Rockabilly three piece, The Stray Cats were formed in 1979 in Long Island by Brian Setzer, Leon Drucker and James McDonnel. They cite their influences as Bill Haley and the Sun Records label. The band relocated to the UK to take advantage of the rockabilly revival in the late 70s.
The band released their debut album Stray Cats in 1981, making the top 40 in the singles charts with "Runaway Boys" and "Stray Cat Strut". The follow-up album was less well received and the band returned to the US. The bands' first Stateside release was 1982's Built for Speed, a compilation of tracks from the two UK albums. Success came with "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut", both of which proved popular with the recently launched MTV.
Personality clashes were at the root of the bands' split in 1984 and even though there were subsequent reunions, including a tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan and the release of the album Let's Go Faster, the band could not stick together and split again in 1992.
Twelve years later the band got together to tour Europe, the results of which were captured on the Rumble in Brixton album. In 2007 the band toured the US with ZZ Top and The Pretenders.
To use the music player, install Flash.
| Editor | Edits |
|---|---|
| andrew lyman | 2 |
| CurtisLoew | 1 |
company
