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KISS, TOMMY THAYER, MARK FERRARI, MEDICINE WHEEL, JIMMY WALDO, JIMMY BARNES, CARMINE APPICE, ERIK TURNER, SHAKE THE FAITH,THAYER ST. JAMES, JEFF SCOTT SOTO, HARLOW, DORO, MARK FERRARI, BLACK N BLUE
"TOP 11 COUNTDOWN WITH "
CLICK ON PICTURE TO GO HOME
KISS, TOMMY THAYER, MARK FERRARI, MEDICINE WHEEL, JIMMY WALDO, JIMMY BARNES, CARMINE APPICE, ERIK TURNER, SHAKE THE FAITH,THAYER ST. JAMES, JEFF SCOTT SOTO, HARLOW, DORO, MARK FERRARI, BLACK N BLUE
"TOP 11 COUNTDOWN WITH "
"COLD"
KISS, TOMMY THAYER, MARK FERRARI, MEDICINE WHEEL, JIMMY WALDO, JIMMY BARNES, CARMINE APPICE, ERIK TURNER, SHAKE THE FAITH,THAYER ST. JAMES, JEFF SCOTT SOTO, HARLOW, DORO, MARK FERRARI, BLACK N BLUE
"TOP 11 COUNTDOWN WITH "
"COLD"
ROCKSTORY
"(KISS - TOMMY THAYER)"
"“Thomas Cunningham Thayer AKA Tommy Thayer, was born on November 7, 1960, in Portland, Oregon. Thayer was raised in a musical family, exposed to genres that ranged from classical to the Beatles. Thayer's affinity for early 1970s hard rock bands led him to pick up electric guitar at age 13. Thayer played in local garage and club bands, eventually forming his own group with singer Jaime St. James, which eventually took the name Black 'n Blue in November 1981. The band traveled to Germany in early 1984 releasing Black 'n Blue in August 1984, featuring the songs "Hold on to 18" and "School of Hard Knocks", both co-written by Thayer and St. James. The follow-up Without Love, was released in 1985. After touring for two months as opening act for Kiss in fall 1985, Black 'n Blue hired Kiss bassist Gene Simmons to produce the band's next studio album Nasty Nasty, released in 1986 and In Heat in 1988. The band subsequently broke up in late 1988. In October 2010, the band was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in Portland. John Kalodner from Geffen Records invited Thayer to play on Jimmy Barnes' Australian album For The Working Class Man. When interviewed some years later he recalled that the two sessions he played on included Mick Fleetwood on drums, and Billy Burnette on guitar. In 1989, Thayer co-wrote songs with Gene Simmons and played session guitar on song demos for Kiss' 1989 release, Hot in the Shade, which includes the Simmons and Thayer songs "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth, The Street Taketh Away". Thayer co-produced and played guitar on Doro Pesch's 1991 Polygram Records release, Doro. In 1992, Thayer joined Los Angeles rock band Shake the Faith and recorded the album America the Violent, which was released in Japan in 1994. Thayer and other members of Shake the Faith continued in the band No. 9, which recorded an album for Elektra Records that was never released. In 1994, Kiss' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley hired Thayer to work part-time on their forthcoming book Kisstory, which led to other projects and eventually a full-time role with Kiss. Thayer's work for Stanley and Simmons began by performing such tasks as painting Stanley's house and cleaning out Simmons' gutters. Thayer managed the 1995 Worldwide Kiss Convention tour and the Kiss MTV Unplugged concert. In preparation for 1996's Kiss Alive/Worldwide Tour, Thayer worked with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss, to help them relearn their original guitar and drum parts from the 1970s. Thayer worked as producer and editor of Kiss' long form video and film releases including: Kiss, The Second Coming in 1998, New Line Cinema's feature Detroit Rock City in 1998, and Showtime Television's pay-per-view, The Last Kiss in 2000. By 2002 and with the growing uncertainty of Ace Frehley's involvement in the band, Thayer stood by for a Kiss performance at the 2002 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Salt Lake City to fill-in on lead guitar if necessary. One month later, Thayer got the call and donned the Spaceman makeup for the first time, filling in and performing onstage with Kiss at a private concert in Jamaica. As with Eric Singer who debuted as the "Catman" this caused some controversy as the persona had previously been used only by Frehley. Some fans preferred to liken him to the unique persona of the "Nordic Warrior" After this performance Thayer officially became the lead guitarist for Kiss. In 2003, Thayer with Kiss joined forces with the 70-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (all in Kiss makeup) for a concert at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne Australia. Recorded and filmed in front of 40,000 fans, a pay-per-view, Kiss Symphony: Alive IV CD and DVD were released worldwide later that year. Sonic Boom, the first Kiss studio album in 11 years, was released worldwide in October 2009, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart. Thayer co-wrote three songs on the record, including his own lead vocal debut on "When Lightning Strikes." A new Kiss studio album, titled Monster, was released in October 2012; Thayer co-wrote 10 songs and sang lead vocals on "Outta This World". When reminded that he was the youngest member of Kiss, Thayer spoke on his plans post-Kiss, revealing, "I’m not completely ready to retire yet; I have ideas and certainly options on the table. I'm not thinking of continuing to play in another band or that sort of thing – that doesn't appeal to me. But I look forward to an exciting future, working hard and being a part of good things going forward. "
