After an illustrious and influential 24-year career, rock music juggernauts The Black Crowes have officially disbanded. During the band’s 2013 world tour, all seemed well with the band. “This year in The Black Crowes has reaffirmed my belief in the power of music and the power of love,” frontman Chris Robinson said. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Long live rock ‘n’ roll!” Lead guitarist Rich Robinson commented, “The tour this year has been incredibly positive. Really great vibes all around.” Drummer Steve Gorman added, “The tour this year has been a great run, and we’re looking forward to the fall dates in a lot of our favorite towns. The turnout and response from the fans has been overwhelming.” Despite these positive comments from just over a year ago, the announcement came today from guitarist and songwriter Rich Robinson that the band would be no more:
“It is with great disappointment and regret that after having the privilege of writing and performing the music of The Black Crowes over the last 24 years, I find myself in the position of saying that the band has broken up. I hold my time with The Black Crowes with the utmost respect and sincerest appreciation. It is a huge swath of my life’s body of work. I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished and deeply moved by the relationships people created and maintained with my music. That alone is the greatest honor of being a musician. I love my brother and respect his talent, but his present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band, and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100% of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to. There are so many people who have helped and supported us along the way. I want to give a heartfelt thank you to all of our fans, our friends behind the scenes, and to everyone who was a part of The Black Crowes.”
The Black Crowes formed in 1989 in Marietta, Georgia. Their debut album, Shake Your
Money Maker, catapulted them to mainstream success. The album hit #4 on the Billboard Top 200, and spawned two #1 singles: “Hard To Handle” and “She Talks To Angels”. Their sophomore effort, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1992. In 2008, they band released the album Warpaint which hit #5 in the Billboard Top 200. In 2010, they celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of their greatest hits album, Croweology, and a tour to support. To date, The Black Crowes have sold over 30 million records and have been ranked #92 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Throughout their 24-year career, The Black Crowes have sold over 35 million albums worldwide. They have toured with the likes of Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Heart, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Dave Matthews Band, The Grateful Dead, and more. They have also been joined on-stage by Oasis and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin). The band played two shows with Jimmy Page in New York and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles concert was recorded and released as a double live album, entitled Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes – Live at The Greek. In 2013, The Black Crowes mounted their extensive Lay Down With Number 13 World Tour, which concluded on Saturday, December 14 at the Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco, CA. – by Matt Bishop
THE BLACK CROWES – Live Photo Gallery
