Biography
Sun Country drew upon ancestral Miccosukee customs and the atmospheric essence of the Florida Everglades to shape distinctive sounds amid the psychedelic years. Lee Tiger and Stephen Tiger, whose father Buffalo Tiger chaired Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe, gravitated toward rock & roll while still in their teens. They played Miami-area garage circuits with outfits such as the Renegades and spent a brief interval in an early configuration of NRBQ.
The brothers launched Sun Country at the start of 1968. Their visibility rose sharply that May when they performed at the first Miami Pop Festival, appearing alongside the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, and Procol Harum. After spending time in New York City, the group traveled the West Coast throughout 1969, appearing at the Whisky-a-Go-Go and supporting Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention.
Signing with Bernard Stollman’s ESP imprint yielded the self-titled debut album in 1969. Retail response proved weak, and the band dissolved by 1972. Lee and Stephen then formed Tiger Tiger, adopting the name proposed by RCA Studios engineer Bob Ferguson. Although they continued performing regularly across south Florida for more than a decade, their first album, Space Age Indian, did not surface until 1994. Later recordings included Dream Scout in 1996 and Southern Exposure in 2000. In mid-2006 the Native American Music Association presented the group with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
While preparing Native to This Country for release, Stephen Tiger died at age 57 after a fall at his Miami residence on June 27, 2006. Lee Tiger pledged to sustain the Tiger Tiger name on stage, adding Stephen’s son Joey and guitarist Mike Pinera, formerly of Blues Image and Alice Cooper, to complete the lineup.
The brothers launched Sun Country at the start of 1968. Their visibility rose sharply that May when they performed at the first Miami Pop Festival, appearing alongside the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, and Procol Harum. After spending time in New York City, the group traveled the West Coast throughout 1969, appearing at the Whisky-a-Go-Go and supporting Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention.
Signing with Bernard Stollman’s ESP imprint yielded the self-titled debut album in 1969. Retail response proved weak, and the band dissolved by 1972. Lee and Stephen then formed Tiger Tiger, adopting the name proposed by RCA Studios engineer Bob Ferguson. Although they continued performing regularly across south Florida for more than a decade, their first album, Space Age Indian, did not surface until 1994. Later recordings included Dream Scout in 1996 and Southern Exposure in 2000. In mid-2006 the Native American Music Association presented the group with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
While preparing Native to This Country for release, Stephen Tiger died at age 57 after a fall at his Miami residence on June 27, 2006. Lee Tiger pledged to sustain the Tiger Tiger name on stage, adding Stephen’s son Joey and guitarist Mike Pinera, formerly of Blues Image and Alice Cooper, to complete the lineup.
Albums