Orleans is an American pop rock band formed in 1972 in Woodstock, New York, by John Hall, Larry Hoppen, and Wells Kelly. Larry's younger brother, bassist Lance Hoppen, and drummer Jerry Marotta joined the band in 1972 and 1976, respectively. The band is best known for its hits "Dance with Me" (number six in 1975); "Still the One" (number five in 1976), from the album Waking and Dreaming; and "Love Takes Time" (number 11 in 1979). The group's name evolved from the music it was playing when it formed; their music is inspired in part by Louisiana artists, including Allen Toussaint and the Neville Brothers.
Drummer Wells Kelly, the son of Cornell University's dean of architecture, Burnham Kelly, first met John Hall, an in-demand session player and member of the group Kangaroo, in the late 1960s, when he played with him in a group called Thunderfrog and later appeared on John's first solo album, Action, released in 1970.
In 1970, Wells joined the first incarnation of King Harvest, which had a hit two years later with the song "Dancing in the Moonlight", a song written by Wells' brother, Sherman Kelly, and first recorded by Boffalongo, an Ithaca-based group of which Wells and Sherman were previously members.
Hall and his wife, Johanna, gained some notability when their song "Half Moon" appeared on Janis Joplin's posthumous album Pearl. Hall had recorded and toured with Taj Mahal and Seals and Crofts and decided to relocate from New York City to Woodstock, New York, at the request of producer and pianist John Simon, to be close to Bearsville Studios and the musical scene there.
Larry Hoppen grew up in Bay Shore on Long Island and relocated to Ithaca, New York, to attend college there in the late 1960s. He was a founding member of Boffalongo, which had two albums released by United Artists. Sherman Kelly and "Dancin' in the Moonlight" appeared on the second album. Wells Kelly joined the band after that.
After a swing through Europe playing guitar behind Karen Dalton on a Santana tour, Hall decided to start his own band in Woodstock. After months of playing the Café Expresso with different rhythm sections, Hall called his old friend Wells Kelly in Ithaca in December 1971 and asked him to join his group. Multi-instrumentalist Kelly accepted the offer on the condition that he play piano.
The group initially included Hall on guitar, Roy Markowitz on drums, Bill Gelber on bass, and Kelly on electric piano. When Markowitz and Gelber left the band, Wells told John about his former bandmate from Boffalongo. Hall, who had once jammed with him before, encouraged Kelly to call Larry Hoppen, who accepted the invitation to join the new group, christened Orleans by Wells in late January 1972. For months, they played as a trio, often switching instruments throughout the show.
Larry's 18-year-old brother, Lance Hoppen, was brought into Orleans around Halloween 1972 to play bass, freeing up Larry to play more guitar and keyboards.
Orleans found its core audience touring the clubs and college circuit of the Northeastern United States, crossing paths with other up-and-comers such as Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, and Hall & Oates. Rolling Stone called Orleans "the best unrecorded band in America". Showcase performances in New York City led to a recording contract with ABC Dunhill Records and the release of the self-titled debut album in the fall of 1973, which had been recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with producers Roger Hawkins and Barry Beckett at the helm. Reviewing Orleans in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said, "In case you're interested, this band is mucho hot among Eastern rock cognoscenti (read, know-it-alls). Very pleasant, too, although John Hall doesn't sing as tasty as he plays. The only impressive song is 'Half Moon.' Anything Janis Joplin used to sing is impressive, so that may not mean much."
The group's second record, Orleans II recorded at Bearsville Studios, was originally released in Europe in 1974, but ABC declined to release it in the US since management felt "no hit singles" were on the album (despite the fact that it contained the first-version recordings of both "Let There Be Music" and "Dance With Me") and dropped the group from the label. After the band's later successes, Orleans II was finally put out in America in 1978, combined with the first album as a double LP called Before the Dance. It was also released as a CD in Japan later on in the 1990s under its originally slated title Dance with Me.
In the meantime, the group was back to showcasing for a new record deal. When Orleans was heard at Max's Kansas City, they were signed and produced by Chuck Plotkin, then head of A&R for Asylum Records. The band then scored its first Billboard Hot 100 charting single "Let There Be Music" (number 55), taken from their third album, Let There Be Music, released in March 1975.
The follow-up single, "Dance with Me" (reshaped and re-recorded from Orleans II with Plotkin at the helm), went to number six on the pop charts and the band became part of mainstream of American pop music. Atypical of the high-energy, earthy, rhythm and blues and rock n' roll mix of styles they had been previously identified with, "Dance with Me" cast the band in a more "soft-rock" light and landed them a tour with Melissa Manchester.
While recording their next album, Waking and Dreaming, in early 1976, the group was joined by second drummer Jerry Marotta, freeing Wells Kelly to sing more and play keyboards.
"Still the One" (released in July 1976), from Waking and Dreaming, cemented Orleans' relationship with the American public. While the single peaked eventually at number five, the band was on a major cross-country 10-week tour with label mate Jackson Browne, ending in November 1976.
In January 1977, the single was chosen as the theme song for the ABC television network (the parent of ABC Records) and has since been used for an endless number of commercials and movie soundtracks.
The follow-up, "Reach", with John Hall on lead, peaked at number 51 in March 1977. Around then, however, internal stresses and disagreements over material and musical direction prompted guitarist and songwriter Hall to announce his intention to leave the band in search of a solo career, which he did in June 1977, after touring commitments were satisfied. Marotta departed not long afterwards to join Hall & Oates and eventually moved to Peter Gabriel's band.
After several months of mulling things over and working with other musicians (Lance and Larry joined Marotta in the backing band for Garland Jeffreys, while Kelly worked with the Beach Boys), the Hoppen brothers and Kelly decided to continue the band in late 1977, bringing in new members Robert Martin (vocals, keyboards, sax, horns) and Connecticut musician Bob Leinbach (vocals, keyboards, trombone), who had played with Larry Hoppen and the Kellys in Boffalongo during the Ithaca years and had completed a stint with the group the Fabulous Rhinestones. The new lineup signed a contract with the Infinity Records label and their debut there, Forever (April 1979), produced the number-11 hit "Love Takes Time". Collectively, the three Hot 100 top 20 Orleans hits have been aired over 10 million times.
In 1980, Infinity went bankrupt after an album with performances by Pope John Paul II (who was on a tour of the U.S. in the fall of 1979) failed to sell. Infinity was absorbed into MCA Records, which failed to promote their follow-up album, simply titled Orleans. This last, recorded in Woodstock, featured only the Hoppens and Wells Kelly as Orleans proper, since the others had left earlier in the year. Nonetheless, the album featured guest appearances from all past members, including John Hall, who was in the process of forming the John Hall Band with Leinbach as a member. Orleans was produced by Englishman Robin Lumley, mixed at Trident Studios in London, and featured Lumley's friend, Phil Collins, contributing backing vocals to one track.