Great White started their career as Dante Fox, playing their first gig in 1981 at The Troubadour in Hollywood, California. After recording several demos, the band chose as manager Alan Niven, who had worked for the independent distributor Greenworld in Torrance, California and had dealt with Mötley Crüe's debut self-release. Niven suggested the name change from Dante Fox after seeing singer Jack Russell introduce Mark Kendall (guitarist) during his solo as "Mark Kendall, the Great White", due to his naturally white-blonde hair, white Fender Telecaster guitar, white jumpsuit, and white Capezio shoes. In 1982, founding members Mark Kendall, Jack Russell, drummer Gary Holland, and bassist Lorne Black recorded and released a 5-song EP, Out of the Night, on the independent label Aegean formed by Niven. Niven then convinced the Los Angeles radio station KMET to begin adding songs from the EP to its playlist in heavy rotation. KLOS-FM soon did the same. The band suddenly went from drawing 100 people to a local club to drawing thousands in L.A. concert halls such as Perkins Palace in Pasadena, The Palace in Hollywood and the Country Club in Reseda. As an unsigned act, Great White headlined at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia playing to 6,250 people. Near the end of 1983, EMI America signed the band and subsequently released Great White's eponymous debut album ('Great White') in early 1984. The band immediately toured the UK supporting Whitesnake's Slide It In tour and the entire US and Canada opening for Judas Priest's Defenders of the Faith tour. 'Shot in the Dark', their follow-up independent release, marked the arrival of drummer Audie Desbrow. By the time Capitol Records signed the band and reissued Shot in the Dark, keyboardist-guitarist Michael Lardie had come aboard. After the release of Shot in the Dark, Great White hit the road with Dokken and was on the verge of even bigger success.
The band hit the mainstream in 1987 when they released 'Once Bitten', which featured the hits "Rock Me" and "Save Your Love". Once Bitten... was certified platinum in April 1988.
The band followed up with '...Twice Shy' in 1989. The album included their biggest hit, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", a cover of a UK hit single by Ian Hunter. They received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album was certified platinum in July 1989 and then double platinum in September of that same year. The model Bobbie Brown (also known for being in Warrant's "Cherry Pie" video) appeared in the video for "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". They finished off the 80s touring in support of ...Twice Shy as headliners and with some best known bands, such as Bon Jovi.
In 1990, the band featured in the heavy metal video series Hard 'N' Heavy containing music, concert footage and interviews. The video included Slash and Duff from Guns N' Roses appearing with the band at a Children of the Night Benefit concert in L.A., the performance helping to raise money for housing abused homeless children. Both bands shared the same manager, Alan Niven at the time.
The band continued into the next decade performing the song "House of Broken Love" at the American Music Awards in January 1990. In March, Great White embarked on their first tour of Japan. They returned to the United States for the Memorial Day weekend festival dubbed The World Series of Rock, which featured Whitesnake, Skid Row, Bad English, and Hericane Alice. Great White recorded two more albums for Capitol Records, 'Hooked', which was certified gold, and 'Psycho City'. In support of Hooked, Great White did a tour as headliner tour, had a guest slot with German metal band Scorpions and travelled to Europe and Japan. Psycho City was followed by a US tour with Kiss.
Capitol issued the compilation 'The Best of Great White 1986-1992' in 1993, when Great White had already departed the label to begin work on their next studio release, 'Sail Away'. Before the release of the album, Great White spent seven months on the road headlining clubs. According to Lardie, it was "the longest stint we ever did without a break." Great White kept up the pace once Sail Away was released on Zoo Records in 1994, touring the US several times over the following year and a half. Their next release, Let It Rock, was released in 1996 through yet another label, Imago Records.
In 1999, the band released 'Can't Get There from Here' and embarked on a tour with Ratt, Poison, and L.A. Guns. The album featured the single "Rollin' Stoned", which managed to chart at No. 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
In a memo dated 20 January 2000 Mark Kendall announced he was leaving Great White, shortly thereafter both Audie Desbrow and Sean McNabb left Great White. Kendall was replaced by guitarist Matthew Johnson. Desbrow, clearly very unhappy with the financial state of the band posted a tirade on his website lambasting Jack Russell and Michael Lardie, while claiming to have been "fired" from Great White. Meanwhile, it was rumored that Sean McNabb was fired for going to management and asking to see the accounting books. Despite only having one original member left, the band announced plans to begin work on a new album in late 2000. Early in the process, some of the new songs were played for John Kalodner at Columbia Records. It was mutually agreed that the "magic was gone" and the band decided their heart was not in the recording process. They subsequently left Columbia Records and discontinued work on the new album. On 5 November 2001 Jack Russell announced the end of Great White, stating that he was moving on, and that Great White would play one final farewell show on 31 December 2001 at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA. Both Kendall and McNabb rejoined the band for the farewell show, recorded for a live CD entitled 'Thank You...Goodnight!' released by Knight Records. The live album includes two new tracks, "Back to the Rhythm" and "Play On" from their discontinued studio sessions, both of which would ultimately wind up on their reunion album 'Back to the Rhythm' in 2007.
In late 2002, in part due to his failure to attract good audiences while on the road with his solo band, Jack Russell contacted Kendall, who himself was struggling to gain an audience on his own. Kendall agreed to play some dates with Russell's band, allowing Russell to use the name Great White once again. Billed as "Jack Russell's Great White," the tour was to consist primarily of classic songs from the Great White catalog with some of Russell's solo work mixed in. Eventually, more dates were added and the tour extended through the early months of 2003.
The band returned to the national spotlight on 20 February 2003. At the beginning of a Great White performance at The Station night club in Rhode Island, pyrotechnics used by the band's crew created a spray of sparks that ignited the foam soundproofing material in the ceiling around the stage. One hundred people including the band's guitarist Ty Longley, died in the fire that followed. In 2008 the band agreed to pay $1 million to survivors and victims' relatives of the fire while admitting to no wrongdoing. This amount also covers former tour manager Daniel Biechele along with the band members, record label, and management as it existed at the time of the fire. The settlement was the maximum allowed under the band's insurance plan. Victims had previously received $3.8 million raised by United Way of America.
Though the media referred to the band as "Great White" following the tragedy in Rhode Island, the band was officially performing under the moniker of "Jack Russell's Great White" at the time of the incident. In fact, prior to the fire, the band's official website posted a message stating that Great White had not re-formed. It's unclear when the band began officially going by "Great White" again.
Great White played their first full show following the Rhode Island tragedy on 22 July, starting a benefit tour for the survivors and victims of the fire. The band toured until 2005 to raise funds for the Station Family Fund, which had been set up to help the victims of the tragedy. In late 2005, citing "medical reasons", the band canceled the second half of their summer tour. The "medical reasons" turned out to be Jack Russell's addictions to alcohol and cocaine. This was the end of this version of Great White, as Jack Russell entered rehabilitation and did not perform again until 2007. Russell used the year of 2006 to get sober and get a facelift that was detailed on ExtraTV. Russell later referred to this incarnation of Great White as "Fake White", saying "It still sounded like Great White, but not – almost like we were doing a cover of ourselves."
Talk of a reunion of Great White began in a 2004 interview. Later in 2006, guitarist Mark Kendall officially announced that Great White had re-formed its classic lineup. The re-formed lineup of Russell, Kendall, Lardie, McNabb and Desbrow played their first date together in more than 5 years on 27 January 2007 at the Keyclub in Hollywood performing in the Harpseals.org Benefit Concert for the Seals 2007. In 2008, bassist Sean McNabb left Great White to concentrate on a career in theater and acting. McNabb was promptly replaced with Scott Snyder (Ramos, Accomplice). McNabb went on to join Dokken.
Great White released their album, 'Rising', on 13 March 2009 in Europe via Frontiers Records and on 21 April in the US.
In 2010, Jani Lane of Warrant filled in for Jack Russell, while Russell recuperated from surgery after suffering a perforated bowel. Terry Ilous (XYZ) replaced Jack Russell at the Coach House during the summer of 2010, and Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot, King Kobra) filled in for Russell when Great White performed at Stockholm Rock Out Festival in September. In December 2011, Russell formed a new incarnation of Great White with a brand-new lineup under the name of "Jack Russell's Great White".
On 18 March 2012 Great White announced their first new album with Ilous, 'Elation' , to be released in May that year, along with a live album ('30 Years: Live From The Sunset Strip') and a concert DVD of the band's 30th-anniversary show at the Key Club in Hollywood on 22 March.
Lorne Black, Great White's original bassist, who performed and recorded with the group up through the Once Bitten album, died on September 27, 2013. He was 50 years old.
On June 2, 2017, Great White released their most recent studio effort, 'Full Circle', on Bluez Tone Records, with Wagener as the producer. The song "Big Time" was released as the first single and video. On July 9, 2018, Great White announced that they had parted ways with Terry Illous as their singer and he was replaced by Mitch Malloy.
On May 31, 2022, Great White announced vocalist Andrew Freeman of Last In Line replaced Malloy as the band's lead singer and frontman.
My Sanctuary
Great White Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And sometimes I feel like heartache's my only friend
Each time I pull this train off its tracks
It's getting harder so much harder to make it back
And when I feel alone you've always been the one
Always been the one to share the load
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
And you're everything in life everything I want to be
I wonder what you see in me my darling
I wonder what redeeming qualities
It seems like we've always been together
Through good time bad times you're still my rainbow's end
And when this old world's got me down trade a smile for a frown
Yeah you've always been the one who never let me down
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
And you're everything in life everything i hope to be
Heaven made you for me
Made you for me
And when I'm feeling down and lonely
Your love keeps me alive
And so you know you know you're my one and only
From the heart I wrote down this song just for you
And when I feel alone you've always been the one
Always been the one to share the load
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
And you're everything in life everything I want to be
You are my sanctuary you're my mother Mary
And you're everything in life the only one my eyes can see
Heaven made you for me
Heaven made you for me
Heaven made just for me
Just for me
The lyrics to Great White's song My Sanctuary are a heartfelt expression of gratitude towards the person who has been a constant support and source of comfort in the singer's life. The song opens with the singer acknowledging the presence of sadness and heartbreak around him but finds solace in the fact that his mother Mary has always been by his side. The constant struggle of life has left the singer feeling weary, but he knows that he can always rely on his mother.
The singer wonders what his mother sees in him and what draws her towards him. He acknowledges that they have been through good times and bad, but her love has always been a ray of light in his life. The chorus of the song repeats the lines "You are my sanctuary, my mother Mary, and you're everything in life, everything I want to be" emphasizing just how important she is to him. The singer speaks of the healing power of his mother's love, which can turn his sadness into joy.
While the song mentions the name Mary, it is important to note that it does not explicitly refer to the Virgin Mary. Rather, it is a term of endearment used towards his mother or a loved one who holds a similar position in his life. The song is a celebration of maternal love, which has a universal appeal as it talks about a bond that transcends all boundaries.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes I feel the blues all around me
I experience sadness at times
And sometimes I feel like heartache's my only friend
Occasionally, the feeling of sadness is my companion
Each time I pull this train off its tracks
Whenever I try to get back on track
It's getting harder so much harder to make it back
It becomes increasingly difficult every time
And when I feel alone you've always been the one
In solitude, you have always been there
Always been the one to share the load
You have always been the one to help carry my burden
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
You are my safe haven, my source of comfort
And you're everything in life everything I want to be
You are my ideal, the embodiment of everything I strive for
Heaven made you for me
I believe that you were meant to be in my life
I wonder what you see in me my darling
I am curious about what you find in me, my love
I wonder what redeeming qualities
I question if I possess qualities that make me worthy of you
It seems like we've always been together
It feels like we have been inseparable for as long as I can remember
Through good time bad times you're still my rainbow's end
Despite any hardships, you remain the source of joy in my life
And when this old world's got me down trade a smile for a frown
When life has me feeling low, you help me stay positive
Yeah you've always been the one who never let me down
You have always been reliable, never disappointing me
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
You are my haven, the one who brings me peace
And you're everything in life everything i hope to be
You embody all that I aspire to become
Heaven made you for me
I believe that a higher power intended for us to be together
And when I'm feeling down and lonely
When I am feeling sad and isolated
Your love keeps me alive
It is your love that gives me the strength to keep going
And so you know you know you're my one and only
You are the only one for me, and I want you to know that
From the heart I wrote down this song just for you
This song is a reflection of my feelings for you, expressed from my heart
You are my sanctuary my mother Mary
You are my safe haven, my motherly figure
And you're everything in life everything I want to be
You embody all that I aspire to become
You are my sanctuary you're my mother Mary
You are my refuge, my maternal figure
And you're everything in life the only one my eyes can see
You are the one and only person that I truly see and appreciate in life
Heaven made you for me
I believe that a higher power intended for us to be together
Heaven made you for me
I believe that a higher power intended for us to be together
Heaven made just for me
I believe that you were uniquely created for me
Just for me
Only for me
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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BRILLIANT SONG