Performing at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina on Sunday April 29, 2012.

FireHouse is a hard rock / heavy metal band formed in Charlotte, NC in 1989. The band reached stardom during the early 1990s with hit singles like "Don't Treat Me Bad" "Reach For The Sky" and "All She Wrote" as well as their signature ballads "I Live My Life for You", "Love of a Lifetime", and "When I Look Into Your Eyes". At the 1992 American Music Awards, FireHouse won the award for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist. They were chosen over Nirvana and Alice in Chains.

As the 1990s progressed, FireHouse remained popular in Asia, mainly in countries like Japan, Thailand, India, Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore. They also maintained popularity in South America and Europe. FireHouse continued to release new material throughout the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, most of which has successfully charted in Japan. The band has also continues to tour internationally, having participated twice in the annual Rock Never Stops Tour with other bands of the 1980s. FireHouse is estimated to have sold over 7 million albums worldwide since their debut.

The history of FireHouse can be traced back to 1984 when Bill Leverty's band White Heat needed a drummer. After over 20 auditions, current FireHouse drummer Michael Foster answered the ad and when Leverty was impressed by his skill, he quickly hired him. When the band wasn't on tour, Leverty and Foster would visit rock clubs and it was at one of these clubs where they caught sight of a band called Maxx Warrior. Singing for the band was CJ Snare and the band's bassist was Perry Richardson. Leverty and Foster were impressed with Snare's vocal ability and became determined to unite the bands. As soon as Maxx Warrior broke up, Leverty sent Snare some of his songs and asked him to sing on his tape. Foster and Leverty were again impressed, so they brought Snare in to be the band's lead singer for a show in Virginia several weeks later.

The three-member group took their tape to Perry Richardson, the ex-bassist for Maxx Warrior, who said he liked it but had promised the band that he was in at the time six months of shows. When the six months was up, Richardson and his new band mates moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and began recording demos in Leverty's bedroom. The band would record all day and play hotel shows at night to earn income. Since Leverty and Foster's band name of White Heat was trademarked, the band chose FireHouse instead.

Originally composed of vocalist CJ Snare, guitarist Bill Leverty, drummer Michael Foster and bassist Perry Richardson, the band has maintained all of its original members with the exception of Perry Richardson, who departed in 2000 due to conflict. Richardson was initially replaced by Bruce Waibel, but Waibel left to spend more time with his family. In 2003, Waibel died unexpectedly at age 39. Dario Seixas was brought on board to play bass on the band's 2003 album Prime Time, but he parted ways with the band shortly after the album was released. In 2004, current bassist Allen McKenzie, who was playing bass for Jani Lane's solo project at the time, auditioned for the vacancy and the band agreed that he was the right musician for the job.

Guitarist Bill Leverty and CJ Snare have both pursued solo careers; but neither have let their solo projects interfere with the band's studio and touring efforts.

Leverty has released two solo albums; Wanderlust in 2004 and Southern Exposure in 2007, and when asked if he would ever tour in support of them, he said that it would be "extremely selfish" to do so while putting the band on hold. Foster has participated in Leverty's solo career by playing drums on both of his albums.

Snare has released a Christmas single entitled "A Christmas Gift" and is currently working with English guitarist Chris Green on his side project called "Rubicon Cross".

CJ Snare - lead vocals, keyboards
Bill Leverty - guitars
Michael Foster - drums
Allen McKenzie - bass guitar

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