirshner's eponymous label, and they recorded the first Kansas album shortly thereafter
source: Wikipedia
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