Ron Keel

Rynia Lee Keel Jr.^[1] (born March 25, 1961), commonly known as Ron Keel, is a heavy metal vocalist and guitarist for a number of bands from the 1980s to the modern day, including the hard rock band Keel.

Biography

Ron Keel started his music career with a Tennessee-based band named Lust. He came to Los Angeles with his band Steeler, which later on featured Yngwie Malmsteen, Rik Fox and Mark Edwards. Steeler released one self-titled album in 1983 on Shrapnel Records. Steeler became one of many of L.A.'s '80's rock acts who could not withstand the test of time. Malmsteen was the first to leave, opting to play with the band Alcatrazz (featuring Graham Bonnet) before achieving success with his own band.

After the demise of Steeler, Ron formed a new band and simply called it Keel. The band secured a record deal with Gold Mountain/A&M Records. From 1984 to 1989, Keel toured the world and sold 2 million records. KISS vocalist/bassist Gene Simmons produced two of Keel's albums: The Right to Rock and The Final Frontier. The band regrouped in 2008 and toured to celebrate their 25th anniversary.^[3]

In 1990, Ron formed the band Fair Game, a project Keel fronted with four female backup musicians. Although the band played gigs they never got beyond the demo stage. Two of the songs recorded by the band were featured on the soundtrack to the movie Bad Channels. Their complete recording sessions finally emerged in 2000 on the Metal Mayhem label billed as Beauty & The Beast.

Ron returned to the heavy metal music scene in 1997, when he collaborated with Japanese guitarist Akihito Kinoshita on Project One, the major label debut album from Kinoshita’s band Saber Tiger.

In 2000, Ron formed IronHorse, which mixed country with southern rock. He left the band in 2007 to focus on other aspects of his career.^[4] He also performed as part of a Brooks & Dunn tribute band in the Country Superstars Tribute at the Fitz Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Prior to reforming Keel, Ron formed a band in 2008 called K2 Featuring Ron Keel, which performed many of the songs from his career.

In 2014, Keel published his autobiography Even Keel (Wild West Media).^[5]

Ron resided in the Las Vegas, Nevada area until 2015 and was very active on the Vegas music scene during his time in the city, even portraying Ronnie Dunn in the Country Superstars Tribute live show.

As of 2015, Ron Keel now lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he is the midday host on classic rock station KBAD-FM, and heads up the Badlands House Band, at Badlands Pawn, Gold, and Jewelry.

Discography

Steeler

• Steeler (1983)
• Metal Generation: The Steeler Anthology (2005)

Keel

• Lay Down the Law (1984)
• The Right to Rock (1985)
• The Final Frontier (1986)
• Keel (1987)
• Larger Than Live (1989)
• Keel VI: Back in Action (1998)
• Streets of Rock & Roll (2010)

Fair Game

• Beauty and the Beast (1991)^[6]

IronHorse

• IronHorse (2001)^[7]
• Bring It On (2004)^[8]

Solo projects

• Alone at Last (2006)^[9]
• The Ultimate Collection (2007)^[10]
• The Ultimate Video Collection (DVD, 2007)
• Lick It Up: A Millennium Tribute to Kiss (2008)^[11]
  • "Lick It Up" (with Richard Kendrick)
• Metal Cowboy (2014)^[12]

References

External links

• Ron Keel Official Site
• Keel Official Site
• Historical Interview with Ron Keel
• History of Keel w/ Marc Ferrari
• IronHorse Official Site