Runner (band)

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Runner were a short lived band, formed in 1978 out of a friendship between Steve Gould of the band Rare Bird and Alan Merrill of the band The Arrows.

Steve Gould had been touring with Merrill's live touring band The Arrows after his band Rare Bird broke up in 1976. When The Arrows broke up in 1978 both singers were looking for new projects. They went into the studio to do a rough demo with bass player Mick Feat, who was playing with Van Morrison at the time, and drummer Dave Dowle who was playing with the band Whitesnake.

The demo the foursome did was so good that the band were signed by Island Records immediately. They went to The Manor recording studio in Oxfordshire England and recorded their first and only album with James Guthrie producing.

The Runner album made the US Billboard top 100 charts, but due to musical differences the band broke up whilst recording their second album with Alex Sadkin producing.

After the band split, Mick Feat and Steve Gould went on to record with Alvin Lee, Dave Dowle with the Maggie Bell band Nightflyer, and Alan Merrill joined Rick Derringer's band Derringer.

Oddly, the band Runner never toured, in spite of their making the American charts.