Lion -

Lion was an L.A.-based, American/English hard-rock supergroup that released the 1980 album Running All Night on A&M.

Members: Gary Farr (vocals), Robin Le Mesurier (guitar), Steve Webb (guitar), Steve Humphreys (bass), John Sinclair (keyboards), Eric Dillon (drums)

Background

Lion formed in England in 1977 when singer Gary Farr assembled keyboardist John Sinclair, bassist Steve Humphreys, and drummer Eric Dillon under the management of elder brother Rikki Farr.

Gary Farr came from the T-Bones, a mid-Sixties R&B-beat group that took over the Friday residency from the Yardbirds at the Marquee and recorded for Columbia under Giorgio Gomelsky. Farr followed with the 1969–73 solo albums Take Something With You, Strange Fruit, and Addressed to the Censors of Love.

Sinclair came from the Jackie Lynton Band and replaced Danny Peyronel in Heavy Metal Kids for their 1976 third album Kitsch. Dillon worked with pianist Nicky Hopkins and singer Long John Baldry, followed by a period in Fat Mattress. He joined Miller Anderson and bassist Jimmy Leverton in Hemlock; the three musicians subsequently entered the 1974 Savoy Brown lineup for Boogie Brothers. Humphreys played bass in Mahatma Kane Jeeves, a Marquee-managed London group that appeared at the 1972 Reading Festival. In 1973, Mahatma Kane Jeeves topped Marquee bills with Queen as support at the Marquee Club.

Webb first played guitar at St. Edward’s College in Malta, where in 1963 he formed school band The Pythons. He returned to Britain in 1966 for HMS Conway, a maritime training school on Anglesey. Webb left HMS Conway in 1970 and moved to Zambia, where his father taught at a technical college. He joined the Clouds, a Belleville, Illinois rock group with a Northland single and an American booking operation, when the guitarist-singer quit midway through a southern-African tour. Webb completed Zambian dates with bassist John Stein and drummer Danny Surtak, but the tour collapsed when Rhodesian authorities refused the group entry at Livingstone. He completed the tour, returned to Britain, and spent two years in the backing band for The Fantastics, a UK-based American soul group.

Webb subsequently joined Southampton group Iguana, which made a 1972 album on Polydor. Island Records declined Iguana demos but passed the recordings to Jess Roden, who recruited the group as his backing band. Iguana became the Jess Roden Band and backed the singer on UK/European tours and the 1976 Island albums Keep Your Hat On and Play It Dirty Play It Class. Following their breakup, Webb returned to Southampton. Farr recruited Webb for Lion after a formative period in which Snowy White briefly occupied the guitar position.

Rikki Farr moved Lion to Los Angeles, where the group established a demo studio in Topanga Canyon. Lion added guitarist Robin Le Mesurier, son of actors John Le Mesurier and Hattie Jacques. Le Mesurier started guitar at age nine and cut a first single at sixteen for EMI Records. He played in Reign and recorded two RCA albums with Limey. In 1977, Le Mesurier toured the United States with Air Supply on Rod Stewart dates, then declined an invitation to relocate to Australia with the group.

Lion signed with A&M Records in 1978 and used the Topanga Canyon studio to audition prospective producers, including Roy Thomas Baker. The label period culminated with Peter Henderson as producer-engineer for sessions at the Chateau that became Running All Night.

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