Jeff Cease

Influenced by contemporary local acts like R.E.M., as well as 1960s psychedelic pop and classic Southern rock, they gradually evolved into a revivalist band dedicated to 1970s-era blues rock.

Although the band has had a high turnover rate throughout their history, the driving force behind the band has always been brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, who initially formed the band while attending Walton High School.

The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984.

Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles.

The first incarnation of the band, "Mr. Crowe's Garden", named after Leonard Leslie Brooke's children's book Johnny Crow's Garden, began in 1984 in Marietta, Georgia.

The first professional demo the Robinson brothers did was for A&M Records in 1987.

The band's manager at the time, Dave Macias, got in touch with A&M rep Aaron Jacoves, from Los Angeles, who offered the band a 'demo' deal and arranged the band's first of several demo sessions.

It was held at Steve Gronback's studio in Carrboro, North Carolina.

They were paid $2,000 by Jacoves to cover production costs.

Jeff Sullivan (of Drivin' 'n' Cryin' fame) played drums on the first demo, while subsequent demo recordings featured Steve Gorman on the drums.

Gorman played on the subsequent A&M demos in Carrboro, North Carolina, during mid and late 1987, although as a guest drummer at first until he officially joined Mr. Crowe's Garden later that year.

The band was originally offered a record deal in 1987 under the label "Dog Gone" by R.E.M.'s manager Jefferson Holt but declined.

The band played as a quartet in New York City clubs such as "Drums" and CBGB in 1988.

The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year.

In 1989 the band - which had stabilized as a five-piece including the Robinsons, Gorman, Johnny Colt and Jeff Cease - met George Drakoulias, who signed the band at Def American.

Drakoulias turned the band on to music it had not heard before like The Faces and Humble Pie.

Under Drakoulias' influence, the band began covering the Rolling Stones and Rich began playing in open-G tunings for Mr. Crowe's Garden songs.

At this point, the band also changed their name, and considered ideas such as "The Heartless Crowes" and "The Stone Mountain Crowes", before settling on "The Black Crowes".

They were labeled by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World" and the readers of Rolling Stone voted them 'Best New American Band' in 1990.

The Black Crowes released their first studio album, Shake Your Money Maker, in 1990.

Supported by the singles "Hard to Handle", "She Talks to Angels", "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard", "Sister Luck", and "Seeing Things", the album received multi-platinum certification and eventually sold more than five million copies.

Their cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle", and acoustic ballad "She Talks to Angels", both achieved top 30 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991.

The band opened for ZZ Top on a tour sponsored by Miller Beer, from which they were fired in March 1991 after Chris Robinson's verbal tirade aimed at Miller.

The band launched its own tour that May and later took part in a Monsters of Rock tour in Europe, where they opened for Metallica, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe and Queensrÿche.

Their follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992.

After replacing guitarist Jeff Cease with Marc Ford from blues-rock power trio Burning Tree, the band released its second album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion in 1992.

The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200.

The effort spawned the singles "Remedy", "Sting Me", "Thorn in My Pride" and "Hotel Illness", all of which topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

"Remedy" and "Thorn in My Pride" also charted on the Hot 100 in 1992.

Due to the prevalence of Chuck Leavell's piano and organ parts on the first release, the band hired a keyboardist of its own, Eddie Harsch.

He became a permanent member of the group beginning with the "High as the Moon" tour.

The albums Amorica (1994), Three Snakes and One Charm (1996), By Your Side (1999), and Lions (2001) followed, with each showing moderate popularity but failing to capture the chart successes of the band's first two albums.

In 1994, the now six-piece band released Amorica, after scrapping the unreleased album Tall the previous year.

After a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, the band regrouped and toured for several years before releasing Warpaint in 2008, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart.

Following the release of their greatest hits/acoustic double album Croweology in August 2010, the band started a 20th anniversary tour that was followed by a second hiatus.

After touring in 2013, the band announced another breakup in 2015, reforming in late 2019 to announce a 2020 tour in support of the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker.

By this point the band had none of its original line-up left except for Chris and Rich Robinson, the only two constant members of the band over its entire history.

As of August 2023, the current lineup of the band includes the Robinson brothers, longtime bassist Sven Pipien, and new members Nico Bereciartua (lead guitar), Cully Symington (drums) and Erik Deutsch (keyboards).

Their latest album, Happiness Bastards, is set to release in March 2024.

The Black Crowes have sold more than 30 million albums, and are listed at number 92 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.