Prophet (band)

History

Prophet was founded in the 1980s by two previous members of Icarian and Tom Fuller's Rock City, bassist Scott Metaxas and keyboardist, the late Joe Zujkowski. To complete the group, they invited: Ken Dubman (guitar), William Runco (guitar), Bob Butterfield (drums) and Marc Hoffman (vocals). The band started its career playing cover songs by bands such as Queen, Boston, Kansas and Styx. In fact, they were considered to be one of the best cover bands in New Jersey in the 80's.

In 1985, Hoffman and Butterfield left the band and were substituted for by the late Dean Fasano (vocals) and Ted Poley (drums & vocals). Poley played with Dubman years before in another rock band named Lush, when they were in High School. William Runco also left the band, but was not replaced by another musician. With this new formation, the group recorded its debut self-titled album for Total Experience/RCA. It includes the song "Slow Down", which may have influenced the hit "Wanted Dead or Alive", by Bon Jovi, years later.

After having released the first album, Fasano and Poley left the band. Poley joined the group Danger Danger as its lead vocalist and bandleader. Prophet then invited Russell Arcara (vocals) and Michael Sterlacci (drums & vocals) to join. During this period the band was managed by Noel Monk, who previously managed Van Halen. This lineup recorded the band's second album Cycle of the Moon for Megaforce/Atlantic. This album is considered the most important by the group and peaked at 137 on the Billboard 200.

In 1991, prior to Prophet releasing its third album, 'Recycled' (Halycon Records), Michael Sterlacci (drums & vocals) left and relocated to Los Angeles, Ca. With yet another lineup: Dave DiPietro (guitar) and Jim Callahan (drums) the band recorded "Recycled". This album also had Karl Cochran (acoustic guitar and backing vocals) as a special guest.

From 1992, Prophet's members started new projects and the group ended years later. Arcara created two other bands after leaving Prophet: Arcara (also known as Where's Mary) and The Way. Also during this time Arcara formed a cover band called Wally and the Beaver, featuring Dubman and DiPietro, (From fellow Megaforce and Halycon Recording artists TTQUICK. DiPietro in particular stood out as a mentor/teacher to Zakk Wylde and Dave Sabo who would later star with Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row respectively. In 2009, TT QUICK lead singer Mark Tornillo joined the heavy metal group Accept, helping them achieve their highest billboard chart success to date) Callahan, Stephan DeAcutis (session player, studio owner Sound spa and successful record producer. (http://www.soundspa.net/stevie.php?soundspa=discography) and extraordinary bassist/vocalist Tony LeClerc (also from Wheres Mary and New York City's Big Bad Wolf and currently bass guitarist for former Warner Bros and EMI recording artist Twinkle Yochim and her band RockSoulRadio. DiPietro left before their first show due to personal reasons and the group continued as a five piece. In 1992, Metaxas and DiPietro joined Nuclear Assault. Dubman joined the blues band Rocket 88. Callahan created a software company and started working as a graphic designer.

Years prior, Dubman, Arcara, Metaxas and Callahan had created a tribute band, Edgar Cayce, after the American prophet. Prophet's albums were re-released many times in 2000s: Recycled was reissued in 2005 (Z Records) and Cycle of Moon was reissued in 2005 (Z Records) and 2009 (Wounded Bird Records).

On April 29, 2012, the band reformed for a reunion show, with a lineup consisting of Metaxas, Dubman, Arcara, Callahan with new keyboardist Bill Dellicato replacing Joe Zujkowski (who had died in the time since the band had last been together).

Members

Discography