Post by Rob Durkee on Aug 12, 2011 9:25:53 GMT -5
JANI LANE (WARRANT): 1964-2011
WOODLAND HILLS, CALIFORNIA -- Jani Lane, the former lead singer of the rock group Warrant, was found dead in a Comfort Inn Hotel in Woodland Hills on Thursday, August 11, 2011. According to the Associated Press and police officer Sara Faden, he was 47. Specific details regarding the cause of death were not available at press time. Woodland Hills is located at the far west end of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
Warrant broke onto the pop music scene in the spring of 1989 with "Down Boys," which reached #32 on the Cash Box pop chart. The group followed up with its biggest hit, the power ballad "Heaven" that reached #2 in September of 1989. Two songs kept "Heaven" out of #1: "Don't Wanna Lose You" (Gloria Estefan) and "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" (Milli Vanilli). Cash Box ranked "Heaven" as the #10 single for the entire year of 1989.
Warrant went on to have three top 40 hits in 1990 with "Sometimes She Cries" (#16), "Cherry Pie" (#12) and "I Saw Red" (#11).
According to Wikipedia, Jani Lane was born John Kennedy Oswald on February 1, 1964, in Akron. He went by the nickname of Mitch Dynamite, when he was was a drummer as young as age 11. The nickname stuck as Mitch Dynamite was identified as the Warrant drummer on the group's "Latest And Greatest Hits" CD.
Lane was a standout quarterback for the Field High School football team and turned down some college scholarship offers. Instead, his heart was in music as he worked various jobs to buy his own drums. Not long after graduating from Field High School in 1982, Lane formed the band Cyren. He then relocated to Florida, where he drummed for a group called Dorian Gray and later around 1983-4 formed the group Plain Jane. Eventually, Lane and Plain Jame bandmate Steven Sweet wound up in Los Angeles, where they joined Warrant in 1984.
Lane gave the group Warrant a heavy-metal kind of look with his long blonde hair and tight fitting jeans. He at least co-wrote songs like "Heaven," "Down Boys" and "Cherry Pie." He left the group in 1992 but later returned, only to quit the band many times. Since 2000, Lane's projects included two solo LP's and bit roles in two movies, "Caged Fear" and "High Strung." He was part of a Bad Boys Of Metal tour but quit after eight shows. In the summer of 2010, Lane toured with the group Great White, filling in for the ailing Jack Russell.
Lane often appeared in VH-1's "Celebrity Fitness Club" but also was in the news for a drunk driving arrest. He is survived by two daughters from two previous marriages.
WOODLAND HILLS, CALIFORNIA -- Jani Lane, the former lead singer of the rock group Warrant, was found dead in a Comfort Inn Hotel in Woodland Hills on Thursday, August 11, 2011. According to the Associated Press and police officer Sara Faden, he was 47. Specific details regarding the cause of death were not available at press time. Woodland Hills is located at the far west end of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
Warrant broke onto the pop music scene in the spring of 1989 with "Down Boys," which reached #32 on the Cash Box pop chart. The group followed up with its biggest hit, the power ballad "Heaven" that reached #2 in September of 1989. Two songs kept "Heaven" out of #1: "Don't Wanna Lose You" (Gloria Estefan) and "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" (Milli Vanilli). Cash Box ranked "Heaven" as the #10 single for the entire year of 1989.
Warrant went on to have three top 40 hits in 1990 with "Sometimes She Cries" (#16), "Cherry Pie" (#12) and "I Saw Red" (#11).
According to Wikipedia, Jani Lane was born John Kennedy Oswald on February 1, 1964, in Akron. He went by the nickname of Mitch Dynamite, when he was was a drummer as young as age 11. The nickname stuck as Mitch Dynamite was identified as the Warrant drummer on the group's "Latest And Greatest Hits" CD.
Lane was a standout quarterback for the Field High School football team and turned down some college scholarship offers. Instead, his heart was in music as he worked various jobs to buy his own drums. Not long after graduating from Field High School in 1982, Lane formed the band Cyren. He then relocated to Florida, where he drummed for a group called Dorian Gray and later around 1983-4 formed the group Plain Jane. Eventually, Lane and Plain Jame bandmate Steven Sweet wound up in Los Angeles, where they joined Warrant in 1984.
Lane gave the group Warrant a heavy-metal kind of look with his long blonde hair and tight fitting jeans. He at least co-wrote songs like "Heaven," "Down Boys" and "Cherry Pie." He left the group in 1992 but later returned, only to quit the band many times. Since 2000, Lane's projects included two solo LP's and bit roles in two movies, "Caged Fear" and "High Strung." He was part of a Bad Boys Of Metal tour but quit after eight shows. In the summer of 2010, Lane toured with the group Great White, filling in for the ailing Jack Russell.
Lane often appeared in VH-1's "Celebrity Fitness Club" but also was in the news for a drunk driving arrest. He is survived by two daughters from two previous marriages.
