FireHouse

Although best remembered by American audiences for the power ballads "Love of a Lifetime" and "When I Look Into Your Eyes," FireHouse enjoyed a number of international hits during the 1990s, thanks to the band's melodic blend of hair-metal guitars and pop hooks. The group formed in 1989 in Richmond, Virginia, where vocalist C.J. Snare, guitarist Bill Leverty, drummer Michael Foster, and bassist Perry Richardson held their first rehearsals. The group relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, and signed with Epic Records later that year, then released a self-titled debut album in 1990. The eponymous FireHouse was a double-platinum success in America, where the album peaked at Number 21 and spawned the Top 40 singles "Don't Treat Me Bad" (which peaked at Number 19) and "Love of a Lifetime" (which peaked at Number 5). Both songs also cracked the Top 20 in Australia, where a third single, "All She Wrote," reached Number 23. By the end of 1991, FireHouse had gone gold in both Japan and Singapore. A follow-up album, Hold Your Fire, was released in 1992 and was certified gold in America, although the Number 8 hit "When I Look Into Your Eyes" proved to be the record's only Top 40 single in America. 3 followed in 1995 and featured "I Live My Life For You," which rose to Number 26 in the US. The album was certified gold in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, as was 1996's Good Acoustics. Having grown more popular overseas than at home, FireHouse signed with the Japan-based label Pony Canyon during the final stretch of the 1990s and toured heavily throughout the Asian-speaking world for the following two decades, while continuing to release albums like 2003's Prime Time and 2011's Full Circle.