Three sons of military men whose fathers were stationed in England 
in the early 1950s, at the United States Air Force installation at RAF 
West Ruislip, London, and whose mothers were English, all happened to 
be back in England in the mid-1960s and all three attended London 
Central High School, about 16 miles Northwest of London, where they 
met while playing in two different bands.

The three were:
*Gerry Beckley-born September 12, 1952, in Fort Worth, Texas.
*Dewey Bunnell-born January 19, 1951, in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.
*Dan Peek-born November 1, 1950, in Panama City, Florida.

They decided to start their own band that was initially called, Daze. 
However, while trying to think of a different name for the band, they 
saw an old jukebox with the name "Americana" written on it. It made 
them think about how much they'd like to go back to America and thus 
the band named AMERICA was born in 1969.

Regular personnel on all of the following albums were:
* Gerry Beckley: Lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, 
harmonica, lap steel guitars.
* Dewey Bunnell Lead and backing vocals, guitars.
* Dan Peek: Lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass.

America:
The first album, simply titled America, was released in 1971, without
the song, "A Horse with No Name." Even with the group's subtle 
harmonies and acoustic style, it had only moderate success and sales 
were disappointing. The group's producer, Ian Samwell (formerly lead 
guitarist for Cliff Richards and composer of Richard's hit song, "Move 
It," decided America should record a few other songs that had done 
well in recent live performances. One of those recorded at this 
session was, "A Horse with No Name." It was released as a single in 
1971 and became a worldwide hit early in 1972. Subsequently, the 
album, America, was reissued, this time including "A Horse with No 
Name," and it became a #1 hit in the US for several weeks, and 
reached Platinum status.

Homecoming:
Early in 1972, the group decided to relocate to Los Angeles, 
California to record their second album, Homecoming. They left Ian 
Samwell (who produced their first album) and their manager, Jeff
Dexter, in England and decided to produce this album themselves. They 
made the decision to move away from their former acoustic style and 
try a more rock sound. Homecoming, released in November of 1972, also 
reached Platinum status and America won a Grammy Award for Best New 
Artist of 1972 for their efforts on Homecoming and it had 3 songs 
reach the Top Ten: "Ventura Highway (#8)," "Don't Cross the River 
(#35)" & "Only in Your Heart (#62)."

Additional personnel on this album:
*Hal Blaine: Drums.
*Joe Osborn: Bass.

Hat Trick:
America's third album, Hat Trick, was recorded at the Record Plant 
Studios in Los Angeles, and was released in October of 1973. This 
album, too was self-produced and included many new instruments and 
techniques. This album was not as successful as Homecoming.

Additional personnel on this album:
*Hal Blaine: Drums.
*David Dickey: Bass.

Holiday:
This time, the group decided to get professional help in producing the 
album, and they were lucky enough to get George Martin (who produced 
all of the Beatles albums). Not surprisingly, Holiday had an entirely 
different style than the group's pervious albums thanks to Martin's 
penchant for strings & brass. Holiday had one hit track, "Tin Man 
(#4)," score in 1975 and the album itself reached Gold sales.

Hearts:
Produced by George Martin, recorded in Sausalito, California and 
released in March of 1975, it readhed Gold status and had three hits: 
Sister Golden Hair (#1), Daisy Jane (#20) & Woman Tonight (#44).

History: America's Greatest Hits:
In December of 1975, the Warner Bros. label released, History. George 
Martin again produced the album on which he remixed and placed several
hits from the group's earlier albums. This was America's second album 
to attain Platinum status, in fact, it was Platinum x 4.

Hideaway:
Once again produced by George Martin, Hideaway was recorded at the 
Caribou Ranch near Nederland, Colorado. It was released in April of 
1976 resulting in 2 successful singles: "Today's the Day" (23) and 
"Amber Cascade" (#75), and Gold sales for the album.

Harbor:
Recorded on the island of Kauai, Hawaii during late 1976, 
Harbor continued the downward sales trend. Harbor did not 
have any hit singles.

Soon after Harbor was released, Dan Peek, who had been battling an 
addiction to drugs, left the band. After cleaning himself up, he 
signed with Pat Boone's Lamb & Lion Records to make Christian music.

Regular personnel on all the following albums were:
* Gerry Beckley: Lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, 
harmonica, and lap steel guitars.
* Dewey Bunnell Lead and backing vocals, and guitars.

Live:
Beckley & Bunnell ended their contract with Warner Bros. and released 
their first concert LP, Live, in October of 1977. Recorded at the 
Greek Theater in Los Angeles, the performance featured a backing 
orchestra conducted by Elmer Bernstein. The album scored briefly on 
the popular charts.

Single:
After more than two years without new studio material, during March 
1979, Beckley and Bunnell presented the group's new style with a cover 
of The Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'", part of the 
soundtrack for the movie "California Dreaming." Although the movie was 
unsuccessful commercially and the single scored as high as #56 on 
the charts. The flip side, "See It My Way," didn't reach the top 100.

Silent Letter:
America's first studio album without Peek, Silent Letter, was released 
in June 1979 on their new label, Capitol Records. The album, once 
again produced by Martin, was recorded in Montserrat in the West 
Indies. On this album, the group wanted to increase their commercial 
success so they tried using song written by others, but Silent Letter 
never got past #110 on the Billboard Album chart, prompting Bunnell 
to refer to it as "Silent Record."

Additional personnel on this album:
*David Dickey: Bass.
*Willie Leacox: Drums.
*Michael Woods: Lead guitar.
*Jim Calire: Keyboards, saxophone.
*Tom Walsh: Percussion.

Alibi:
Early in 1980, losing the services of George Martin, America replaced
him with producers Matthew McCauley & Fred Mollin who dropped Martin's 
string and brass sound for a more rock sound. Alibi became the third 
studio album in a row without a successful single in the in the United 
States. It reached #142 on the charts.

Additional personnel on this album:
*Timothy B. Schmit (formerly with the Eagles): Vocals, bass, percussion, 
violin, ukulele.
*Leland Sklar: Bass guitar, vocals.
*Steve Lukather: Vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, mandolin, lute.

View from the Ground:
Released in July of 1982, View from the Ground finally turned things 
around for the group. It contained a number of songs that the 
Beckley-Bunnell duo produced themselves and two hit singles: "You Can 
Do Magic" (#8) & "Right Before Your Eyes" (#45). Although the album 
failed to achieve Gold- or Platinum-rated sales, it did reach #41 on 
the album chart, which was an improvement over the past few releases.

Additional personnel on this album:
*Carl Wilson (formerly with the Beach Boys.): Guitars, keyboards, bass.
*Jeff Porcaro (formerly with Toto): Drums, percussion.
*Christopher Cross (of "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind" fame): 
Vocals, guitar, piano.
*Dean Parks (best known for his work with Steely Dan): rhythm and 
steel guitars.
*Russ Ballard (formerly with Argent): Guitar, vocals, piano, 
keyboards, harmonica. Ballard produced and played most of the 
instruments on "You Can Do Magic."

Your Move:
Because of the success that Russ Ballard's input gave "You Can Do 
Magic," he was hired to produce the entire album, Your Move. Released 
in June of 1983, Ballard wrote most of the songs and played most of 
the instrument, leaving just the vocals for Beckley & Bunnell. 
However, on the single, "The Border," Bunnell did some rewriting of 
the lyrics, added the backing of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plus 
Raphael Ravenscroft on sax, and the song reached #33 on the Pop chart 
in August of 1983. The album rose to only #81.

Additional personnel on this album:
*The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
*Raphael Ravenscroft (credits include work with ABBA, Kim Carnes, 
Marvin Gaye, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant, Bonnie Tyler 
and, most famously, Gerry Rafferty, performing the iconic saxophone 
solo on "Baker Street"): Saxophone.

America's work was also featured on several soundtracks during this 
period. Beckley and Bunnell contributed several tracks to The Last
Unicorn soundtrack in 1982. The soundtrack became popular in Germany, 
and the group frequently plays its title track when touring in that 
country. America also recorded "Love Comes Without Warning" for the 
1984 Steve Martin comedy, The Lonely Guy.

Perspective:
Meanwhile, America opted for a decidedly different style from its 
previous offerings for its twelfth studio album, Perspective, released 
in September 1984. Ballard was out, and synthesizers and drum machines 
were in. Several different producers, including Richie Zito, Matthew 
McCauley, and Richard James Burgess, helped create an electronic 
popular style that was very common during the 1980s, but drastically 
different from America's usual style. "Special Girl", the album's 
first single, was culled from hired songwriters and failed to make the 
charts. The next single, "Can't Fall Asleep to a Lullaby", was 
co-written by Bunnell, Journey's Steve Perry, Robert Haimer, and Bill 
Mumy, the latter of Lost In Space fame. Although neither track was 
played on popular radio, both did achieve minor success on the Adult 
Contemporary charts. The album itself was unable to score more than 
#185 during a brief three-week stint on the charts in October 1984.

In Concert:
Their main commercial success ending by now, Beckley and Bunnell 
ended their contract with Capitol Records with In Concert, released 
in July 1985. The concert was recorded at the Arlington Theater in 
Santa Barbara, California, on June 1, 1985. In Concert became the 
first America album to miss the charts entirely.

Beckley and Bunnell spent the latter half of the 1980s focusing on 
their live show, which they performed well over 100 times a year 
around the world. While America remained a hot ticket on the touring 
circuit, they were unable to land a recording contract in the years 
after they left the Capitol label.

Encore: More Greatest Hits:
By the early 1990s, the development of compact discs caused the 
reissuing of many older popular albums, providing many popular acts 
like America with revived sales. During 1991, America was able to 
offer four brand new tracks as part of a collection issued by Rhino 
Records called Encore: More Greatest Hits, which was designed to 
complement the group's original 1975 retrospective. Standout tracks, 
even though they did not reach any of the charts, were the 
Bunnell-Haimer-Mumy collaboration "Nothing's So Far Away (As 
Yesterday)" and Beckley's "On Target."

Hourglass:
America's resurgence caught the eye of Chip Davis of American 
Gramaphone Records, who signed the group to his label. In May 1994, 
America released its first new studio album in a decade with 
Hourglass. Produced primarily by Beckley and Bunnell, with help from 
Hank Linderman and Steve Levine, the album featured an eclectic group 
of songs. "Young Moon", a rare joint songwriting effort from Bunnell 
and Beckley, combined Beckley's love ballad formula with Bunnell's 
visual imagery. In contrast, "Greenhouse" featured a rough, rocking 
sound performed by the live band. Re-recordings of "You Can Do Magic" 
and "Everyone I Meet Is From California" were also included. In the 
end, despite generally positive reviews, the album failed to become 
successful commercially.

Van Go Gan:
During 1995 Beckley delivered his long-anticipated debut solo album. 
Entitled Van Go Gan, the album experimented with various styles and 
sounds. Beckley also revisited some earlier America material, 
including a remake of "I Need You." Comedian Phil Hartman (of Saturday 
Night Live fame, who during his earlier career as a graphic artist had 
designed the "America" logo), was featured as the uproarious voice of 
a televangelist preacher on "Playing God." Although it received 
exceptionally warm reviews, the album was initially available only as 
an expensive Japanese import.

In Concert:
Released in 1995 by the King Biscuit company, the concert was actually 
taken from a 1982 installment of the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio 
show. Known as In Concert (not to be confused with the 1985 Capitol 
release of the same name), King Biscuit experienced modest success 
with the album.

Human Nature:
The success of In Concert resulted in a new record deal with King 
Biscuit's subsidiary label, Oxygen Records and Human Nature reached 
the stores in September of 1998. The new album had modest commercial 
blitz. The first single, Beckley's "From A Moving Train," featured a 
strongly acoustic style. The track received considerable airplay and 
moderate success in adult contemporary formats. A second attempt at a 
single in "Wednesday Morning" was somewhat less successful. Although 
the album had a number of strong tracks, in the end it failed to 
achieve the sales that Oxygen was expecting, and America was once 
again without a record deal.

Highway: 30 Years of America:
The next few years saw the group's catalog expand with a number of side 
projects, reissues of older albums on CD, and several major retrospective 
releases. In July 2000, Rhino released Highway: 30 Years of America, a 
three-CD, boxed set which included 64 remastered tracks spanning the 
group's career. Included were a handful of alternative mixes and demos such 
as an early take of a stripped-down "Ventura Highway."

The Complete Greatest Hits:
Released in August 2001, Rhino's trimmed-down, single disc 
compilation, The Complete Greatest Hits, contained all of the group's 
17 charting Billboard singles. The disc also included two 
newly-recorded songs, "World Of Light" and "Paradise." The album 
represented another milestone for the group. Peaking at #152 on the 
Billboard album charts in October 2001, it was America's first 
charting album since Perspective in 1984.

Go Man Go:
In February 2000 Beckley released Go Man Go, an album remixing a 
number of tracks from Van Go Gan. The original Van Go Gan album 
finally saw its initial domestic release that July with bonus tracks. 

America had a somewhat unusual regaining of fame during 2001 with the 
success of Janet Jackson's single "Someone to Call My Lover." 
Jackson's track wove the famous "Ventura Highway" guitar riff into a 
song which rose to #3 on the Billboard pop charts, and introduced one 
of America's most recognizable melodies to a new generation.

Holiday Harmony:
America fans were treated to new material in late 2002. In October, 
the group released its first Christmas album, Holiday Harmony. 
Produced by Andrew Gold, the album received positive reviews for its 
imaginative blending of elements of classic America tunes into 
familiar holiday standards. 

The Grand Cayman Concert:
One month later, in November 2002, America released a live album, The 
Grand Cayman Concert. Recorded the previous April in the Cayman 
Islands, the concert featured just Beckley and Bunnell on acoustic 
guitars, a throwback to the earliest days of their career. Included 
were their most familiar songs along with a few rarities, such as 
"Wind Wave" and "Pigeon Song."

Re-releases & concerts:
After this new material, the band ended their recording, as Beckley 
and Bunnell concentrated on their lucrative touring schedule. America 
occasionally offered new DVDs, such as a re-release of their 1979 
concert film, Live In Central Park, a 2004 concert at the Sydney Opera 
House, and a 2005 show at the Ventura, California, Concert Theater. 
Also in 2005, America appeared on the PBS concert series SoundStage 
with long-time friend Christopher Cross.

Horizontal Fall:
In April 2006, after a few solo concerts, Beckley released his second 
solo album of all-new material, the well-received Horizontal Fall.