Katie Haefele
On October 2, 1982, the American rock band .38 Special performed at SUNY Geneseo for $21,000.00. .38 Special was formed by Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant in 1974 in Jacksonville, Florida. They became best known for their early 1980s hit singles “Caught Up In You” and “Hold On Loosely,” as well as other Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band’s name was created after an incident occurred while the band members were practicing in a warehouse out in the middle of nowhere. The police arrived at the warehouse after being notified of a noise complaint by some local citizens and the band members were unable to exit the warehouse because of a padlock on the door. One of the cops said, “That’s alright. We’ll let this .38 special do the talking,” and shot the padlock off the door.
Now that the band members had their name for the band, they spent most of 1975 and 1976 playing constant gigs of one-nighters throughout the South and Midwest. After many of these gigs, Donnie Van Zant’s older brother, Ronnie, set them up with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s manager, Peter Rudge, who also had managed the Who and the Rolling Stones. Rudge quickly set up .38 Special to open for acts like Peter Frampton, Foghat, and Kiss. Rudge also secured a record deal with A&M Records which led them to the production of .38 Special’s first album, released in May 1977. Just before the album was released, bassist Ken Lyons decided to leave the band. He was replaced by Larry Junstrom (who was also a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s band)
The late 1970s were tumultuous years for .38 Special. In 1977, Ronnie Van Zant was killed in a plane crash. Donnie later wrote “Take Me Back” as a tribute to his brother. This song was featured on the band’s second album, Special Delivery. Also in 1977, .38 Special decided to add two female backup singers, Carol Bristow and Dale Krantz, to their line-up. Krantz left shortly after she was signed to get married. She was replaced by Nancy Henderson (1979-1981), Lu Moss (1981-1984), and Lynn Hineman (1986-1987), before .38 Special decided to let go completely of the backup singers in 1987.