| Best remembered
for the late-'70s chart-topper "Baby Come Back," Player was
formed in Los Angeles in 1977 by singer/guitarist Peter Beckett
(formerly of the U.K. group Skyband), bassist Ronn Moss and
guitarist/keyboardist J.C. Crowley.
After adding drummer John Friesen,
Player signed to impresario Robert Stigwood's RSO label and
issued "Baby Come Back," which sat atop the pop singles chart
for three weeks in early 1978; their self-titled debut LP appeared
that same year, as did the follow-up, Danger Zone.
Crowley exited Player soon after,
later enjoying a solo career as a country artist; the remaining
trio issued Room with a View in 1980 before Moss and Friesen
both departed as well.
Beckett, the lone remaining
founding member, continued the group for one final LP, 1982's
Spies of Life, before retiring the Player name to mount a career
as a songwriter and solo performer.
Moss, meanwhile, joined the cast
of the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987;
he and Beckett reformed Player in 1995, soon after issuing the
reunion LP Lost in Reality. |
