Baillie and the Boys Biography

Baillie and the Boys Biography

Baillie & the Boys are

an American country music group which gained prominence in the late 1980s. Their original lineup consisted of Kathie Baillie (lead vocals), her husband, Michael Bonagura (guitar, harmony vocals), and Alan LeBoeuf (bass guitar, harmony vocals). Known for their three-part vocal harmonies, Baillie & the Boys has recorded five studio albums, and charted ten Top 40 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts between 1987 and 1991. After LeBoeuf's departure in 1988, Baillie & the Boys toured as a duo, until Roger McVey was chosen as a replacement in 1995; four years later, McVey himself departed, with LeBoeuf again assuming the role of bass guitarist and harmony vocalist. Although they have not charted a single since 1991, and although they have not recorded an album since 2000's The Road That Led Me to You, Baillie & the Boys still performs regularly. Singers Alan LeBoeuf and Michael Bonagura were originally members of a New Jersey-based musical group called London Fog. In 1977, Bonagura met singer Kathie Baillie after a friend sent him recordings of her work; Bonagura and Baillie married the same year. Shortly afterward, Bonagura and Baillie joined up with LeBoeuf, forming the lineup for Baillie & The Boys. The trio toured throughout the state of New Jersey, and later moved to Nashville, Tennessee after a friend persuaded them. The trio first found work singing harmony vocals on singles for Ed Bruce, Dan Seals and Randy Travis; in addition, Bonagura co-wrote Marie Osmond's single "There's No Stopping Your Heart".

In 1987, the group were signed to a record deal on the RCA Records label. Their self-titled album was released that year, producing three Top 20 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Turn The Tide, their second album, was released a year later; it produced four straight Top 10 hits on the country charts (including "(Wish I Had a) Heart of Stone", their highest-charting single). LeBoeuf left the group in 1988 shortly after the release of Turn the Tide; Baillie & the Boys then toured as a duo, with their 1990 album The Lights of Home including only Baillie and Bonagura; Roger McVey later signed on to fill the vacancy left by LeBoeuf. McVey had worked with the group since 1992, singing high harmony vocals and playing bass guitar; however, he was not declared an official member of the group until 1995. McVey's first appearance as an official member was on the 1996 album Lovin' Every Minute. The group then went on hiatus before reuniting in August of 1998 to perform a benefit concert in Daytona Beach, Florida; a year later, McVey departed. LeBoeuf again assumed the role of high harmony vocals, returning the band to its original lineup. A fifth album, titled The Road That Led Me to You, was released on an independent label in 2000. Baillie also released a solo album, titled Love's Funny That Way, on February 20, 2007.