John Parr’s first entrance in to music was when he was 12 years old and formed a band with 2 fellow schoolmates named The Silence. The band enjoyed considerable success. They eventually became professional and started to tour Europe. Ponders End When John Parr left the band, he joined a group called Ponders End who were hailed as the ‘best live act around’ in Newcastle, along with the Dire Straits. In the end they did not make a record deal and the bands chapter in history closed. Working With Meat Loaf John secured a publishing deal with Carlin Music in 1983 and in the same year Meat Loaf asked him to write some songs for his new album. That led to the fateful meeting with John Wolfe (manager of The Who). Foreseeing the demise of The Who, Wolfe was looking for a new venture and John Parr seemed to be the one. 1984 was John’s first trip to America. He worked with Meat Loaf on Bad Attitude while Wolfe was putting finishing touches on John’s Atlantic Recording Deal in New York. Solo and ‘The Business’ Naughty Naughty was John’s first U.S. top 40 hit record. The song built his career very quickly by achieving top 3 positions on every rock station in America for up to 6 weeks. 1985 saw John on the road with his band “The Business” supporting Toto and playing 10,000-seater venues across America. By the end of the tour, John had a call from one of the world’s most successful producers, David Foster. Foster requested John to write for the movie St. Elmo’s Fire. The song became a #1 hit for John around the world and provided many awards and a Grammy nomination. John later wrote Under a Raging Moon for Roger Daltry, a song that paid tribute to Keith Moon and told the story of The Who. The album became Roger Daltry’s biggest success in America. John was soon singing with Marylin Martin on the Kevin Bacon movie Quicksilver. John wrote and produced further tracks for Marylin’s debut album, including the hit Night Moves. After the success of Meat Loaf’s album, John contributed to the next album with the smash duet hit Rock & Roll Mercenaries. From there he began work with Albert Magnili (director of Purple Rain) on the movie American Anthem for which he wrote and performed the main theme Two Hearts. The Pepsi Company and Jack Calmes Satellite TV Corporation wanted to try something new - a gig from London beamed live across America, Japan & Australia on the college Satellite Network. John was the featured act, having done 2 similar shows (one from the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles where the flame was lit for a special performance of St. Elmo’s Fire, and was beamed live for Japan, and the New Year Christmas Show from London). The show was a great success, reaching almost 50-million people and making broadcast history for the network. Sadly, after relatively short period of chart success, John Parr faded into the annals of 1980’s musical history, along with other one-hit wonders like Autograph. Another dream came true for John Parr in 1988 when he was offered to collaborate with one of the most successful record producers ever, Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Lange offered him to (co)produce an album for Romeo’s Daughter. |
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