Trillion

While dozens of American progressive rock outfits chased the same formula of infectious bombast that propelled Journey, Styx, and Kansas onto commercial radio in the latter half of the 1970s, Trillion never broke through. Chicago musicians Pat Leonard on keyboards and Bill Wilkins on drums, motivated by the blockbuster impact of Boston’s debut, tightened their sprawling progressive tendencies into shorter melodic-rock tracks that retained instrumental dexterity and sharp hooks, though the style had not yet hardened into full AOR. After shortening their original name, Whisper, the pair added vocalist Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen, guitarist Frank Barbalace, and bassist/vocalist Ron Anaman, all drawn from prominent local groups. With capable management in place, they landed a contract at Epic Records and entered the studio with producer Gary Lyons, whose work on Foreigner’s first album was still recent. Trillion’s self-titled debut appeared in 1978; despite opening slots for Heart, Aerosmith, and hometown rivals Styx, sales remained modest and internal tensions mounted. The band made the contentious choice to dismiss Frederiksen in favor of Thom Griffin for the follow-up Epic release Clear Approach, after which Patrick Leonard exited; Leonard would later achieve major success writing and producing for pop superstar Madonna, among others. The remaining members kept performing without attaining broad recognition, though original frontman Frederiksen later appeared on recordings by Toto in the mid-1980s and shared songwriting credits on hits for Survivor and Le Roux.