Stranger

about

There is more than one artist with this name: 1) Stranger was formed in Florida, USA, during 1981 by Greg Billings (vocals), Ronnie Garvin (guitar), Tom (King) Cardenas (bass) and John Price (drums). Named "Lynxx" and then "Romeo" before settling on Stranger, the band was discovered by record producer Tom Werman (Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent & Mötley Crüe among others) and recorded their first nationally released album shortly after being signed to Epic Records/CBS Records in 1981, but received little record company support, promotion or publicity. Their self titled first album contained the track "Swamp Woman" which arguably remains their most well known song which, along with the opening track "Jackie's So Bad," received moderate airplay on Florida radio and other markets throughout the U.S. The band toured the southeast and became the biggest drawing circuit club band ever. Stranger also opened shows nationally for Triumph, Quiet Riot, UFO, Skid Row, Aldo Nova, Eddie Money and many other big name acts of the time. The group was paid to cease-and-desist while recording their second album for Epic, which was par for the course with many rock acts in the early '80s when pop, new wave and post-punk were the darlings of the record companies before hair-metal rock grabbed a foothold; a classic case of the right place at the wrong time. During the interim period between the contract with Epic and their self produced and released second album No Rules, Stranger toured heavily thro