Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge was an American hard rock band formed in 1986 in Pearl River, Louisiana. The band produced two albums and enjoyed limited success during the final part of the hair metal explosion in the early 1990s, before disbanding. All the band members went on to work with other hard rock recording artists Lance Bulen (Puzzle Gut and Kingbaby). Vocalist and guitarist Kelly Keeling performed with Michael Schenker Group and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. History The group was originally composed of Lance Bulen (vocals), Kelly Keeling (guitars and keyboards), Keith Harrison (bass) and Harold Knappenberger III (drums). The group began their career under the name Voices, later changed to Cheetah, then to Meridian, finally changed to "Baton Rouge" which Ahmet Ertegun asked for, so some roots from Louisiana would be part of the name and because of the similar name of the band Melidian. The band relocated to Los Angeles in 1987, experiencing changes of personnel and roles within the group. Keeling assumed the role of frontman after producer/songwriter David Foster sat down with Lance and said that Kelly's voice for the songs fit your band better. After that inspiring conversation, Bulen became lead guitarist and backing vocalist, bassist Bryan Scott and drummer Corky McClellan. The band, still under the name Cheetah, signed to MCA Records and produced a demo and a song with Jack Ponti, before Scott departed and was replaced by Scott Bender. In 1989, after only six shows in Los Angeles clubs, Atlantic Records put the band under contract . With the collaboration of the two songwriting members of the band Surgin', Jack Ponti and Vic Pepe (the first had worked on the first album of Bon Jovi), Baton Rouge began rehearsing material for their first album. Meanwhile, in 1989, Keeling, Bulen, and Ponti, contributed some songs for the album Point Blank of the German hard rock band Bonfire. The debut album of Baton Rouge, Shake Your Soul , was published in 1990 with the production of Jack Ponti. The album saw the participation of several guest musicians, from drummer Frankie LaRocka of Company of Wolves and the band of John Waite, to Joey Franco, drummer of Good Rats and Twisted Sister, to Bobby Gordon and Randy Cantor on keyboards. The track "There Was a Time (The Storm)" was co-written with Jaime Kyle. Keyboard player David Cremin, is credited in the album and is pictured on the back cover but he did not participate in the recordings.