The Storm (American band)

This article is about the American band. For other groups, see Storm (disambiguation).

The Storm
Origin	San Francisco, California
Genres	Hard rock
Years active	1990–1993, 1995-1996
Labels	Interscope Records, Music For Nations
Associated acts	Journey, 707, The Vu, Two Fires, Steel Breeze, Shooting Star, Abraxas Pool, Santana, Frumious Bandersnatch, The Steve Miller Band, Vital Information, Steps Ahead, The RD Crusaders, World Classic Rockers, Michael Bolton, Sy Klopps Blues Band, VTR, No Nation, Le Mans, Elan, Velocity, Hardline, Majic Ship, Foreigner, David Lee Roth, Firefly, Ransom
Past members	Gregg Rolie Kevin Chalfant Ross Valory Steve Smith Josh Ramos Ron Wikso

The Storm was an American supergroup rock band, formed in the Bay Area of San Francisco during the early 1990s. The band is best known for their first single, the power ballad "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", which peaked at #6 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The band featured three of Journey's former members (two of whom were founding members) - Gregg Rolie (original lead vocalist and keyboardist of Journey) on keyboards and lead & backing vocals, Ross Valory on bass and background vocals, and Steve Smith on drums. Kevin Chalfant, who had a #12 rock chart hit in 1982 as lead vocalist with AOR band 707 (and who would later briefly tour as vocalist for Journey in 1995), was the lead vocalist, and Josh Ramos (who cited Journey founder and guitarist Neal Schon as a major influence) was the lead guitarist. Ramos had previously replaced Journey guitarist Neal Schon in one of his other, non-Journey groups Hardline. Consequently, The Storm sounds very much like Journey, to fans and critics alike.

Inception

Chalfant and Valory had just released an album together on another side-project band called The Vu and were ready for another venture; however, Rolie was the most instrumental in bringing the band together and sending them into a climb of success. He had collaborated on material with Kevin Chalfant and sent the track "Show Me the Way" to producer Beau Hill, who with Jimmy Iovine had just begun Interscope Records as a hard rock/AOR label for Atlantic Records president Doug Morris. Interscope became seriously interested in the project and signed the band, now known as The Storm, in 1990.

The Storm's debut album, self-titled and released in 1991 by Interscope, was produced by Beau Hill. It rose to #133 on the Billboard album chart, scoring two Mainstream Rock radio hits with the #6 “I’ve Got a Lot to Learn About Love” (which also reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100) and the #22 “Show Me the Way”.

Steve Smith left the band in late 1991 and was replaced by Ron Wikso, who left Cher's band to become a full member of The Storm in early 1992.

In March 1992, the band embarked upon a US tour supporting Bryan Adams in arenas all over the country. They followed that up with a tour supporting Peter Frampton and did additional dates with Eddie Money, Tom Cochrane and others, in addition to several headlining dates.

Dissolution and subsequent work

Their follow-up album, Eye of the Storm, was recorded for Interscope Records in 1993 but never released by Interscope. The previous year, the label—founded by Iovine (a producer, who began his career as a sound engineer for John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen) and Hill (noted for his success producing hard rock bands Ratt and Winger) as a rock label—had struck a deal to distribute releases by Death Row Records. Hits by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg convinced the label to shift its focus from Mainstream Rock to Gangsta Rap. Eye of the Storm was eventually issued through the major UK independent label Music For Nations in Europe, Avex Trax (Bareknuckle) in Japan and Miramar Records in the U.S. The album also appears on the iTunes Music Store with the release date of 1995.

Despite the release of Eye of the Storm, the individual band members had moved on to other things. Gregg Rolie (keyboards) played with Abraxas Pool (featuring most of the original Santana members - himself, Chepito Areas, Michael Carabello, and Michael Shrieve - as well as Neal Schon and Alphonso Johnson), Ross Valory (bass) went on to a reformed Journey, Ron Wikso (drums) went on to play with David Lee Roth, Foreigner and Richie Sambora, Kevin Chalfant (vocals) and Josh Ramos (guitar) formed another band called Two Fires, who released two albums, and pursued solo careers, Chalfant making lead vocal stints in The Alan Parsons Project (2003) and a Kansas City AOR-based band named Shooting Star (2006).

Beginning in late 1999, Gregg Rolie and Ron Wikso co-produced a solo CD for Gregg called Roots - released in 2001 on 33rd Street Records in the US and Sanctuary Records in Europe - and have since been touring together as part of the Gregg Rolie Band, which also features Michael Carabello, Adrian Areas, Kurt Griffey, Alphonso Johnson and Wally Minko. Ron Wikso occasionally rehearses with REO Speedwagon guitarist Dave Amato, and Styx bassist Ricky Phillips.

Discography

Year	Title	Billboard peak	Label
1991	The Storm	133	Interscope Records
1996	Eye of The Storm	N/A	Music For Nations

Band members

• Kevin Chalfant – lead vocals, acoustic guitars (1990-1993, 1995-1996)
• Gregg Rolie  – keyboards, backing and lead vocals (1990-1993, 1995-1996)
• Ross Valory – bass guitar, backing vocals (1990-1993, 1995-1996)
• Josh Ramos – lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars (1990-1993, 1995-1996)
• Steve Smith – drums (1990-1991)
• Ron Wikso  – drums (1992-1993, 1995-1996)

External links

• Kevin Chalfant Official Website
• Gregg Rolie Official Website
• The Official Ross Valory Fan Site
• Josh Ramos Biography
• Steve Smith & Vital Information Official Website
• Ron Wikso Official Website
• Interview with Storm members Gregg Rolie and Ross Valory
• Clique Records
• Kevin Chalfant & The Storm