Quarterflash
Encyclopedia
Quarterflash was an American
rock group formed in 1980 in Portland, Oregon
. The band was made up of Rindy Ross (lead vocals and saxophone), her husband Marv Ross (guitars), Jack Charles (guitars), Rick DiGiallonardo (keyboards/synthesizers), Rich Gooch (electric bass), and Brian David Willis (drums and percussion). Having a lead singer who also played the saxophone is one thing which made Quarterflash notable. In a 1982 interview, Rindy Ross said that she viewed the saxophone as an extension of her voice, enabling her to express things she could not express with her voice alone.
" on local private label, Whitefire Records, in the spring of 1980 (with the B-side track being "City Of Roses"). "Harden My Heart" was a big hit on Portland radio stations and got the band a one-hour TV special, Seafood Mama In Concert, on KOIN
on June 5, 1980. "Harden My Heart" would later be rerecorded by the band after they renamed themselves Quarterflash. The name came from an Australian slang
description of new immigrants as "one quarter flash and three parts foolish", which the Rosses found in a book at producer John Boylan's house.
Quarterflash signed to Geffen Records
and released their self-titled debut album Quarterflash
in 1981. It reached #8 on Billboard
s Top LPs & Tapes
list, and sold over a million copies, earning RIAA
gold certification on February 5, 1982, and platinum status on June 29, 1982. The album contained the new version of "Harden My Heart", which became their biggest single
. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
(it also reached the Top 20 in France
). Their follow-up single off the album, "Find Another Fool", reached #16. A second one-hour Portland television special, Quarterflash In Concert, was broadcast on KOIN on October 22, 1981, and simulcast on KGON
. This concert was taped at the Paramount Theatre
on October 15, 1981.
Quarterflash released their second album, Take Another Picture
, in 1983. It reached #34 in Billboard, and scored the single "Take Me to Heart", which reached #14. The group released their final album, Back Into Blue
, in 1985. It peaked at #150 in Billboard. The group later disbanded after getting dropped from their record label.
In 1990, Quarterflash reunited, hiring session musician
s, including bassist–vocalist Sandin Wilson, drummer Greg Williams, guitarist Doug Fraser, and Mel Kubik on saxophone and keyboards. The group released Girl in the Wind
on Epic Records
. In 1991, Rindy and Marv Ross founded the historic music ensemble The Trail Band, which was formed at the request of the Oregon Trail Advisory Council
to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail
.
In June 2008, Marv and Rindy Ross released a new Quarterflash CD, Goodbye Uncle Buzz.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock group formed in 1980 in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. The band was made up of Rindy Ross (lead vocals and saxophone), her husband Marv Ross (guitars), Jack Charles (guitars), Rick DiGiallonardo (keyboards/synthesizers), Rich Gooch (electric bass), and Brian David Willis (drums and percussion). Having a lead singer who also played the saxophone is one thing which made Quarterflash notable. In a 1982 interview, Rindy Ross said that she viewed the saxophone as an extension of her voice, enabling her to express things she could not express with her voice alone.
Recording history
The group was formed by merging two popular Oregon bands, Seafood Mama and Pilot. Continuing under the name Seafood Mama, the band originally released the picture-sleeved single "Harden My HeartHarden My Heart
"Harden My Heart" is the most popular single by the rock group Quarterflash, off their Quarterflash album, released in 1981.The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band...
" on local private label, Whitefire Records, in the spring of 1980 (with the B-side track being "City Of Roses"). "Harden My Heart" was a big hit on Portland radio stations and got the band a one-hour TV special, Seafood Mama In Concert, on KOIN
KOIN
KOIN is the CBS affiliate television station serving the Portland metropolitan area. Its transmitter is located in Portland, Oregon, United States; it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 40...
on June 5, 1980. "Harden My Heart" would later be rerecorded by the band after they renamed themselves Quarterflash. The name came from an Australian slang
Australian English vocabulary
Many works giving an overview of Australian English have been published; many of these are humour books designed for tourists or as novelties.One of the first was Karl Lentzner's Dictionary of the Slang-English of Australia and of Some Mixed Languages in 1892. The first dictionary based on...
description of new immigrants as "one quarter flash and three parts foolish", which the Rosses found in a book at producer John Boylan's house.
Quarterflash signed to Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
and released their self-titled debut album Quarterflash
Quarterflash (album)
Quarterflash is the 1981 debut album by the band Quarterflash. It had a number 3 hit with the song "Harden My Heart", followed by "Find Another Fool", which reached number 16....
in 1981. It reached #8 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Top LPs & Tapes
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
list, and sold over a million copies, earning RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
gold certification on February 5, 1982, and platinum status on June 29, 1982. The album contained the new version of "Harden My Heart", which became their biggest single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
(it also reached the Top 20 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). Their follow-up single off the album, "Find Another Fool", reached #16. A second one-hour Portland television special, Quarterflash In Concert, was broadcast on KOIN on October 22, 1981, and simulcast on KGON
KGON
KGON is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. The station also broadcasts in HD featuring live rock performances. Licensed to Portland, Oregon, USA, the station serves the Portland OR/Vancouver WA area...
. This concert was taped at the Paramount Theatre
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall , opened as the Portland Publix Theater before becoming the Paramount after 1930, is a historic theater building and performing arts center in Portland, Oregon, United States...
on October 15, 1981.
Quarterflash released their second album, Take Another Picture
Take Another Picture (album)
Take Another Picture is the second album by the band Quarterflash, released in 1983 by Geffen Records.-Track listing :# "Take Me To Heart" – 3:30# "Take Another Picture" – 4:27...
, in 1983. It reached #34 in Billboard, and scored the single "Take Me to Heart", which reached #14. The group released their final album, Back Into Blue
Back into Blue (album)
Back into Blue is the third album by the band Quarterflash, released in 1985.-Track listing :# "Walking On Ice" – 3:48# "Caught In The Rain" – 4:55# "Back Into Blue" – 4:27...
, in 1985. It peaked at #150 in Billboard. The group later disbanded after getting dropped from their record label.
In 1990, Quarterflash reunited, hiring session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s, including bassist–vocalist Sandin Wilson, drummer Greg Williams, guitarist Doug Fraser, and Mel Kubik on saxophone and keyboards. The group released Girl in the Wind
Girl In the Wind
Girl in the Wind is the fourth album by Quarterflash, released on Epic Records in late 1991. Quarterflash, led by the husband-wife team of Rindy and Marv Ross, recruited new members for this release: Sandin Wilson on bass/vocals, Greg Williams on drums, Doug Fraser on guitars, and Mel Kubik on...
on Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. In 1991, Rindy and Marv Ross founded the historic music ensemble The Trail Band, which was formed at the request of the Oregon Trail Advisory Council
Oregon Historic Trails Advisory Council
The Oregon Historic Trails Advisory Council is an agency of the U.S. state of Oregon that oversees and provides advice on Oregon's sixteen historic trails, which include trails used in the 19th century by explorers and pioneer emigrants to the region as well as trails associated with the original...
to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
.
In June 2008, Marv and Rindy Ross released a new Quarterflash CD, Goodbye Uncle Buzz.
Albums
- QuarterflashQuarterflash (album)Quarterflash is the 1981 debut album by the band Quarterflash. It had a number 3 hit with the song "Harden My Heart", followed by "Find Another Fool", which reached number 16....
(1981) #8 U.S. - Take Another PictureTake Another Picture (album)Take Another Picture is the second album by the band Quarterflash, released in 1983 by Geffen Records.-Track listing :# "Take Me To Heart" – 3:30# "Take Another Picture" – 4:27...
(1983) #34 U.S. - Back Into BlueBack into Blue (album)Back into Blue is the third album by the band Quarterflash, released in 1985.-Track listing :# "Walking On Ice" – 3:48# "Caught In The Rain" – 4:55# "Back Into Blue" – 4:27...
(1985) #150 U.S. - Girl in the WindGirl In the WindGirl in the Wind is the fourth album by Quarterflash, released on Epic Records in late 1991. Quarterflash, led by the husband-wife team of Rindy and Marv Ross, recruited new members for this release: Sandin Wilson on bass/vocals, Greg Williams on drums, Doug Fraser on guitars, and Mel Kubik on...
(1991) - Harden My Heart: The Best of Quarterflash (1997)
- Goodbye Uncle Buzz (2008)
Singles
| Year | Song | U.S. Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. Mainstream Rock Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
U.S. Adult Contemporary | UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | "Harden My Heart Harden My Heart "Harden My Heart" is the most popular single by the rock group Quarterflash, off their Quarterflash album, released in 1981.The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band... " |
3 | 1 | 41 | 49 | Quarterflash |
| 1982 | "Find Another Fool" | 16 | 12 | - | - | |
| "Right Kind of Love" | 56 | - | - | - | ||
| "Night Shift" | 60 | - | - | - | Night Shift Night Shift (film) Night Shift is a 1982 comedy film, one of Ron Howard's earliest directorial efforts. It stars Howard's Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler along with Michael Keaton, in his first starring role, and Shelley Long, who later in the year would star as Diane Chambers in the popular sitcom Cheers. Also... soundtrack |
|
| 1983 | "Take Me to Heart" | 14 | 6 | 28 | - | Take Another Picture |
| "Take Another Picture" | 58 | - | - | - | ||
| 1985 | "Talk to Me" | 83 | - | - | - | Back Into Blue |
External links
- Quarterflash (official website).
- Ross Productions, Marv Ross' official website.
- Bangor Daily News (Maine), Dave Cheever, special to the News, Band is all flash, no part foolish, Sat.-Sun., February 20-21, 1982, page ME 9, includes black-and-white photo of band.
- Flashbacks to Happiness, Eighties Music Revisited, Randolph Michaels, Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse Books, 2005 (by Michael R. Smith), "From the Desk of Marv Ross, Guitarist for Quarterflash," pages 152-155. On page 153, Marv states that "Take Another Picture" is probably his favorite Quarterflash song which was released as a single.