John Elefante

John Elefante (born March 18, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer.

From 1981-1984, he was lead vocalist of the rock group Kansas and is currently touring with several groups that have featured members from classic rock bands.

His credits include writing and singing lead vocals on three multi-platinum albums.

In late 1981, Elefante auditioned for his second band position, as the new lead singer and keyboardist for Kansas, after the departure of its co-founder Steve Walsh.

The previous year, Kansas was one of the top-grossing concert acts in the world.

Several of the top vocalists of the time applied for the job, including Sammy Hagar, Dennis "Fergie" Fredriksen, and Jim Stafford.

Elefante did lead vocals and keyboards on two albums, and was a major songwriter along with Kerry Livgren.

On 1982's Vinyl Confessions, he sang the No. 4 Billboard Mainstream Rock hit, "Play the Game Tonight".

He wrote "Chasing Shadows and the Top 40 single, "Right Away". In 1983, on the following album, Drastic Measures, he wrote "Fight Fire with Fire", which remains the band's highest charting single at No. 3 (Mainstream Rock). He wrote "Everybody's My Friend", which is the second single and reached No. 34 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

While with Kansas, he became a record producer.

He issued Perfect Timing (1984) for the Southern California group, Sweet Comfort Band.

Though not a major commercial success, Petra's Back to the Street was a Grammy-nominated, breakthrough, commercial success for both Elefante and the band.

He also contributed songwriting, keyboards, background vocals, and engineering to the effort.

In 1984, on the retrospective collection The Best of Kansas, he wrote the album's one new track, "Perfect Lover".

That year, he, Kerry Livgren, and Dave Hope left the band.

In 1985, "Young and Innocent" appeared on the soundtrack to St. Elmo's Fire and was credited to "Elefante" – a collaborative effort by John and his brother Dino Elefante.

With both John and Dino Elefante as the band's primary producers, Petra's already popular Christian pop/rock niche was given a timely boost.

Their accolades include multiple gold albums, 10 consecutive CCM Magazine Reader's Choice Awards, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Hard Rock Cafe, and becoming the only artist to ever have four albums in the SoundScan top-100 Christian chart.

In 1987, while producing a various-artists album called California Metal, the album's production team of John and Dino Elefante ended up one track short and they decided to add a song which had been written for Kansas called "Wasn't It Love" (originally titled "What About Love") as the band Mastedon.

Regency later requested a full-length album which became Mastedon's debut, It's a Jungle Out There.

He produced Petra's further releases, and 30 other albums.

He usually performed on them, often sharing songwriting credits.

He was committed as producer, eschewing other opportunities such as an offer to replace Bobby Kimball as lead singer for Grammy winners, Toto.

Mastedon's first release is It's a Jungle Out There! (1989).

Elefante focused on heavier music in the early 1990s, including the Guardian release, Fire and Love, reaching regular rotation on MTV.

He continued Mastedon with his brother.

The band's name is a pachyderm-inspired reference to the brothers' last name.

Its albums feature multiple lead singers and performances by other artists, creating an eclectic sound anchored by Elefante's songwriting.

His brother Dino was songwriter and main guitarist.

In 1990, the band released Lofcaudio.

This album continued the guest performance theme, though Elefante sang more of the lead vocals.

Unfortunately, John and Dino's production schedule preempted any touring to commercially support the album (though the band did appear at least one Christian rock festival, Cornerstone, in 1991).

The albums charted at No. 25 and No. 10, respectively.

John and Dino Elefante formed their own record label, Pakaderm.

Most of the music they produced in the next 10 years was released from it.

With major distribution through Word Records and A&M Records, Pakaderm became an important element in the brothers' success.

He produced albums that have earned numerous GMA Dove Awards, four Grammy Awards (most recently in 2000), and ten Grammy nominations.

He has maintained a close working relationship with his brother, Dino, co-writer of several Kansas songs.

He was born in Levittown, New York, and his family soon moved to Long Beach, California.

He sang and played drums for his family band, The Brotherhood.