AMERICA

• The iconic platinum-selling group AMERICA–lead singers, songwriters and guitarists Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell–has influenced generations of musicians with their distinctive brand of acoustic-driven, harmony-rich rock, mixed with pop smarts, in soul-searching classic songs that reflected the times they were living in.
  
• Their career achievements encompass a Grammy Award as Best New Artist of 1972; seven albums produced by Sir George Martin; and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2012).
  
• The band was formed in England in 1970 by Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek (who departed the band in 1977 and passed away in 2011) after meeting as sons of U.S. Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. They released their debut album on Capitol in 1971, which hit Number One in the States.
• AMERICA’s huge radio success throughout the ‘70s and early ‘80s at times overshadowed the lyrical depth of their songs such as the questing “Horse With No Name” (with its environmental message at the end); the frank romantic politics of “Sister Golden Hair”; the war paranoia of “Sandman” (written in part from conversations with returning airmen from Vietnam); and the cautionary life advice of “Don’t Cross The River.”
• Legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin produced five studio albums for them starting in 1974–Holiday, Hearts, Hideaway, Harbor and Silent Letter–plus a live album (America Live) and a greatest hits collection (History: America’s Greatest Hits).
• AMERICA has garnered six certified gold and/or platinum albums, with History, hitting four million in sales.
• Their 2007 album Here & Now was a collaboration with a new generation of alternative musicians who credited the band as an influence. It was produced by James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) and featured such guests as Ryan Adams, Jim James and Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket, Ben Kweller and Ira Elliot and Matthew Caws of Nada Surf.
• Here & Now was the band’s highest-charting album debut in 30 years and generated strong reviews, with Peter Blackstock noting in No Depression (January 2007):

“America had a pure pop sensibility that few other artists could match in the mid-’70s. They’re still writing melodies as memorable as those that climbed the charts way back then.  The opening triptych–’Chasing the Rainbow,’ ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘One Chance’– immediately establishes Here & Now as much more than a hackneyed comeback effort.  This is lush, lustrous, layered stuff, the type that has long since gone out of style but never stopped sounding good.  Iha and Schlesinger…frame Beckley and Bunnell’s pop gems in a manner that recalls the greatness of their earlier work without dating it as such.” 

• As further testament to the band’s staying power and influence, AMERICA’s recordings have been licensed for a multitude of placements in films (including American Hustle, The Nice Guys, The Last Unicorn and Girl Most Likely), television shows (among them The Sopranos, Friends, Breaking Bad and Saturday Night Live) and video games (including Grand Theft Auto). See their Soundtrack credits on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2085638/ 
• In recent years, AMERICA released a well-received album of cover songs by songwriters who influenced them–Back Pages (2011)–and an album of unreleased original songs, Lost & Found. Their music has also been released on new retrospective compilations and given the box set treatment.

• In 2019, AMERICA won the “Best Attraction” Award at the 30th Annual Pollstar Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. 
  

• In 2019, AMERICA was profiled on the popular shows “CBS Sunday Morning” and “The Big Interview with Dan Rather.”

• Watch some new and classic AMERICA videos here: http://www.venturahighway.com/media/#work

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