White Tiger "White Tiger (1999 Reissue, Remastered, USA, E.M.C. Records, E.M.C. 3653)"

White Tiger was a short-lived glam metal band from United States, founded by former Kiss band member Mark St. John, which split up in 1988. The group also included former Black Sabbath member David Donato, as well as bassist Michael Norton and drummer Brian James Fox. They recorded only one album, and demos for a second album.

Mark died some time later at the age of 51. Donato died in February 2021. Mark's brother and the bassist for the band, Michael Norton, died in 2023.

St. John (Mark Norton), practiced as a guitar teacher before being contacted by Kiss in 1984, after being recommended by well-known guitar maker Grover Jackson, to replace Vinnie Vincent, who had just been fired from the band. From this period, Norton became known to the public under the name on Mark St. John. With Kiss, St. John participated in the recordings of the album Animalize (Kiss's best-selling album of the 80s), but in December of the same year, after having participated in three dates of the world tour, he was replaced by Bruce Kulick for health reasons as he had contracted a rare form of arthritis.

Donato, instead, joined Black Sabbath in 1984 to replace Ian Gillan, and was fired in 1985 after recording some demos with the band, after just six months, for reasons that are not fully understood. Prior to this experience Donato, who had previously worked as a model, had been a member of the British Armageddon (but based in Los Angeles) in the mid-1970s, with which he recorded a self-titled debut in 1975, before the death of its founder Keith Relf (former lead singer of The Yardbirds). After these, he joined the band Hero founded by Neil Citron who was briefly guitarist for Quiet Riot.

White Tiger was formed in early 1986 by St. John, his brother Michael Norton, Donato, and drummer Brian James Fox. The band bore some similarity in appearance and sound to the eighties-era hair metal Kiss. A few months later, after signing with ECM Records, they released the self-titled debut White Tiger, which while receiving praise related to songwriting, was nevertheless criticized for its poor production. In any case, it was not a significant success and went unnoticed, also because it was produced by a small label. The label, which saw no promising future for the quartet, rejected the band for lack of success. Demonstrations were recorded for a possible second album, which should have been titled On The Prowl, but was never released due to a lost record deal.

Tracklist:

White Tiger

1. Rock Warriors 5:25
2. Love / Hate 5:49
3. Bad Time Coming 5:59
4. Runaway 4:59
5. Still Standing Strong 5:25
6. Live To Rock 4:05
7. Northern Wind 5:09
8. Stand & Deliver 4:36
9. White Hot Desire 4:37

Bonus Track

1. Rock Warriors (Remix) 5:29

Recording information:

Recorded At – Front Page Studios

Mixed At – Record Plant, Los Angeles

Remastered At – RavensWork Studios

Engineer – Lester Claypool

Executive-Producer – Eddie Coralnick, Gordon Davis

Producer – Mark St. John

Remastered By – Robert Feist

Remix – Michael Wagener (tracks: 10)