Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”. The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 6x, Point of Know Return 4x, The Best of Kansas 4x), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, “Dust in the Wind”. Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. “Carry On Wayward Son” was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997.
1970–1973: Early yearsIn 1969 Don Montre and Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers) were performing in a band called the Reasons Why in their hometown of Wichita, Kansas. After leaving to form the band Saratoga with Lynn Meredith and Dan Wright, they started playing Livgren’s original material, with Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe coming in on drums.
In 1970 they changed the band’s name to Kansas and merged with members of rival Topeka progressive rock group White Clover. White Clover members Dave Hope (bass) and Phil Ehart (drums, percussion) joined with Livgren, vocalists Meredith and Greg Allen, keyboardists Montre and Wright and saxophonist Larry Baker. This early Kansas group, sometimes called Kansas I, lasted until early 1971 when Ehart, Hope and some of the others left to re-form White Clover.
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. This lineup is sometimes referred to as Kansas II, and 30 years later would re-form under the name Proto-Kaw.
In 1972, after Ehart returned from England (where he had gone to look for other musicians), he and Hope once again re-formed White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). In early 1973 they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. Eventually they received a recording contract with Don Kirshner’s eponymous label, after Kirshner’s assistant, Wally Gold, heard one of their demo tapes and came out to check out the band at one of their local gigs in March 1973 in Ellinwood, Kansas. After signing with Kirshner, the group decided to return to using the name “Kansas”.
1974–1979:
Their self-titled debut album, produced by Gold, was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York.[6] It defined the band’s signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt’s violin was a distinctive element of the group’s sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classical influences which most progressive rock violinists followed.
The band slowly developed a cult following due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America (February 1975) and Masque (October 1975). Song for America was co-produced by Wally Gold and their former White Clover bandmate Jeff Glixman, who would go on to produce all of their albums from Masque to Two for the Show (October 1978) on his own, returning to the helm for 1995’s Freaks of Nature. Both Masque and their next release, Leftoverture, were recorded at a studio in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou named Studio in the Country.
Kansas released its fourth album, Leftoverture, in October 1976, which produced a hit single, “Carry On Wayward Son”, in 1977. The follow-up, Point of Know Return, recorded at Studio in the Country and Woodland Sound in Nashville and released in October 1977, featured the title track and “Dust in the Wind”, both hit singles. Leftoverture was a breakthrough for the band, hitting No. 5 on Billboard’s pop album chart. Point of Know Return peaked even higher, at No. 4. Both albums sold over four million copies in the U.S. Both “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind” were certified gold singles, selling over one million units each. “Dust in the Wind” was certified gold as a digital download by the RIAA in 2005, almost 30 years after selling one million copies as a single. Leftoverture was eventually certified five-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001.
During this period, Kansas became a major headlining act and sold out the largest venues available to rock bands at the time, including New York’s Madison Square Garden. The band documented this era in 1978 with Two for the Show, a double live album of recordings from various performances from its 1977 and 1978 tours. The band gained a solid reputation for faithful live reproduction of their studio recordings.
In March 1978 Kansas was brought over to tour Europe for the very first time and later on that same year, they were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill.
The follow-up studio album to Point of Know Return was Monolith (May 1979), which was self-produced. The album generated a Top 40 single in “People of the South Wind”, whose title refers to the meaning of the ‘Kanza’ (Kaw) Native American people, after whom the state and the band are named. The album failed to garner the sales and radio airplay of its two predecessors. Nevertheless, the album eventually went platinum. Livgren’s platinum award for the album is on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The band toured the US for Monolith during the summer and fall of 1979 then went over to tour Japan for the first time in January 1980.
1980–1984:
Kansas’ band members began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting Monolith, Livgren became a born-again Christian, and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with Audio-Visions (September 1980). “Hold On”, a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999-2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA.
Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, Streets. In early 1982 Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist John Elefante, who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian. He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as Sammy Hagar, Doug Pinnick, Ted Neeley (who played the title character in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar), Warren Ham (ex-Bloodrock, who would join the band on the road in 1982 adding sax, flute, harmonica, back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and Michael Gleason (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group’s 1983 tour).
In March 1984 Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers), Leon Medica (LeRoux), David Jenkins, Cory Lerios and John Pierce (from Pablo Cruise) and Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in Hawaii on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the United States Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean and land-based troops in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh.
Kansas’ musical style, the fusion of hard rock, southern rock and progressive rock, was influenced by several previous bands. The music of Yes and Genesis was inspirational to Kansas, especially demonstrated in the lyrics of Walsh. Livgren cited the 1960s band Touch as foundational to his development. Livgren’s evolving spirituality is reflected in the band’s songs, with early works showing an interest in the mysticism of Eastern religions, works in the late 1970s influenced by the American spiritual philosophy of The Urantia Book, followed in the early 1980s by works embracing born-again Christianity. The re-formed band produced a harder pop metal album in the late 1980s.
In a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club, Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the Opus comic strip, revealed that “Opus was named after a Kansas song.” From the band’s 1976 album Leftoverture, the songs “Opus Insert” and the epic “Magnum Opus” could both be the inspiration for the name. He also added, “If you’re too young to know who Kansas was, to hell with you.”
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