Formed in the late sixties, Stonebolt was the brainchild of Vancouver natives guitarist Ray Roper, drummer Brian Lousley and Danny Atchison on bass. Originally called Perth Amboy, they honed their chops playing practically every small venue in the Vancouver area. They recruited John Webster on keyboards and brought in David Wills, formerly of the Seattle-based group Shaker on vocals in 1973. They were mainstays of the BC bar circuit when in '76, they recorded 2 sets of demos with legendary producer Elliot Mazur in San Francisco, whose previous credits included the likes of Janis Joplin, Journey and Neil Young. They were noticed by Walter Stewart in '77, the road manager for Johnny Rivers, and signed to a deal with Parachute Records, headed by Russ Regan, responsible for the first signings of Neil Diamond and Elton John. They released their self-titled debut the following year, releasing two singles. "Queen Of The Night", written by Adam Mitchell of The Paupers, failed to make much of an impression without proper support from the label. But the second, "I Will Still Love You", hit the charts shortly thereafter and cracked Billboard's Top 30, easily ranking as good a pop ballad as had been heard on the radio in years. Playing places as far abroad as Osaka, LA, and practically every point in between helped gain the group notoriety and were in the initial balloting for that year's Grammy's, eventually losing out to the disco invasion.
