Kansas (band)

Kansas
Band members 2016
General information
Genre (s)	Melodic progressive rock
founding	1972
Website	http://www.kansasband.com/
Founding members
Vocals , keyboard	Steve Walsh (until 1980, 1986 to 2014)
Guitar , keyboard	Kerry Livgren (until 1984, 1990–1991, 1999–2000)
guitar	Richard Williams
Drums	Phillip Ehart
Violin , singing	Robby Steinhardt (until 1983, 1997-2006)
Electric bass	Dave Hope (until 1984, 1990, 1999–2000)
Current occupation
Vocals, keyboard	Ronnie Platt (since 2014)
guitar	Richard Williams
Drums	Phillip Ehart
Violin, guitar	David Ragsdale (1991–1997, since 2006)
Bass, vocals	Billy Greer (since 1985)
guitar	Zak Rizvi (since 2016)
Keyboard	Tom Brislin (since 2018)
former members
Vocals, keyboard	John Elefante (1981-1984)
guitar	Steve Morse (1985-1989)
Keyboard	Greg Robert (1987-1997)
Keyboard	David Manion (2014-2018)

Kansas is an American rock band that emerged in the US state of Kansas in 1972 from a union of the music groups White Clover and Proto-Kaw . She is considered the most important American representative of classic progressive rock of the 1970s. Her song repertoire includes the single Dust in the Wind , which was placed in the top 10 in 1978 , but also epic pieces such as Icarus and The Pinnacle from the 1975 album Masque .

Band history

An eponymous eight-member forerunner band with the later band members Ehart, Hope and Livgren (sometimes also referred to as Kansas I) existed from 1970 to 1971. However, the band celebrated their greatest successes after their re-establishment in 1972. The song Dust in the Wind (from The 77 album Point of Know Return ) became an evergreen and Carry On Wayward Son is still one of the most played titles on American classic rock radio. The associated albums, Point of Know Return and Leftoverture , received multiple platinum awards . In total, the band sold more than 15 million records. Her early and newer compositions integrate classical elements and instruments (e.g. Robby Steinhardt's virtuoso violin).

From 1980, followed by numerous line-up changes, mainly triggered by the tensions between Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren , who along with bassist Dave Hope the born-again Christians joined.

After Steve Walsh left, John Elefante took over the microphone. With him the band recorded the albums Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures . Many of the songs on the two albums - especially by Drastic Measures - were written by the new singer, mostly in co-production with his brother Dino Elefante . Violinist Robby Steinhardt left the band after Vinyl Confessions . Another track, Perfect Lover , also penned by John and Dino Elefante, was recorded with the cast of Drastic Measures for the best-of album before Kansas initially disbanded. From 1985 and the two Streets albums, which Walsh had recorded together with Billy Greer under the record company Atlantic Records , there were plans for a new beginning.

Together with him, Phil Ehart , Richard Williams and Steve Morse , the reunion album Power was created . Despite the criticism that this album was still too reminiscent of the band's AOR phase, the successor In the Spirit of Things , a concept album, was able to convince many critics. Walsh calls this album his favorite output of the band to this day.

Kerry Livgren has not been an official band member since 1983, but still appears occasionally as a guest musician and is also part of the studio. He composed the 2000 record Somewhere to Elsewhere on his own. Here all original members play together again for the first time in 20 years.

Kansas is primarily a successful touring band these days. In the spring of 2006 there was a change in line-up: violinist Robby Steinhardt was replaced by David Ragsdale , who was a member of the band from 1991 to 1997. Official reasons for Steinhardt's departure are his lost pleasure in touring, while insider circles speak of differences within the band, especially with singer Steve Walsh. In the meantime (2008) it is said that Steinhardt has retired . In spring 2014, singer Steve Walsh announced his exit from the band. On August 16, 2014 he played his farewell concert in Sioux City after being a member of the band for over 40 years. Walsh was replaced by lead singer / keyboardist Ronnie Platt and David Manion , the band's long-time lighting technician, as the second keyboarder and background singer. The band played the first concert with this line-up on September 12, 2014 at the Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City .

On May 12, 2017, Kansas canceled their European tour planned for summer 2017. This would have started on June 4th in Reykjavík , and about a dozen concerts a. a. in Helsinki, Oslo, Paris, Berlin and other locations in Sweden, Denmark and Germany, where they were also booked to headline festivals. The reason given was unspecified travel warnings ( safety and security warnings ) allegedly issued by US authorities and valid for Europe .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	US
1974	Kansas	-	-	-	US174 gold (10 weeks)US
1975	Song for America	-	-	-	US57 gold (15 weeks)US
	Masque	-	-	-	US70 gold (20 weeks)US
1976	Leftoverture	-	-	-	US5 × 4 Quadruple platinum (42 weeks)US
1977	Point of Know Return	-	-	-	US4th × 4 Quadruple platinum (51 weeks)US
1978	Two for the show	-	-	-	US32 platinum (19 weeks)US	Live album
1979	monolith	-	-	-	US10 gold (24 weeks)US
1980	Audio visions	-	-	-	US26th gold (21 weeks)US
1982	Vinyl Confessions	DE36 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	US16 (20 weeks) US
1983	Drastic Measures	-	-	-	US41 (21 weeks) US
1984	The best of Kansas	-	-	-	US154 × 4 Quadruple platinum (5 weeks)US	Best of album
1986	power	-	-	-	US35 (27 weeks) US
1988	In the Spirit of Things	-	-	-	US114 (7 weeks) US
2015	Miracles out of Nowhere	-	-	-	US61 (1 week) US	Soundtrack to a band documentary
2016	The Prelude Implicit	DE25 (2 weeks) DE	-	CH23 (1 week) CH	US41 (1 week) US
2017	Leftoverture - Live & Beyond	DE77 (1 week) DE	-	CH65 (1 week) CH	-
2020	The absence of presence	DE7 (3 weeks) DE	AT34 (1 week) AT	CH4 (4 weeks) CH	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• Freaks of Nature (1995)
• Live at the Whiskey (1992)
• Carry On ( compilation , 1992)
• The Kansas Boxed Set (1994)
• Live at the KBFH (1998)
• Always Never the Same (1998)
• Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000)
• Dust in the Wind - Live (2001)
• Device Voice Drum (live, 2002)
• The Ultimate Kansas (2002)
• Sail On: The 30th Anniversary Collection (2004, box including bonus DVD with early videos, TV shows)
• On the Other Side (compilation, 2005)
• Works in Progress (compilation, 2006, including bonus DVD with video clips from Live at the Whiskey and Device Voice Drum )
• Playlist: The Very Best of Kansas (2008)
• There's Know Place Like Home - Live (2009)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1976	Carry On Wayward Son Leftoverture	UK51 silver (7 weeks)UK	US11 × 4 Quadruple platinum (20 weeks)US
1977	Point of Know Return Point of Know Return	-	US28 (14 weeks) US
1978	Dust in the Wind Point of Know Return	-	US6th × 3 Gold + triple platinum (digital) (20 weeks)US
	Portrait (He Knew) Point of Know Return	-	US64 (6 weeks) US
1979	Lonely Wind Two for the Show	-	US60 (5 weeks) US	Live recording; Original was released as a single in 1974
	People of the South Wind Monolith	-	US23 (12 weeks) US
	Reason to Be Monolith	-	US52 (8 weeks) US
1980	Hold On Audio Visions	-	US40 (11 weeks) US
	Got to Rock On Audio Visions	-	US76 (5 weeks) US
1982	Play the Game Tonight Vinyl Confessions	-	US17 (15 weeks) US
	Right Away Vinyl Confessions	-	US73 (6 weeks) US
1983	Fight Fire with Fire Drastic Measures	-	US58 (7 weeks) US
1986	All I Wanted Power	-	US19 (18 weeks) US
1987	Power power	-	US84 (4 weeks) US

More singles

• Can I Tell You (1974)
• Bringing It Back (1975)
• Song for America (1975)
• It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man) (1976)
• Mysteries and Mayhem (1976)
• What's on My Mind (1977)
• Chasing Shadows (1982)
• Everybody's My Friend (1983)
• Perfect Lover (1984)
• Can't Cry Anymore (1987)
• Stand Beside Me (1988)
• Desperate Times (1995)
• Hope Once Again (1995)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Canada 1979: for the single Dust in the Wind 1979: for the album Monolith 1979: for the album Kansas

Platinum record  Canada 1978: for the album Point of Know Return 1978: for the album Leftoverture

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	3 × gold3	2 × platinum2	350,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	6 × gold6th	22 × platinum22nd	24,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	200,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	9 × gold9	24 × platinum24

swell

1. ↑ Press report on the tour cancellation 2017
2. ↑ Press report at Teamrock
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
4. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

Commons : Kansas  - Collection of Images

• Official website
• Kansas on the baby blue pages