【Pls look at the top comment first】On the aor and westcoast scene, this is a notable name founded by a great guitarist. In the past decades, something precious was delayed on releasing but should never be missed. Today it's time to review the most important year of this pop aor legend "King Of Hearts".

According to the story about King Of Hearts, the early year of the band with the debut saw a period of twists and turns, which was a pity of a talented musician, guitarist, composer and producer, Bruce Gaitsch.

Speaking of King Of Hearts, the two members are the everlasting mainstays, guitarist Bruce Gaitsch and vocalist Tommy Funderburk. The great founder of King Of Hearts is Bruce Gaitsch, who worked with lots of notable bands and artists, and is the close partner of Richard Marx. Bruce Gaitsch is also one of the greatest guitarists behind numerous music legends, including Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey, Peter Cetera, Julio Iglesias, Tim Feehan, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin, Celine Dion, Tamara Champlin, Sheena Easton, Amy Sky, Fee Waybill, Lara Fabian, 4Him, Michael W. Smith and more.

Four men consisted of the classic line-up in this epic album "1989". Apart from Bruce Gaitsch and Tommy Funderburk, I think loyal melodic rock fans must know Kelly Keagy, the great vocalist, songwriter and drummer of Night Ranger. Bassist George Hawkins Jr. is also a great musician who played with various music legends. The year 1989 is important to the band and this album "1989".

The album "1989" was formally released in 1999 by Japanese label Cool Sound, but this was the formal beginning of the band, created, recorded and produced with dedication. From the line-up, the great members in "1989" did symbolize a prime example of great song writing and amazing musiciansship. It could have become a great release in 1989.

The year 1989 saw Night Ranger breaking up after the releasing of their 5th album. Then Kelly Keagy joined King Of Hearts on drums and vocals. The earliest bassist was Timothy B. Schmit, who sang some demos in King Of Hearts but finally didn't join the band as a formal memeber and left to rejoin the Eagles. At the same time, George Hawkins Jr. joined the band. The line-up in the album "1989" was not the original one, but Bruce Gaitsch tried his best to find the right person. Tommy Funderburk became the appropriate one on lead vocals, who worked with lots of notable bands and artists on lead and backing vocals.

The album recording worked well. The songs featured David Cole on engineering, producing and mixing. The recording team included Bill Champlin on organ Hammond B3, Jeffery CJ Vanston on keyboards, Timothy B. Schmit and Randy Meisner on backing vocals. When they decided to make it released, things started to get exceedingly difficult due to some personal problems between the band and management.

Due to some internal problems, the following jobs became very difficult to go on, which caused the deal to stop and this album to be unreleased. Everything seemed to be thrown away at that moment. Kelly and George went on working with other acts touring and Night Ranger eventually got back together. After being shelved for almost a decade, the album "1989" was first released in 1999 in Japan only.

The "1989" album should never become the stuff in history, because it means a lot to King Of Hearts, which is a top-class pop aor release in every fan's heart. All the 11 songs were created with dedication, featuring the three members Tommy Funderburk, Kelly Keagy and George Hawkins as the lead singer of the respective song(s).

"1989" includes both lively tunes and soulful ballads, featuring Tommy Funderburk on lead vocals on most songs. Two blussey rocking gems "Smack Dab" and "Everyday" were sung by Kelly Keagy. Besides, the 7th melodic hard rock gem "Under The Sun" was sung by George Hawkins. Here the song "King Of Hearts" is the last track, the theme of the band, an everlasting masterpiece in my heart.

In the 1990s, the band continued to record new albums. King Of Hearts altogether released four studio albums and three compilations in the past decades. Their lastest album was released in 2019 by MelodicRock Records. The brilliant "1989" should never be forgotten as it was reissued in 2011 by Avenue Of Allies Music. Nowadays the re-formed five-piece King Of Hearts has been walking on the aor road all the way.
#MelodicRock #aor #KingOfHearts #BruceGaitsch #TommyFunderburk

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