Keith St John is an American Songwriter/Composer and Singer who was  born in Brooklyn New York and

grew up primarily in the suburbs of Long Island.  As a creative kid, Keith loved to draw his own abstract

pictures and sit at the piano for hours composing his own music before ever knowing what the notes were called. He was always active in school bands and choir and at age 17 wound up touring over seas n an 88 piece orchestra as a classical tympanist and percussionist before falling in love with hard rock and heavy metal later on out in the burgeoning Long Island club scene. 

 

As a singing drummer in his first real metal band on the Island, Keith quickly got asked by band mates to

"go out front" where his scruffy higher than normal vocal register lent itself well to the aggressive vocal styles married to hard rock and heavy metal music. Having found his natural "niche," Keith left the drums behind and jumped out of his shy artist skin and overnight became an animated rock n roll 'frontman' on the heavy metal scene.  Great singers in the clubs were a rare commodity for hard rock and metal bands and after getting known fairly quickly by the local hot shot players on Long Island, Keith bounced around with a few different established club bands, mostly with older, more experienced players...but after tiring of playing mostly covers out in the clubs Keith began getting himself into recording studios and finding his own voice in rock.

 

One random night, by a fluke meeting at a local 7-11 at 4 o'clock in the morning, Keith St John's first copy of his first demo tape shot him straight into an office at 75 Rockefeller center occupied by Atlantic records.  After shaking hands with head of A&R, Jason Flom, Keith was shuffled up to a studio in Boston to begin recording with a new band started by Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow), John Levin (Doro), and Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper) that already had the "Big" deal in place with Atlantic. The band was named "Big Trouble."  With so many producer, management, and label constraints on the style of singing that had already been envisioned for the record, Keith bailed after recording half a record in favor of a company that wanted not only Keith, but yes, his music as well.  As part of this new deal he was told he would be leaving for Los Angeles in a week.

 

Before meeting guitarist Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake / Dio) and forming the band Burning Rain, and also before being recruited by guitarist Ronnie Montrose to be the new lead singer for the new line-up of the band Montrose (originally featuring Sammy Hagar on lead vocals), Keith arrived to L.A. and put his own 'Sunset Strip' style band together with his own songs and his own sound appropriately named "ST JOHN." Though St John received high accolades from the local fans and the local rock rags, as well as some early label attention, St John took an offer to once again join a band already formed and "signed" to a major deal.  This time it was with famous bassist Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne / Quiet Riot / Whitesnake) which already had a major deal in place on Giant records signed by none other than record industry mogul Irving Azoff.  Keith St John, Rudy Sarzo, and guitarist John 5 (Marilyn Manson / Rob Zombie) worked hard against a tide of huge changes in Giant records' A&R staff as well as eventual indecision on the band's musical direction...and, ultimately, this band "Sunking," agreeably parted ways as well.  St John recalls "We wrote some amazing music in the year and a half we worked together...some of the best I've ever heard!...it was just in a dozen different directions, one for each of us band members, one for each of the two producers Tom Allen (Judas Priest) and Bob Marlett (Alice Cooper/Krokus), one for Irving, one for his Head of A&R staff, and one each for the songwriters they were throwing at the band from Warner Chapel and apparently anywhere else they could find!"  Once again, Keith was feeling like he was brought into the "mix" a little too late.

 

Next, while in the process of forming his own new band "Crushed Flowers," St John was introduced to seasoned L.A. based hard rock guitarist Doug Aldrich. Aldrich was also hungry to from a new band and had some established industry connections as well as some substantial prior overseas successes in the Rock / Metal scene.  The two co-wrote their first 3-song demo together and quickly snagged a deal on a Japanese major record label, Pony Canyon.  BURNING RAIN was born.  To round out the band, Keith and Doug recruited mutual friend Ian Mayo (Bad Moon Rising, Crushed Flowers) on bass and Alex Makarovich (Steelheart) on drums.  Their first record was well received by critics who called the music somewhere between old GNR, Whitesnake, and Led Zeppelin.  Around a year later, shortly after the two had recorded the second Burning Rain record 'Pleasure to Burn,' Doug was getting calls from Ronnie James Dio to tour and record and Keith was getting asked by Ronnie Montrose to join the new Montrose band.  Keith and Doug would continue keeping the Burning Rain fan base fueled with plans of a third record but it would be several years till they finally had time off from busy schedules to write and record Burning Rain's third record "Epic Obsession."  Released in 2013 simultaneously on Frontiers Records and Warner Japan, the record has been Burning Rain's most visible record worldwide to date.

 

Along the way, on all the 'in-betweens,' Keith St John has toured extensively and recorded with such notable acts as Lynch Mob, Neal Schon (Journey), Sweet, Quiet Riot, Tracii Guns' L.A. Guns, Nazareth (feat. Manny Charleton), as well as Led Zepplica (an international touring tribute to Led Zep).  In addition, St John has written and recorded records with Medicine Wheel (also featuring guitarist Marc Ferrari of Keel and drummer Ray Luzier of Korn) and X-Drive (also featuring James Lomenzo of White Lion / David Lee Roth).

 

Currently in early 2017, St John and Aldrich have begun work on a fourth Burning Rain album, Keith is forming a new St John band while also dedicating time to producing live shows celebrating the late Ronnie Montrose called "RONNIE MONTROSE REMEMBERED" with some of his friends performing who have thus far included Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), Howard Leese (Heart), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Gilby Clarke (Guns N' Roses), Brad Gillis (Night Ranger), Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake), Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), Derek St. Holmes (Ted Nugent), Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne / Quiet Riot), Roger Earl (Foghat), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge / Rod Stewart), Danny Seraphine (Chicago), Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot), James Kottak (The Scorpions), David Ellefson (Megadeth), Troy Luccketta (Tesla), Rich Redmond (Jason Aldeen), Michael Devin (Whitesnake), Mona Gnader (Sammy Hagar Band), Marc Bonilla (Keith Emerson Band), Scotti Hill (Skid Row), Brent Woods (Sebastian Bach), Mitch Perry (Edgar Winter Band), Jimmy Degrasso (Ozzy Osbourne / David Lee Roth), Robin Mcauley (Survivor / MSG), Robert Mason (Warrant), Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen), Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot / Rough Cutt), Brad Lang (Y&T), Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot), Jason Boyleston (Paul Rogers Band), Sean Mcnabb (Dokken), Chris Frazier (Foreigner), Jimmy Paxson (Stevie Nicks / Dixie Chicks), Ed Roth (Annie Lennox), Katja Rieckermann (Rod Stewart), Anne King (Lady Gaga), Aeb Byrne (Robbie Krieger Band), Travis Davis (Alicia Keys), and Jeff Young (Megadeth).

 

- "Let your life be always lead by Light , Art, our soulful 'connected' Universe, and your undying True Love for your fellow humans" -  K.S.J

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...Stay tuned my friends!works well on almost every site.K