Keith St John
Burning Rain, Kingdom Come, Montrose, Lynch Mob
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Keith is featured on all songs on 'Here to Stay' and the following 'Rise' songs:
- Sin City
- Gotta shoot your devils down
- Paradise
Keith St John is an American rock singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work as the frontman for the hard rock bands Montrose and Burning Rain.
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Throughout his career, Keith St John has also toured as lead vocalist for notable hard rock acts such as: Lynch Mob, The Neal Schon Band, Tracii Guns’ L.A. Guns, Quiet Riot, Manny Charlton's Nazareth, and Sweet.
He is credited with musical contributions to many television series including Entertainment Tonight, Law & Order, Step by Step, and Rescue Me. St John's music has been used in numerous films such as the 2010 Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale film The Fighter, which features the Keith St John song "Sweet Dreams"
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Here's a video of Keith St John in action with his band Burning Rain
Early 2019 I finished writing the song "Paradise" and because it has such a typical Led Zeppelin kind of groove to it, I knew I had to find a big and classic rock voice that would make it sound as such. My number one candidate was Keith, I knew him from his Burning Rain albums, just listen to their song "Out in the cold again" and you know why I knew he was the best man for the job.
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It took a while to get in touch with him through his management, but
In March 2019 Keith worked on the "Paradise" song and he truly did an amazing job. First time I heard his parts I was completely blown away. At that point it seemed as if Keith's contribution to RISE would be just for this song.
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Then in April 2019 we met in person when Keith was doing this small acoustic club tour with Doug Aldrich, promoting the release of the new Burning Rain album "Face the Music". We had a great connection and agreed Keith would sing on 2 more songs, being "Big Devil Data" and "Too late to Surrender". Again an amazing performance, beyond what I ever could wish and hope for. The cooperation between the two of us was gradually building up.
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In August 2019 I asked Keith's help with two songs I was struggling with getting the right vocals and melodies. I was in doubt if the songs were good enough to make it to the album, but Keith convinced me he could do the job and make these into some great songs. And so he did, the result being "Gotta shoot your devils down" and "Sin City".
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Finally, in October 2019 I finished the musical parts of the last song for the record "White Summer", and it was again the perfect for Keith's voice.
In that same month Keith arranged for George Lynch to be part of the project as well, so all in all it is fair to say that Keith was incredible to work with, he is an extraordinary singer and musician, a true professional, and an extremely nice guy.
Only 2 weeks after the release of 'Rise', Covid hit the world, and writing new music was the only option I had. Keith and I wrote a few new songs, and after Keith had done 'Firebird' I was convinced he was the man to also sing on the more heavier and thrashier songs that were out of his usual comfort zone. Our cooperation further developed into a true co-writing partnership with 'Here to Stay' as the first result to be proud of! I am very honored to have Keith on my albums and my next dream is to share a stage with him playing our songs.