In 1972, drummer Phil Ehart and bassist Dave Hope re-formed a band called White Clover, which had previously been playing gigs in and around Topeka, Kansas. Joining them were Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). The following year they recruited guitarist Kerry Livgren from another local band who called themselves Kansas, who then folded. In March, 1973, Don Kirshner's assistant, Wally Gold came to one the band's shows and soon after they were signed to the Kirshner label and went back to using the name Kansas.
In March, 1974, nearly a year after recording their self-titled, debut album, Kirshner and Epic Records released the disc. With seven of the eight tracks being original tunes, the LP received mixed reviews, and managed to climb to #174 on the Billboard 200 chart. February, 1975 brought a second studio album, "Song For America", comprised of just six lengthy tunes. After being cut down to a little over three minutes, the title track was issued as a single, but failed to chart. Still, the song would prove to be one of the group's most loved songs, re-appearing on most of their greatest hits and live albums. A third album, "Masque" hit store shelves in September of that same year, and fared even better, topping out at #70 on the Billboard LP chart and selling over 500,000 copies. A song called "It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man)" was released as a single, but failed to gain much attention.
It wasn't until Kansas released their fourth album, "Leftoverture" in October, 1976, that they finally mustered a hit single. "Carry On Wayward Son" reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a thirteen week stay in the Top 40 in early 1977. The record would be certified Gold by the RIAA and would later be ranked at 96th on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. It was also a hit in Canada, where it reached #5, and in the UK where it peaked at #51. A second single from the album, "What's On My Mind" didn't chart, but the album itself sold over four million copies.
A year later, Kirshner released the LP "Point Of Know Return", featuring the title track, which made it to #28. From that same album came what would prove to be the band's biggest commercial success, "Dust In The Wind", which peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of April 22, 1978. The single would sell over a million copies and also became a hit in Canada (#3), Holland (#19), France (#22), Belgium (#29), New Zealand (#36) and Australia (#52). The album would duplicate the success of "Leftoverture", as it too sold four million units.
To promote their recordings, Kansas toured heavily and became a major headliner on tours across America. In March of 1978 they traveled across Europe and were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill. In October of that year they released a double live album called "Two For The Show", which was made up of songs recorded at The Palladium in New York City, Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkson, Michigan, and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The LP was certified Gold shortly after its release and and then Platinum soon after that. One single called "Lonely Wind" was issued from the collection. It made it to #60 on the Hot 100.
May of 1979 brought another studio album, "Monolith", which, despite some harsh reviews by Rolling Stone and AllMusic, would eventually go Platinum. Just one single, "People Of The South Wind" was released, which climbed to #23 that Summer. During that season and into the Fall, Kansas toured America before traveling to Japan. During that tour, guitarist Kerry Livgren became a born-again Christian, a move that would surface in his lyrics on the next three albums. A September, 1980 single, "Hold On" was written as an evangelistic plea to his wife. Peaking at #40 in America, the record stayed in the Top 40 for just one week. The album from which it came, "Audio-Visions" would mark the final effort by the original line-up and the last to be certified Gold. Around this time, Dave Hope converted to Christianity as well. Steve Walsh, who did not agree with the new direction of the band, left in October, 1981 to form a new group called Streets. He was replaced by John Elefante, who was also a Christian.
The first album by the new incarnation of Kansas, "Vinyl Confessions" was released in June, 1982, and produced their sixth US Top 40 hit, "Play The Game Tonight", which rose to #17. Written by newcomer Elefante, the record enjoyed a nine week run on the Billboard chart. It also reached #4 on the newly established Mainstream Rock chart. The LP's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new fan base, but sales fell short of Gold status and created further tensions within the band. Violinist Robby Steinhardt was next to quit the band at the end of 1982.
July, 1983 saw the release of Kansas' ninth studio album, "Drastic Measures". A more Mainstream Rock effort, the album was a disappointment in sales and chart performance. Peaking at #41 on the Billboard 200, the album's first single, "Fight Fire With Fire" could only climb to #58 on the Hot 100, but did reach #3 on the Mainstream Rock chart. Bolstered by Michael Gleason and Terry Brock on stage, the band toured extensively that year. Unfortunately, Kerry Livgren was becoming more and more conflicted with his Christian views and the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle, and resigned from the band after their New Year's Eve show on December 31, 1983. He would go on to form a band called AD with Warren Ham, Michael Gleason and drummer Dennis Holt. They would perform in the Christian Rock market between 1983 and 1986 before fading away.
CBS Associated and Epic Records released the compilation album "The Best Of Kansas" on July 31, 1984. The collection included one original tune, "Perfect Lover". The LP would go on to sell over four million copies, but marked the final recording with John Elefante, who would go on to become a popular Contemporary Christian music artist.
In July, 1985 Phil Ehart, Rich Williams and Steve Walsh reformed Kansas without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. Bassist Billy Greer and Steve Morse rounded out the line-up. They toured US military bases in the America, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and Europe during the late Summer and early Fall of 1986. An album called "Power" was released on November 28th of that year and included the band's final Billboard Top 40 single, "All I Wanted", which reached #19 in early 1987. Two more singles were also issued, with the title track stalling at #94 and "Can't Cry Anymore" failing to chart. Keyboard player Greg Robert was added on January 31st of that same year and the band went on to release an album called "In The Spirit Of Things" in October, 1988. Airplay was hard to come by and Steve Morse left the band in April, 1989. However, a German promoter managed to reunited all of the original members of Kansas (except for Robby Steinhardt) for a European tour. At the end of that jaunt, Dave Hope left again.
In order to play early material closer to the original sound, violinist David Ragsdale was hired in March, 1991. A few months later, Kerry Livgren split once more and was temporarily replaced by Steve Morse. When the Summer tour was finished Morse left the band for a solo career and eventually joined Deep Purple. David Ragsdale was able to take over some guitar parts, leaving Rich Williams as the principal guitar player. The sextet of Ehart, Greer, Ragsdale, Robert, Walsh and Williams stayed together from 1991 to 1997, and produced one live album, "Live At The Whisky" in July, 1992, and one studio LP, "Freaks Of Nature" in May, 1995. On July 12, 1992, Legacy/Epic issued a two-disc, twenty-six track package called "The Kansas Box Set", which offered a complete overview of the band's career. On July 28, 1995 Kansas was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood.
The early months of 1997 saw the return of of Robby Steinhardt and the exit Greg Robert and David Ragsdale. In May of the following year the band released their thirteenth studio album called "Always Never The Same", which consisted mostly of covers of their previous work, re-recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. Largely recorded at Abbey Road studios in London and released on the River North label, the album received mixed reviews. Another studio LP called "Somewhere To Elsewhere" came along in July, 2000 and is noted for the return of the band's original 1970s lineup. It also marked Kansas' return to the Billboard charts, where it rose to #13 on the Top Internet Albums chart and #21 on the Top Independent Albums chart. In support of the LP, the group toured as the opening act for the English Progressive Rock band Yes. Another live set titled "Device – Voice – Drum", recorded at Earthlink Live! in Atlanta, Georgia on June 15, 2002, was released on October 8 of that year.
Kansas continued to tour every year, with the 2006 trek being delayed due to Robby Steinhardt's second departure in March and David Ragsdale's subsequent return. In 2008, the band's official website, kansasband.com announced that four of the five members Ehart, Ragsdale, Williams and Greer had formed a side recording group called Native Window, who released their self-titled debut album in June 2009. In February of that year Kansas recorded a concert in Topeka that featured a full symphony orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Steve Morse and Kerry Livgren joined them on several songs. The performance was released on CD, DVD and Blu-ray as "There's Know Place Like Home" on October 13th, and the DVD hit #5 on the Billboard Music Video Chart one week later.
In July, 2010, Kansas completed the 30-day United We Rock tour with Styx and Foreigner before setting out on a collegiate tour in September. They performed with the symphony orchestras of several US colleges to help raise money for the individual schools' music programs. Fan response to those shows led to another tour in 2011. In September, 2012 they kicked off yet another set of shows, this time with the band King's X and a solo act called That 1 Guy. January, 2013 saw them headlining the Rock Legends II cruise aboard Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas. Joining them were Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Bachman & Turner, Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Blue Oyster Cult, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet and Foghat. The band celebrated their 40th anniversary at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh on August 17, 2013. Dave Hope and Kerry Livgren made guest appearances, as did the Three Rivers Orchestra.
On July 2, 2014, the band's official Facebook page disclosed the upcoming retirement of lead singer Steve Walsh. Former lead vocalist John Elefante was offered the chance to return, but declined. Less than two weeks later, Kansas announced that former Shooting Star singer and keyboard player Ronnie Platt had been hired to fill the vacancy. A few days after that, the band also posted that their veteran lighting specialist David Manion would play the main keyboard parts on stage, giving them a full-time keyboardist for the first time since Greg Robert left in 1997. In March, 2015 the band released the documentary, Miracles Out of Nowhere, which chronicles the group's creation and their success with "Leftoverture" and "Point of Know Return". Packaged along with it was a companion CD that included the band's greatest hits along with commentary from the documentary.
At this point, it had been fifteen years since Kansas released a studio album of new material. Signing with the German record label, Inside Out Music, the band announced a twelve track collection called "The Prelude Implicit", released on September 23, 2016. The album's co-writer and co-producer, Zak Rizvi, was later brought onboard as a member of the band, giving Kansas a second full time guitarist for the first time since Steve Morse left in 1991. One week later the band began a US tour, an exploit that was repeated in the Spring of 2017. A two-CD set, "Leftoverture Live & Beyond", that contained nineteen songs recorded at different 2017 shows, was issued the following November. In September, 2018 the group celebrated the 40th anniversary of "Point of Know Return" by playing that album in its entirety at the shows on their tour. When that excursion wrapped up, keyboardist David Manion left the band and was replaced by Tom Brislin, who had played with Yes, Meat Loaf, Debbie Harry, Renaissance, Camel, Dennis DeYoung and many others. A second leg of the Point 40th anniversary tour resumed in March 2019. On a sad note, a June 25, 2019 story in The New York Times listed Kansas among hundreds of other artists whose master tapes were destroyed in the June 1, 2008 fire on the back lot of Universal Studios in Hollywood.
A new album titled "The Absence of Presence" was set for release on June 26th, 2020 and would be supported by the Juke Box Heroes tour with Foreigner, slated to run between July 9th and September 13th. Those plans were interrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Sadly, violinist and co-lead vocalist Robby Steinhardt died on July 17th, 2021 at the age of 71 after a bout of acute pancreatitis and septic shock. The group issued a statement that said: "The members of the band Kansas, past and present, wish to express our deepest sorrow over the death of our bandmate and friend, Robby Steinhardt. Robby will always be in our souls, in our minds and in our music. What he brought to us as bandmates, to the fans who attended our concerts and to the sound of Kansas, will always be heartfelt. We love him and will miss him always."
A three disc compilation titled "Another Fork In The Road - 50 Years Of Kansas" was released On December 9th, 2022 to help celebrate the band's 50th anniversary in 2023. A collection of songs from all sixteen Kansas studio albums were included in the set, which featured a new rendition of "Can I Tell You", a track originally included on Kansas' debut album. The band kicked off their 50th anniversary tour in May of 2023 with shows that extended into 2024.
For more, be sure to read Gary James' interview with Rich Williams.
