Atlanta (band)
Encyclopedia : A : AT : ATL : Atlanta (band)
Atlanta was a country music band. Formed in 1982 by Larry McBride and Mylan Bogdan, for the label MDJ Records, Atlanta started with four members of the touring group The Vogues, a nightclub and recording act.
The band grew to a total of nine members, and released their first single, "Atlanta Burned Again Last Night" in 1983 which rose to number nine on the Billboard Country Music charts. This was a first for an act on an independent label. This then led to their signing a recording contract by MCA Records. The group then released "Dixie Dreamin'", followed by "Sweet Country Music", the former hitting the top ten on the charts, and the latter hitting the top five and number one on the Cash Box charts.
The album release Pictures containing these songs, and the top ten hit, "Pictures", sold over 500,000 records and was certified RIAA Gold. The use of video as a marketing tool which was considered new to the country music contributed to the high volume of sales for this album, and also provided the new CMTV television station with much needed material. Atlanta videos were in heavy rotation on CMTV nationwide in 1983-6.
In 1984 Atlanta released the MCA Album Atlanta which contained the single releases "Sweet Eyed Georgia Girl" and "Can't Ya Hear That Whistle Blow". This album also was certified RIAA gold for sales of over 500,000 copies, in spite of what critics called a 'softening' of their musical style, much due to the changes in the production team.
Band member included Brad Griffis (bass guitar and vocalist), Dick Stevens (vocalist), Bill Davidson (rhythm guitars and vocalist), Alan David (lead gutar and vocalist), Tony Ingram (fiddle, drums, percussion and vocalist), Allen Callais (Collay) ( keyboard and vocalist), Bill Packard ( keyboard and vocalist) and John Holder (drums). Later Darrell 'Boo Boo' McAfee replaced Holder as primary drummer.
Atlanta toured constantly from 1983 until 1987, when business pressures forced them to retire from active touring. In the 1990's an album entitled ATL Alive and Well was recorded, containing live and studio versions of the original hits and new material. As of this writing date this had not yet been released.
As a touring act Atlanta set a record for their first year with earnings of over 1.5 million. This was unusual for a country music act at that time. The band played over 160 dates in the first year of continuous touring 1983-4, on tours that encompassed coast to coast and north to south travel throughout the United States.
Atlanta was a featured act opening for Kenny Rogers, the Oak Ridge Boys,Charley Pride, Eddie Arnold, Lynn Anderson, Tammy Wynette, and many top performers of the day. They were headlined billed in State and County Fairs, as well as a large number of club dates, and theater venues. The band also recorded songs appearing on the sound track for the movie Ellie with Shelly Winters and Pat Paulson.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.