Sweet Lips – Xoxo (1990)

This is a very hard to find French AOR masterpiece. The band formed in Paris, Ile-de-France in January 1987 by Lee St. Amour on guitars, Mike Heaven on vocals, bassist Ed Sinclair and Raphael Milazzo on drums, while their style is close to American hard rock of that period. Drummer Milazzo replaced by Chris Bumper (Firefox, Valance, Thorondor, Heavy Duty) in Spring 1989.

The group recorded a demo with one song with great success among the fans and after few concerts in Paris, the band selected to recorded a song titled “Lady Killer” to be published in the compilation “Hard Rock Rendez-Vous”.

The compilation recorded in Davout Studios and produced by Gary Lyons known for his work with bands like Aerosmith, UFO, Foreigner, Grand Funk Railroad, among others. The compilation came out in July 1989 with many positive reviews from the fans. The reputation of Sweet Lips started to increase and Bobbi Bruno, former manager of Trust and main responsible for the compilation “Hard Rock Rendez-Vous”, signed the band for their debut album.

October 1989 found the band with the departure of singer Mike Heaven cause of some musical differences he had with the band, and he was replaced by the American singer Andy Chase and the band was ready for the next step. In May 1990 the band completed their first work named “Xoxo” that released in November 26, in that year with some shows to follow before the band eventually split-up in 1992.

1. Born to Rock
2. Party Bus
3. Back to You
4. Lady Killer
5. One More Man
6. I Wish I Was
7. Love Me
8. The 14th
9. Bette Davis Eyes
10. Sex Line
11. Wings on Fire
12. Stranger
13. Pretty Smile

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