Black 'N Blue formed in Portland, Oregon in November 1981, when high school friends Jaime St. James and Tommy Thayer joined forces to start a band. Originally calling themselves Movie Star, the band later chose the name Black 'N Blue based on their 'in-your-face' sound and denim and leather look. The classic lineup rounded out with guitarist Jeff "Woop" Warner, bassist Patrick Young, and drummer Pete Holmes, and the young band quickly built a reputation through hard gigging around the Pacific Northwest before setting their sights on the Los Angeles scene.
The group's first real break came in 1982, when heavy metal fanzine editor Brian Slagel heard their song demo of "Chains Around Heaven" and subsequently added the track to his first edition of Metal Massacre, an independent compilation album that also introduced newcomers Metallica, Ratt, and Malice. Black 'N Blue moved to Los Angeles in 1982, making an immediate name for themselves in the Hollywood club scene, and within six months the band signed a worldwide recording contract with Geffen Records, releasing their self-titled debut album, Black 'N Blue, in August 1984. The Dieter Dierks-produced album included "Hold On to 18," which was released to radio and MTV and became a moderate success, boosting album sales. The band went on to release three more Geffen albums through the decade, including "Without Love" (1985), and the Gene Simmons-produced "Nasty Nasty" (1986) and "In Heat" (1988), the latter two representing an attempt to return to the raw sound of their debut with Simmons producing both records. Over the course of their run, Black 'N Blue sold over a million albums throughout their tenure in the '80s, scoring a hit single in "Hold On To 18," a track still widely regarded as a hard rock classic that continues to receive airplay. Despite their success, the band could not sustain momentum into the changing rock landscape of the late 1980s, and Black 'N Blue disbanded in 1989. Individual members went on to notable projects of their own: Tommy Thayer performed with Harlow, contributed to Doro's self-titled album, joined Shake the Faith for the album "America the Violent," participated in the Kiss tribute band Cold Gin before becoming Gene Simmons' assistant and later Kiss's tour manager, and in 2002 became Kiss's lead guitarist, replacing Ace Frehley. The band itself reunited sporadically over the years, including a reunion appearance in their hometown of Portland on December 8, 2007, at Berbati's Pan & Restaurant, a concert that benefited the band's long-time friend Kenny Nordone in his struggle with cancer. That reunion spirit carried into a fuller comeback the following year, when in the summer of 2008, Black 'N Blue formally reunited to play at Rocklahoma, with Shawn Sonnenschein once again as guitarist. In the years since their reformation, Black 'N Blue has remained active on the live circuit and continued to record, releasing the studio album "Hell Yeah!" in 2011 on Frontiers Records, and later "Born Again" following further recording sessions. The band has played major festivals including Rocklahoma, the M3 Festival, Rock the Bayou, Midwest Rockfest, and returning performances on the Monsters of Rock Cruise. The lineup has shifted over time, with 2013 shows marking the debut of new guitarist Brandon Cook, who replaced Jeff "Woop" Warner, and further changes following as Shawn Sonnenschein left the band in 2017, with Bob Capka, formerly of Vicious Rumors, joining as guitarist. Today Black 'N Blue endures as one of the enduring names of the 1980s Sunset Strip metal scene, remembered as much for its road-hardened glam metal sound as for the individual legacies of its members, particularly Thayer's ongoing tenure in Kiss.
For this archive, Black 'N Blue represents one of the many hard rock acts Wayne Dennon captured through his lens over the years. Wayne photographed the band during a single show in 2008, right around the time of their Rocklahoma reunion, leaving behind 32 photographs that document that night. Those images have since become a small but cherished corner of the collection, viewed by archive visitors 24,544 times as fans continue to revisit Wayne's work and the era of hard rock it preserved.
