Exile

Exile, an American soft-rock and country group, assembled in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1963. The band initially consisted of J.P. Pennington and Les Taylor on guitar and vocals, along with Sonny LeMaire on bass guitar and vocals, Marlon Hargis on keyboards, and Steve Goetzman on drums. Exile began their career playing cover songs at local events in Kentucky before working as a backing band for the touring revue Caravan of Stars. Exile broke into the mainstream in 1978 with "Kiss You All Over", which shot to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. This period saw the band shift from soft rock and pop to country music, releasing their first country album Exile in 1983 under Epic Records. Between 1983 and 1987, Exile counted ten number-one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including "I'll Take You There" and "Give Me One More Chance". Their album Kentucky Hearts, released in 1984, also topped the country albums chart. The band parted ways in 1995, but reunited in 2008 with their early-1980s lineup, continuing to tour and record independently into the 2020s with LPs such as A Million Miles Later (2023).