JANI LANE
Lane was born as John Kennedy Oswald on February 1, 1964 in Akron, Ohio, the youngest of five children. Due to several complaints, his parents had to change his name to "John Patrick Oswald", but his birth vertficate still states the former name. Lane was interested in music from an early age and began playing drums when he was 6 years old. He is rumoured to have won a grade-school talent contest playing "Honky Tonk Women" on the drums. Lane played drums in an Akron band, fronted by Gigi Hangach, later of Phantom Blue. Graduating from Field High School in Brimfield, Ohio in 1982, Lane joined the band Cyren, featuring vocalist Scott Hammonds, guitarist John Weakland, bassist Dan Hoover (and later, Rusty Fohner) with Lane on drums. After relocating to Florida in 1983, Lane played drums for Dorian Gray, before forming Plain Jane with future Warrant bandmate Steven Sweet. It was at this time that Lane adopted the stage name "Jani Lane". Lane and Sweet later relocated to Los Angeles, California, where they took various "odd jobs" to survive. Struggling to make ends meet as a musician, Lane resorted to working in a pornographic video warehouse. By 1986, Plain Jane had become a regular feature in the L.A. club circuit. Erik Turner, who had founded Warrant in July 1984, was impressed by Plain Jane's songwriting and vocal performance, and invited Lane and Sweet to join his band. After generating notoriety on the club circuit, Warrant began to attract the attention of record labels. Following an abortive deal with A&M records over a contribution to the soundtrack for the motion picture Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the band signed with Columbia Records. Lane immediately blew his advance on a black Corvette which he promptly crashed. During the recording of the band's first album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, Lane walked in on his best friend in bed with his girlfriend, leading to a nervous breakdown. The album was recorded without Lane's vocals, and its release was delayed by several months while Lane recovered. These events would later be recounted in the single "I Saw Red" on the band's following album, Cherry Pie. As lead vocalist with Warrant, Lane wrote five Top 40 hits: "Heaven", "Down Boys", "Sometimes She Cries", "Cherry Pie", and "I Saw Red"; see further Warrant. Lane left Warrant in 1992, following the release of the band's critically acclaimed record Dog Eat Dog. He returned to the band in September 1994, helping the band to secure a new record with Tom Lipsky of CMC Records. Lane would continue to show his writing diversity, when Warrant released Ultraphobic in 1995 with the guitar ballad, "Stronger Now". Then, in 1996, Warrant released the more experimental, yet catchy, Belly 2 Belly. Although, not a commercial success by industry standards, it was a personal success as many critics came to realize his writing gift. Lane left Warrant again in early 2004 to further pursue a solo career. Jani has lent his vocals to numerous tribute CDs during the beginning years of 2000 and finally released his solo effort, Back Down To One in 2003. Lane also has had recent success with the VH1 Metal Mania Stripped discs where an acoustic version of "I Saw Red" is on disc 1, and an acoustic swinging version of "Cherry Pie" is on disc 2. Lane became involved in acting in the early 1990s. He made a brief appearance in Caged Fear, and also appeared in High Strung in 1991. Between 1997 and 2000, demos of Lane's solo material began surfacing on the Internet, with some bids on eBay reaching an estimated $US100.00 per copy. The project, titled Jabberwocky, represented a significant musical departure from Lane's previous work. Although featuring the singer-songwriter's distinct vocal melodies and lyrics, the music had more in common with Elton John, Sting, Tom Petty, and Bob Seger than Warrant. The CD has never been officially released. Lane's official debut solo album, Back Down to One, was released on June 17, 2003 through Z Records. It carried a "power pop" sound which was more closely aligned with the sound of Warrant than the unreleased Jabberwocky project. In August 2004 Lane withdrew from the Bad Boys of Metal tour after only 8 shows, following a dispute with Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow. DuBrow claims that he could not work with Lane due to his alcohol and drug problems. Lane contributed vocals on the track "Bastille Day" and "2112 Overture/Temples Of Syrinx" for the Magna Carta 2005 Rush tribute album Subdivisions. Lane also performed solo live shows in early 2005, with a band including Chad MacDonald on bass and Bryn Mutch on drums. In 2006, Lane attempted to start his version of Warrant. This was short lived however, as a cease and desist letter threatened legal action by the owners of the name. He has been kept busy in the months of September and October of 2005 gearing up for the VH1 Metal Mania Stripped acoustic tour beginning October 31st in Minnesota. As of 2007, Lane has written many tunes for his second solo effort. He also has added that the long awaited Jabberwocky project may be released via 2-discs sometime in 2007. Lane has also finished work on his side project, Saints of the Underground. This project also consists of Bobby Blotzer and Robbie Crane (both from Ratt), and Keri Kelli (from Alice Cooper). Their album, Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner is due in the fall of 2007.
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