Gary Lunn (musician)

White Heart, also listed as Whiteheart, was an American contemporary Christian music and pop-rock band which formed in 1982.

White Heart formed in 1982 with two of its members coming from Bill Gaither's group.

The first two albums were produced by Smiley and Huff, the two friends who formed the group and were listening to groups like Toto, Boz Scaggs, Journey, and Steely Dan at the time.

The original lineup consisted of Billy Smiley (guitar, keyboards, and occasional lead vocals), Mark Gersmehl (keyboards and occasional lead vocals), Steve Green (lead vocals), Gary Lunn (bass), and brothers Dann and David Huff (guitars/vocals & drums respectively).

Whiteheart was pursued by every major Christian label until Chris Christian heard their demo and signed them to Home Sweet Home Records and gave them their first record deal.

By the time they released their third album, they were selling in excess of 250,000 albums.

After their self-titled debut album was released in 1982, the band suffered its first lineup change.

Green left the band, saying that rock was not his style.

They went on to tour with David Meece and Farrell and Farrell for the next two years, building their fan base, with Scott Douglas as Green's replacement as lead vocalist.

Green continued to sing background vocals on Vital Signs, and they had their first No. 1 single, We Are His Hands, with Douglas singing the lead, and Smiley and Green singing the harmonies.

The band released its second album, Vital Signs, in 1984.

In 1985, former roadie Rick Florian became the lead singer.

Smiley started his own label, Cul-de-Sac Records.

Gersmehl continues to write music and has released solo efforts.

Florian is a real estate agent in the Franklin, Tennessee, area and also continues to sing for various recording projects.

Douglas was with the band for two years before being charged with aggravated sexual battery on June 30, 1985.

Later, in 1985, David Huff left the band to pursue other interests as well, including touring with Michael W. Smith.

Eventually, he would join his brother Dann to form the hard rock band Giant.

With Douglas gone, the remaining band members began to audition singers.

In 1985, they were surprised when they saw and heard their stage manager and roadie, Rick Florian, dancing around on the stage and "karaoke" singing along to the song "Every Time You Go Away", which the sound company used to sonically tune the room each night during soundcheck.

A few weeks later, Florian came up to Smiley and asked if he could audition for the lead vocalist position, and he was later chosen as Douglas' replacement.

He became a core member of the band and continued through the rest of White Heart's discography.

Chris McHugh was also picked up to fill the drummer seat.

He was sentenced to prison in March 1986.

Dann Huff left the band shortly after to pursue his dream of being a studio musician, and recommended his high school friend, Gordon Kennedy as his replacement for the WhiteHeart album, Hotline.

White Heart's 1986 release, Don't Wait for the Movie, was released with their first major headlining tour and had major support from Sparrow Records and Billy Ray Hearn, who had personally come out to meet and hopefully sign the band.

He hired Smiley as the producer for the record.

It continues to be one of the band's most successful selling albums with three No. 1 songs, and breaking all previous album sales.

After Emergency Broadcast was released in 1987, White Heart made an important change with Brown Bannister coming on as producer for their next album.

Bannister was known for working with Amy Grant, recording out at the Bennett House in Franklin, TN.

Because of the fractured approach to having each member producing songs for Emergency Broadcast, Smiley suggested getting an outside presence that every member would respect and respond to.

The band's album, 1989's Freedom, featured a more original approach, with the band going to a rehearsal hall and working out all the material for three weeks before even going into the studio, and having Bannister help find the best songs, and pull the most out of each member both musically and vocally.

"Freedom" has been hailed as one of White Heart's best ever.

Songs like "The River Will Flow", "Let The Kingdom Come", "Over Me", "Bye Bye Babylon", and "Sing Your Freedom" would become live fan favorites for years to come.

But stability remained elusive.

The band reached the end of its contract with Sparrow Records and Brown Bannister.

White Heart's discography includes thirteen albums, the most recent of which was released in 1997.

Original members Billy Smiley and Mark Gersmehl worked with a continually changing cast of bandmates.

The album was ranked at number 74 from CCM Magazine from their 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. The band kept on touring and recording.

Gary Lunn left the band to become a studio musician and was replaced with Tommy Sims.