Quarterflash

Quarterflash emerged in the first months of 1980 as a sax-driven pop-rock outfit assembled from two established Oregon groups. Seafood Mama supplied vocalist and saxophonist Rindy Ross along with her husband Marv on guitar, while Pilot contributed guitarist Jack Charles, keyboardist Rick DiGiallonardo, bassist Rich Gooch, and drummer Brian David Willis. The new ensemble issued four albums in total, beginning with a self-titled 1981 debut that moved more than two million units and featured the band’s strongest singles, “Harden My Heart,” which peaked at number three, and the Top 20 track “Find Another Fool.” Later releases maintained respectable sales through the middle of the decade without matching that initial commercial peak. One additional standout was “Night Shift,” written as the title theme for the film of the same name. The follow-up, 1983’s Take Another Picture, yielded another Top 20 single in “Take Me to Heart” as the group sustained its characteristic rock approach. With the arrival of Girl in the Wind the following year, fresh melodic ideas began to wane, and the band produced only one further studio effort, 1985’s Back into Blue. After completing an unreleased album in 1995, a revised lineup fronted by the Rosses kept performing in concert.