Whatever Happened to the Band Firehouse who wrote the hit Love of a Lifetime?
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While glam metal had its origins in Los Angeles in the early 80s, it was the latter part of the decade when the scene reached fever pitch. By this point in time, many up-and-coming bands who weren’t native to the area flocked to the city in droves for a chance at fame. But Firehouse, a quartet from Charlotte, North Carolina, were in a league of their own, and they’re regarded for achieving considerable success during and even long after the grunge boom of the early 90s. Today, let’s discuss the history of Firehouse.
Firehouse’s roots date back to 1984, when guitarist Bill Leverty needed a replacement drummer for his band White Heat. Leverty was born in Richmond, Virginia, and would grow up surrounded by his parents’ record collection. Eventually, he’d obtain records of his own, and would go on to be influenced by everyone from classic artists like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent, to contemporary artists of the time such as Ratt, Van Halen, and Randy Rhodes. He’d later elaborate on his musical progression, telling Vinyl Writer Music,
“I had a babysitter and she had a guitar; she taught me a four-chord progression when I was really young and that’s about all I really did with the guitar at that early age. It wasn’t until I was in the eighth grade that I took some real guitar lessons and started playing. That’s when I really got into playing guitar seriously,” he’d say.
By the time Leverty was in high school, he’d audition for multiple bands, and got into one called Star Rider by responding to an ad on a music store’s bulletin board. His time in Star Rider would initially be brief, as they were in the process of changing lineups. The proposed lineup didn’t materialize, though, and not only was Leverty able to rejoin the band, but further develop his track record as a musician. When talking with Kevin Tanza of the publication Musikholics in 2020, Leverty discussed the transition to White Heat, saying,
“About 6 months later, their singer, Bob, called me back and asked me to rejoin the band because things didn’t work out with the other guys. I joined back with him. We were playing UFO, Van Halen, Scorps, BOC, Priest, Sabbath, and a few originals. We soon changed the name to White Heat. We played several bars around town. The club scene was really good around here back in those days.”
Once it came time for White Heat to look for another drummer, Leverty found a kindred spirit in Michael Foster. Foster would share a common background to Leverty, having had similar formative exposure to his instrument, while also studying music theory, and this would catalyze a longtime partnership between the two. Leverty would comment on how he ended up choosing Michael, recalling,
“Our drummer that we had in [White Heat] before Michael…had to leave the band. So, we auditioned probably about 20 drummers, and the last one we auditioned was Michael. The other 19 that we auditioned, a lot of them were really good, but we wanted to listen to everybody. Michael came in — [he didn’t have] the best-looking drum kit in the world; it was green and didn’t really fit our look — but we were like, “Let’s just hear the guy.” And he had such a groove and he could swing – then we heard him sing. That sealed the deal for all of us. Ever since then, Michael and I have been playing together. It’s been a long time; he’s my best friend.”
By 1988, White Heat gained traction around the southern United States, but Leverty and Foster would seek a new lineup change for the band. While in Charlotte, North Carolina, they’d catch a performance of the band Maxx Warrior, who had a self-titled EP under their belt. Both Leverty and Foster were impressed by the singing voices of two of their members, frontman CJ Snare and bassist Perry Richardson, and were set on joining forces with them. As fate would have it, Maxx Warrior would break up, and the new lineup of White Heat would soon be realized. Bill Leverty stated in his bio,
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