Running - Music

80s Metal Band From Los Angeles CA --Latest NEWS --
Cruella D'ville Has A New CD Released On 1/1/2023 On FNA Records!! Http //fnarecords.Net/cruelladville.Html The Following Is The History Of The Band The History Of Cruella D'ville Valentine Was Formed In 1986 In Tampa Florida With Rick Bales On Vocals And Guitar Jon Bales On Guitar Rick Howard On Drums And Marc Togie On Keyboards. Frankie Baker Joined Soon After On Bass. Rick Bales Jon Bales And Marc Togie Had Previously Been Members Of Next Exit And Rick Howard Last Band Was Called Cruella D'ville. Frank Baker Relocated To Florida In 1986 And Joined The Band At That Point. Valentine Played Their First Big Show At The
Florida Fairgrounds In 1986 To A Few
thousand People After An Appearance On V32 Television. The Local Version Of MTV In
Tampa The Band Played The Local Rock Clubs
from 1986 To 1988. The Volley Club Mr T's Club 19 The Stadium Lounge Squires The Sunset The Yankee Rose The London Victory
Club And Many Other Local Venues. In 1986 Valentine Recorded A Song Called 'Heavy Gloves' For Southern Championship Wrestling. The Song Was Used As The Opening Theme Song And Snippets Were Used For Commercial Breaks. The Song Was Featured On
the Show Until It Went Off The Air A Few Years Later. In 1987 Valentine Met Up With Keith Kollins The Bass Player From Savatage. He Produced A 4 Song EP At American Music Works Studios In St Petersburg Florida. The EP Featured "Room Without A View" "Lace And Leather" "Lover's Hell" And "Your Eyes" At The Time Of This Recording A Signed Band Called Valentine Was Recording And Touring. Valentine Changed Their Name To Cruella D'ville At This Time To Avoid Confusion With The Other Valentine. The EP Was Completed In 1988. The EP Got Some Airplay On 98 Rocks Local
show In Tampa And The Band Continued To Play The Local Clubs Doing Covers And Original
concerts. Soon After The Completion Of The
EP Marc Togie And Cruella Parted Ways. The
band Continued As A 4 Piece Without Keyboards. Things Were Going Well In Tampa So The Band
decided To Move To LA To Be A Part Of The Huge Metal Scene That Was Exploding There In
the Late 80s. Rick And Jon Bales Moved To LA
in Aug Of 1989 And Attended The Guitar
Institue Of Technology GIT Rick Howard Moved Out Shortly Afterward. Frankie Baker
left The Band At This Time. Juan Croucier The Bass Player From Ratt
heard The Cruella EP And Expressed Interest
in Producing A New Project For The Band.
Finding The Right Bass Player Was Not Easy
and Before The Replacement For Frankie Was
found Juan Moved On To Produce Another
project. Ray Caron Joined The Band In 1990 After Many
bass Player Auditions. Cruella Started
gigging In LA At The Troubadour The Whisky Gazzarri's FM Station And Many Other
venues. They Got A Weekly Gig At The
Troubadour Playing Every Wed Night For Over
a Year In 1990 At The Jon E Jam. The Band
was Featured In All The Local Magazines Such As Rock City News And Screamer. Cruella Added A Couple Of Girl Backup Singers
in 1990. They Were With The Band For About A
year. Jon Bales Left The Band In 1990 And Was
replaced By Bruce Hunt From St. Louis. Over
100 Guitarist Auditioned For The Gig. Cruella D'ville Became A Big Draw On The
'Strip' Packing The Whisky And Gazarris. A
distribution Deal Was Signed With Big Time
Records To Distribute The EP Through
magazine Orders While The Band Sold Tapes
at The Shows And Local Record Stores. The Band Was Approached By A Record Company
which Shall Remain Unnamed And Signed A Deal
to Record An Album. They Continued To Gig
and Write Songs For The Album. They Collaborated With Songwriter Steven Rosen.
When All The Preproduction Was Complete They Recorded 11 Songs For The Album. There Was A Falling Out With The Record
company And The Album Never Got Released. In 1993 Ray Caron Left The Band And Was
replaced On Bass By Jon Bales. The Band Gigged For A Few More Months After That And
then Disbanded. In 2008 Cruella Released 'Showdown In
Tinseltown' On Sun City Records From
Australia. There Was A Renewed Interest In
the Band And They Received A Lot Of Great
press From Around The World. In 2021 Cruella Will Be Working With FNA Records To Rerelease Some Tracks And Also
release Some Previously Unheard And
unreleased Tracks. The Band Is Very Excited
to Work With Steve And FNA! We Are Very
thankful That The Band Is Still Getting
attention After All These Years. More To Come.... read less