John Elefante

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John Elefante (* 1958 in Levittown , New York ) is an American singer, musician and producer .

Life

He became known in the early 1980s as the singer and keyboardist of the progressive rock band Kansas , with whom he had some chart successes. After the departure of guitarist and main songwriter Kerry Livgren Elefante left the band. He then produced countless albums by Christian rock and metal bands with his brother Dino Elefante , for example for Petra , Barren Cross and Guardian . The Petra albums he produced, Beyond Belief , Unseen Power and Double Take , won the Grammy Award for best rock gospel album in 1990, 1992 and 2000 . The Petra albums Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out and Beyond Belief also achieved gold status with over 500,000 copies sold in the US.

At the end of the 1980s, he and his brother Dino Elefante started the metal band Mastedon , which initially produced two albums. The songs were written and sung by John Elefante; his brother Dino Elefante played the guitar. The brothers involved other singers from the Christian metal scene in the project.

In 1995 John Elefante began his solo career, which resulted in three albums by 2009. With the albums Windows of Heaven in 1995 and Corridors in 1997, he was represented in the Billboard charts.

For the film St. Elmo's Fire (1985) he wrote and produced Young and Innocent . In the film Tribulation (2000) he is represented with the song If You Just Believe , which he wrote, sang and produced, and as the producer of Hearts Of Passion .

As an actor, he appeared in the film Kansas: Sail On - The 30th Anniversary Collection , which was released in the United States in 2005.

In 2009 his last album Mastedon 3 was released with his band Mastedon , which was released in the USA under the title Revolution of Mind . Guitarists Dave Amato from REO Speedwagon and Kerry Livgren are among others represented on the album . In the same year a remastered new edition of the first Mastedon record It's A Jungle Out There with 3 bonus tracks was released. Both albums were released simultaneously in Europe on November 6, 2009 on Frontiers Records .

His next solo album, On my Way to the Sun, came out in the summer of 2013. David Ragsdale and Rich Wiliams of Kansas starred on the album.

Discography

Kansas

  • Vinyl Confessions (1982)
  • Drastic Measures (1983)
  • The Best Of Kansas (1984)

Mastedon

  • It's A Jungle Out There (1989)
  • Lofcaudio (1990)
  • It's A Jungle Out There (Remastered) (2009)
  • Mastedon 3 (2009)

Solo albums

  • Windows Of Heaven (1995)
  • Corridors (1997)
  • Defying Gravity (1999)
  • On My Way To The Sun (2013)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grammy Award 2000 (English)
  2. ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database
  3. ^ John Elefante on Billboard.com
personal data
SURNAME Elephant, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rock musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Levittown (New York) , USA