Steve Mann was born and raised in London, England. After college he took up classical guitar, studying at the John Williams School in London he joined his first professional band Liar in 1977. They released two albums.

He then formed Lionheart with Dennis Stratton (Iron Maiden) and Rocky Newton (MSG, etc.). Hailed by Sounds magazine as "the first NWOBHM Supergroup", Lionheart toured extensively before securing a record deal with CBS in 1984. At various times Lionheart counted amongst its ranks luminaries such as Frank Noon (Def Leppard), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Les Binks (Judas Priest), Clive Edwards (UFO) and Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep). In 1986 Steve joined Michael Schenker to form The McAuley Schenker Group and recorded two albums (Perfect Timing & Save Yourself). The former was recorded in 1986 at PUK Studios in Denmark with overdubs at Rudolf Schenker's Scorpion Sound Studio, and the record was produced by the late Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin). Frank Fillipetti took the production chair for Save Yourself, recording in LA. This album bore the hit single Anytime, a ballad penned by Mann and Robin McAuley and the track reached #6 on the US Billboard charts.

While playing with Schenker he was guesting with The Sweet, becoming a permanent member after leaving MSG in 1991. Then around 1994 Mann guested with Eloy, a progressive rock band from Germany who achieved fame during the 1970's. His guest appearances for the band, both live and on record, continued till 2012. In 2016 he received a call from Michael Schenker asking if he was interested in forming a new version of the band called Michael Schenker Fest which was to include his 3 original singers, Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet (Rainbow) and Robin McAuley along with the rhythm section of Ted McKenna and Chris Glen (ex-Rainbow singer Doogie White would also join in 2017). Needless to say he jumped at the chance and the band has been on the road ever since.

In 2016, Lionheart also had the opportunity to reunite with original members Dennis Stratton, Rocky Newton, Clive Edwards along with Lee Small on vocals. In 2017 the band went into my studio to record a new album called Second Nature, which was critically acclaimed, A 3rd Lionheart album was released in 2020 and titled The Reality of Miracles and Mann also joined forces with British singer Chris Ousey for the debut Ousey/Mann album Is Anybody Listening in 2022.

Steve Mann continues to tour with Michael Schenker as well as writing for a new Lionheart and even his own solo album. Keep up to date with all his happenings at www.stevemann.net where you can link to all his social sites as well!

We all know of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands like Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Def Leppard and Heavy Pettin' but these bands all put out some seriously melodic arena rock & AOR-styled albums in the '80s. It was a sign of the times and even though some early hardcore fans of these bands may discount those albums that those bands released there is no denying there were some great, albeit slightly "fluffy", moments from these normally rough and tough NWOBHM bands.

Tom & Mark dive into a number of these bands and those melodic, keyboard-heavy records that had those bands shooting for the USA arena rock landscape, so hear it all on episode# 47 and be sure to let us know your thoughts on bands that didn’t make it into the discussion. Heck, we might need to do a part two to further discus this great phenomenon!

Guitarist ROB MATH has been playing since he’s six years old and today he has a storied career that goes from his hometown Long Island NY beginnings to 80s US metal band LEATHERWOLF to 70s soft-rocker Peter Beckett and his band Player! Rob also handles guitar duties in the band SOUL SIGN along with bassist Bjorn Englen (Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio Disciples, etc.), Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ring of Fire, etc.) and drummer Mike Cancino (Lynch Mob). That band has their eye on releasing its debut album sometime in 2023 so be sure to keep an eye out for that one.

Leatherwolf just released its latest album back in November of 2022 and we get the low down from Rob on the recording of the album with its latest incarnation, which has been a big part of since 2011.

So check out this latest episode and keep up date with Leatherwolf at www.leatherwolfmetal.com and Rob’s other activities at www.robmathmusic.com!

Robert Berry is an American singer, bassist and all-around multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known for his work with Hush, 3 with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, Ambrosia, and Alliance. He was previously with The Greg Kihn Band, and as of 2022, he is with progressive band Six By Six, a super group composed of musicians Ian Crichton from Saga and Nigel Glockler of Saxon.

Berry came into the spotlight in 1988, when he teamed with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer fame) and formed the band 3. Their only album, To the Power of Three saw the group gain some commercial success with the 1st single “Talkin’ Bout” as it reached #9 on the Billboard rock charts that year. 3 disbanded in 1989 after a successful tour supporting the album.

Berry also has contributed songs to a number of film soundtracks, including the Anthony Michael Hall film Out of Bounds. In 1999, Berry produced and performed on The Wheel of Time, an album billed as a soundtrack to the Robert Jordan fantasy series The Wheel of Time. He also works as a record producer and owns a state-of-the-art recording studio in northern CA.

In 2015, Berry and Emerson signed with Frontiers Music and began working on a follow-up to To the Power of Three as 3.2. The project was shelved following Emerson's death in March 2016, but Berry would finish the project himself and release it in 2018 under the 3.2 moniker as The Rules Have Changed and then followed that up with “Third Impression” in 2021.

Since then, Berry’s focus has been on Six By Six as the band had world-wide success with their debut and are currently writing album #2 for release in 2023. Berry is also in the planning stages of a new Alliance album too so while we wait for those new records please enjoy Robert’s conversation with The Jersey Guys!