Orleans

Orleans originated in New York during 1972 when John Hall, Larry Hoppen, and Wells Kelly established the band, which later gained widest recognition through the chart successes “Still the One” and “Dance with Me.” Lance Hoppen, Larry’s brother, came aboard before the ensemble secured a contract with ABC Records in 1973. Under the guidance of producers Barry Beckett and Roger Hawkins at Muscle Shoals Studios, the musicians issued their debut album that same year. The following year they completed a self-produced follow-up at Bearsville Studio in New York, yet ABC rejected the recordings and terminated the arrangement, prompting Asylum to issue Let There Be Music in 1974 and thereby launch the group’s initial major success, the 1975 single “Dance with Me.”

The subsequent album Waking and Dreaming featured “Still the One,” which ABC-TV adopted as a theme song for its programming that season. Hall, who had composed many of the band’s hits alongside his wife Johanna, departed in 1977 to launch a solo career. He signed with Elektra Records, released two solo albums, and emerged as a prominent voice in the antinuclear movement by helping to form MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy). Together with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, and Bonnie Raitt he coordinated the No Nukes benefit concerts held at Madison Square Garden in 1979.

After Hall’s exit, Orleans underwent multiple lineup shifts yet still reached number 11 with “Love Takes Time,” taken from the album Forever. Although MCA’s Infinity imprint collapsed in 1980, the remaining members continued performing in clubs and delivered the 1982 release One of a Kind. Wells Kelly died of a heroin overdose in London in 1984; by the early 1990s Hall had abandoned his solo path and rejoined the group. On their own Major label they issued Orleans Live, Vol. 1 in 1994 and Analog Men the next year. Hall and the Hoppen brothers maintained intermittent touring through the remainder of the 1990s and 2000s until Hall again stepped away to campaign for a seat in the U.S. Congress, winning election in 2006, securing re-election in 2008, and losing the seat in 2010. Plans to reintegrate Hall were underway when Larry Hoppen died in the summer of 2012.