New England

New England was an American rock band that was mainly active from 1978-1982. The group was best known for the song, "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya", which received heavy radio exposure on Album-oriented rock (AOR) stations and reached the Top 40 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1979. "Hello, Hello, Hello" also received some airplay at the decline of the first single. The quartet formed in the Boston area and was discovered by management|manager Bill Aucoin, who also managed Kiss. Paul Stanley helped the band record and produce their debut album, along with famed producer Mike "Clay" Stone, best known for his work with Queen and Asia. Guitarist and vocalist John Fannon was the leader of the band writing the majority of the band's material. The group had a live stint supporting Kiss but New England slid between the cracks of other Aucoin projects. The group's success stalled when their record label Infinity Records was absorbed by its parent company, MCA Records in 1980. The group moved to Elektra Records for their second album, Explorer Suite. That album garnered almost no notice however the first single was the album's title. Apparently, the powers that be at Elektra wanted "Explorer Suite" released as a single since Queen had their monster hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody". However, their songs, "Living In The Eighties" and "Converstation" received more airplay than did the intended single. "Explorer Suite" has since become a sought after CD by AOR fans. Todd Rundgren's production on the slightly harder-rocking third album, Walking Wild, also did not improve sales. The perfect choice of a song to release for radio would have been, "Don't Ever Let Me Go" however that was not the case on this third album. New England then dissolved with Gary Shea and Jimmy Waldo joining Alcatrazz.