Alias (band)

Alias was founded in the late 1980s by two Canadian musicians, songwriter/lead vocalist Freddy Curci and songwriter/lead guitarist Steve DeMarchi.

Before Alias, Curci and DeMarchi were members of the Canadian rock band Sheriff, from 1979 to 1985. Sheriff's popularity in the club circuit garnered the attention of Capitol Records, which led to their self-titled album Sheriff. Sheriff's singles received a large amount of airplay and reached the No. 1 spot in Canada, due to the success of "When I'm with You". Although promotion and distribution problems stalled the record's initial American momentum, the song reached a respectable No. 61 on the Billboard charts. Reports of fans not being able to buy the record in their local shops plagued Sheriff's American tour. Rigorous touring, frustrations and disappointments caused tensions that split the band in two. In 1985, Sheriff disbanded.

After Sheriff, Curci and DeMarchi teamed up to pursue their music. With the financial backing of friends and family, and with the help of DeMarchi's brother Denny (who later played keyboard and sang backing vocals on the Alias album), they built a recording studio in the DeMarchi family home basement. They worked as couriers during the day, while continuing to write and record at night. Most of these songs would later end up on Alias' self-titled debut album.

In 1988, 3 years after Sheriff split, their song "When I'm with You" re-entered and climbed the US Billboard chart for a second time. A DJ named Jay Taylor in Las Vegas had played this song on his radio station, resulting in massive audience response and requests for the song.

In January 1989, Capitol Records made an unprecedented move and re-released the Sheriff album in the US. "When I'm with You" hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart in February 1989. Curci and DeMarchi tried to get Sheriff back together, but the other members of Sheriff, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Arnold Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassel (who had formed the successful band Frozen Ghost in 1985) were not interested. Curci and DeMarchi moved on and joined forces with ex-members of Heart: Roger Fisher, Steve Fossen and Mike Derosier, to form Alias.

In 1990, Alias released its first album, a self-titled debut recorded under the Capitol label. The album went gold in the U.S. and platinum in Canada, while several tracks enjoyed radio airplay in both countries. The power ballad "More Than Words Can Say" proved to be the band's biggest hit, climbing to number one on the Billboard Hot AC chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. A tour followed throughout 1990 (including a stint as the opening act for REO Speedwagon), but while touring, the trio of former Heart musicians decided to leave the band due to musical differences.

In an interview with Strutter magazine, Curci indicated that Alias was never formally disbanded:

Alias never split. Music changed. We couldn't get our music out there. No one wanted to hear it anymore. Grunge was in and, you know what, that's OK, 'cause music needs to do that. It needs to change all the time. That's how it stays fresh. Alias is still Steve and I. Alias will always be Steve and I. Steve and I will do a record tomorrow if the fans need one![3]

The band also performed twice on The Tonight Show, once with Johnny Carson and once with Jay Leno.

BMI presented Freddy Curci and Steve DeMarchi with the "Million-air award" for "More Than Words Can Say". According to BMI's website, only 1,500 songs including "When I'm With You" by Sheriff have achieved Million-air status (one million air plays) among the 4.5 million songs by 300,000 BMI represented artists. One million performances is the equivalent of approximately 50,000 broadcast hours, or more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay.[4]

In early 2005, an acoustic version of the band's hit ballad "More Than Words Can Say" was released on a VH1 compilation disc, Classic Metal Mania: Stripped.

Also in early 2005, "More Than Words Can Say" was featured in a Subway commercial aired during the Super Bowl.

Current members

• Freddy Curci – lead vocals, keyboards, piano, guitars (1988–1991, 2009–present)
• Steve DeMarchi – guitar, backing vocals (1988–1991, 2009–present)
• Roscoe Stewart – guitars (2014–present)
• Wolf Hassel – bass (guest in 2011, 2014–present)
• Chris Sutherland – drums (2014–present)

Former members

• Roger Fisher – guitar, backing vocals (1988–1991)
• Steve Fossen – bass, backing vocals (1988–1991)
• Mike Derosier – drums (1988–1991)
• Denny DeMarchi – keyboards (1990–1991(touring), 2009–2020; also performed session keyboards and backing vocals on Alias' debut album) (Died 2020)
• Marco Mendoza – bass (2009–2014)
• Larry Aberman – drums (2009–2014)
• Robert O'Hearn – keyboards (2009–2014)

Timeline

• List of glam metal bands and artists

• Feldman, Christopher (2000). The Billboard Book of Number Two Hits. ISBN 0-8230-7695-4.

• Alias Official band website
• Picture of the band with 1980s perms