LA born country singer-songwriter Maria McKee went from Lone Justice to lone star when her solo career took off with the song "Show Me Heaven" which was used in the Tom Cruise film Days of Thunder.
McKee took Musical Theatre studies as a teenager and later joined her brother, Bryan McKee (an ex-member of 60s band Love) and singer Top Jimmy to play the club circuit in LA. The trio wasn't going anywhere fast, and in 1982 she formed Lone Justice with guitarist Ryan Hedgecock. They were originally a cover band until the addition of a bassist and drummer allowed to them to expand their repertoire, and McKee started to write material. The expanded band with new material came to the attention of Linda Rondstat who recommended them to Geffen records, and a contract followed.
Despite positive reviews, and a tour supporting U2, their debut album failed to sell well and rest of the band departed, leaving McKee to round up another band. Lone Justice (mark 2) recorded Shelter, but after poor sales of it too, McKee called it a day and went solo.
She released her self-titled debut in 1989, and had a No.1 in the UK with the ballad "Show Me Heaven". The song track was untypical of her later direction and she no longer performs it. It was the follow-up, You Gotta Sin to get Saved, that showcased her true style. The roots/country/rock album attracted critical acclaim and made the top twenty of the Heatseekers chart.
Life is Sweet was her last record on Geffen when, in order to gain more creative control of her career, she moved to Viewfinder for her next album High Dive. It another critical success for McKee and she followed it with Late December. The album featured the track "A Good Heart" which McKee had written some years earlier and had been a No.1 in the UK for ex-Undertones front man Feargal Sharkey.
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