Bruce Hornsby

In 1984, Hornsby formed Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and the band was signed to RCA Records the following year. They released the song “The Way It Is” which made it to the top spot of the Billboard 200 chart in 1986. It has since been sampled by a handful of rap artists most notably, Tupac Shakur. When the album was released soon after, the album became a multi platinum selling album and was responsible for another top five hit entitled “Mandolin Rain”. The band would go on to win the Grammy Award for ‘Best New Artist’ in 1987.

“Scenes From the Southside” was a different slant, and a natural progression in the music that they made. It was released in 1988 and featured the single “The Valley Road”, which led the band to success, making it to number 5 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 2 in Canada. The album itself made it to number 5 in the Billboard 200 whilst 18 in the UK Album Chart. “A Night on the Town”, which was released in 1990 made it to number 20 in the US and number 23 in the UK.

April 6th 1993 saw the release of “Harbor Lights” an album released by Bruce Hornsby as an artist in his own right, going to number 46 in the Billboard 200 and 32 in the UK Albums Chart. It featured the single “Across the River” which peaked at number 18 in the US Chart and number 1 in Canada. Hornsby had a song “Set Me in Motion” feature on the original soundtrack of the film, Backdraft in 1991. Hornsby didn’t maintain the commercial success of his previous released after “Hot House” which was his last album to chart in the Billboard 200 chart. He has however had many releases as a collaborative effort with his contemporaries, and of course has the Grammy Awards on his shelf for ‘Best Bluegrass Album’ and ‘Best Pop instrumental Performance’.