Pablo Cruise -

Pablo Cruise was an American harmony-pop/rock band from San Francisco that released seven albums for A&M between 1975 and 1983 and reached the US Top 10 with “Whatcha Gonna Do?” and “Love Will Find a Way.” Pablo Cruise split in the mid-1980s and later resumed activity with founding members Cory Lerios, David Jenkins, and Steve Price in successive reunion lineups.

Members: Dave Jenkins (guitar, vocals), Cory Lerios (keyboards, vocals, 1973-86), Steve Price (drums, 1973-81, 1985-86), Bud Cockrell (bass, vocals, 1973-77, 1985-86), Bruce Day (bass, vocals, 1977-80), John Pierce (bass, vocals, 1980-84), AJ Crawdaddy (guitar, vocals, 1980-82), Donny Baldwin (drums, 1981-82), David Perper (drums, vocals, 1982-84), Stef Burns (guitar, 1983-84), Jorge Bermudez (vocals, percussion, 1983-84)

Background

Pablo Cruise formed in August 1973 in San Francisco when keyboardist/vocalist Cory Lerios, guitarist/vocalist David Jenkins, and drummer Steve Price teamed with bassist/vocalist Bud Cockrell.

Lerios attended Menlo School and Palo Alto High School and played in the Peninsula rock scene of the late 1960s. At seventeen, he ran the Crystal Ship teen club at Roundhill Village near Lake Tahoe and later worked at the Fun House. Lerios also played in Together alongside Price, who first learned snare drum at Herbert Hoover Junior High in San Jose and moved into school marching and dance bands. The pair joined Stoneground in 1971 and toured the United States and Europe with the Warner Bros. group. Lerios and Price appeared on the Stoneground albums Family Album and Stoneground 3. Lerios wrote “Butterfly” for the latter album and co-wrote “Everybody’s Happy” with Jenkins.

Jenkins grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and first studied piano and school-band instruments. He took up guitar following The Beatles television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 and played in local high-school groups. Jenkins spent one term in college, then traveled to California with a friend. On his second day in the state, he found work teaching guitar at Leonard Hart’s music store in San Carlos, where Leonard’s son Mickey Hart taught drums. Store manager Gil Draper later hired Jenkins for a Palo Alto shop. Jenkins backed Ron Nagle on the 1970 Warner release Bad Rice. He interacted with Lerios and Price at this time and joined Stoneground as bassist for a short 1972 spell.

Bud Cockrell was born James Ray Cockrell on March 28, 1950, in Greenville, Mississippi. His father Corbet Cockrell and uncle Clint taught him guitar and bass. Cockrell played Delta bars with his father and joined It’s a Beautiful Day in 1972 as bassist and vocalist. He contributed songs to the 1973 Columbia album It’s a Beautiful Day…Today.

Stoneground played the final concert of the original lineup on January 6, 1973, at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Lerios, Price, and Jenkins subsequently developed material for a smaller group with Cockrell. Lerios initially managed Pablo Cruise and booked selected Bay Area clubs. The quartet then drove north to Vancouver, Washington, for several weeks of club work.

Bob Brown, a local stock-market trader, saw Pablo Cruise at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and became manager in February 1974. Brown secured an A&M recording contract that October. Pablo Cruise shared an October 22, 1974, Winterland bill in San Francisco with Stoneground and Nimbus. The group gave a live KSAN performance on November 10, 1974, from the Record Plant in Sausalito. Producer Michael James Jackson subsequently oversaw album sessions at Sunset Sound and A&M Studios in Hollywood and the Record Plant in Sausalito. A&M prepared the resulting self-titled album for a May 1975 release.

Discography: