Biography
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Years Active
1980 – present (44 years)
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Founded In
Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States
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Members
- Gregg Williams
- Marv Ross
- Rich Gooch
- Rick DiGiallonardo
- Rindy Ross
Quarterflash was a pop/rock group best known for their 1981 hit "Harden My Heart". That track appeared on their critically praised eponymous debut album. The band was led by vocalist and saxophonist Rindy Ross as well as her husband, the guitarist Marv Ross. Guitarist Jack Charles, keyboardist Rick DiGiallonardo, bassist Rich Gooch, and drummer Brian David Willis rounded out the line-up.
Initially known as "Seafood Mama", the group gained a strong local following playing bars and nightclubs in Portland, Oregon. In the spring of 1980, Seafood Mama recorded Marv's new composition "Harden My Heart" on a private record label. The single received considerable airplay on Portland radio stations, and the band felt that they were ready for something more
Signed by a then young label, Geffen Records, the group released their first album, 'Quarterflash', in 1981. The label's marketing organization had urged getting rid of the "Seafood Mama" name, so they changed things. The new name supposedly came from an colloquial Australian reference to new immigrants as "one quarter flash and three parts foolish".
A new version of "Harden My Heart" was recorded and released; and rose to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached number 8 on Billboard's Top Albums, and sold over a million copies, earning RIAA gold certification on February 5, 1982, and platinum status on June 29, 1982. Their follow-up single from the album, "Find Another Fool", reached #16.
Quarterflash released their second album, Take Another Picture, in 1983. It reached #34 on Billboard, and scored the single "Take Me to Heart", which reached #14. The group released their final album, Back Into Blue, in 1985. It peaked at #150 in Billboard, and group disbanded after getting dropped from their record label.
In 1991, Marv & Rindy Ross were awarded a commision by the state of Oregon to produce a stage musical based on diaries of migrants on the historic Oregon Trail. From that project came a nine disc collection of traditional Americana music, recorded as The Trail Band.
"Harden My Heart" still receives air play on "Classic" rock radio.
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