Y&T

Y&T began in Oakland, California, in the early 1970s, when drummer Leonard Haze formed a covers band with Bob Gardner and Wayne Stitzer. Leonard Haze, Bob Gardner, and Wayne Stitzer formed an unnamed band in Oakland, California, that jammed only cover tunes when Dave Meniketti joined that same year as guitar player. According to Meniketti and Haze, Haze chose the name of the album that was playing on his turntable at that moment, Yesterday and Today, a studio album by the Beatles. After Stitzer quit the group, Gardner switched from bass to rhythm guitar and piano, and Phil Kennemore was brought in to play bass, and Joey Alves soon joined on rhythm guitar, solidifying the classic lineup of Meniketti, Kennemore, Haze, and Alves. Y&T released their first two studio albums, Yesterday & Today (1976) and Struck Down (1978), under London Records. The band's real breakthrough came after signing with A&M Records in 1980 and shortening their name to Y&T. Earthshaker (1981) was their first album under the name Y&T and their first with A&M Records, with AllMusic naming it the best release in the band's career for most faithfully capturing the power of their legendary concerts. The follow-up, Black Tiger (1982), became what Meniketti himself called "our signature album," produced in England by Max Norman. The band's biggest commercial success arrived with 1984's In Rock We Trust, which peaked at number 46 on the Billboard 200 and included their most successful single, "Don't Stop Runnin'," as well as "She's a Liar." Their live album Open Fire spawned "Summertime Girls," the song became the band's biggest hit and their first and only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 55, while also reaching No. 16 on the Mainstream Rock songs chart. Throughout the 1980s Y&T built a reputation as one of hard rock's hardest-touring and most influential acts, sharing stages with and inspiring bands who would go on to eclipse them commercially. Before Motley Crue, before RATT, even before there was a Metallica, Y&T was slogging away in sweaty rock clubs around America, and many of the biggest acts of the '80s became popular opening for headliners Y&T, cutting their teeth on the band, as evidenced by mentions in tell-all books by acts such as Metallica and Motley Crue. The lineup shifted over the years, with Haze replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso in 1986, and Alves replaced by Stef Burns in 1989, as the band moved to Geffen Records for Contagious (1987) and Ten (1990). Y&T broke up in 1991 but reunited multiple times, officially reforming in 2001 with Meniketti, Kennemore, Burns, and Haze, before further changes brought in guitarist John Nymann and, later, drummer Mike Vanderhule. The band was originally co-managed by Herbie Herbert, who also managed Journey, and Louis "Lou" Bramy, and has sold over 4 million albums worldwide to date. Sadly, the classic lineup has been lost to time: Phil Kennemore passed on January 7, 2011, and Leonard Haze on September 11, 2016, both from complications of lung cancer, while founding guitarist Joey Alves died in March 2017. Today Dave Meniketti remains the sole original member, and with the passing of Kennemore, Haze, and Alves, it's Meniketti who carries on the legacy that is Y&T, with the band continuing to tour the world featuring Meniketti alongside John Nymann, Aaron Leigh, and Mike Vanderhule, playing songs spanning their five-decade career. Meniketti overcame a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2022 and has continued performing into his seventies, with the band still drawing crowds on the road as recently as 2025, decades after their Bay Area club days.