Black Pearl

Black Pearl earned their place in rock immortality in 1980 when, in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, legendary rock scribe Lester Bangs described the origins of “heavy metal,” a term he coined. “In the primordial tar pits of 1968, early flurries of heavy metal mutation appeared out of California. Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly and Black Pearl prophesied the worldwide madness to come.”

Black Pearl formed after members of three Boston bands – The Tallysmen, The Vikings and The Barbarians – came together to play a two-week stand in Aspen, Colorado, in 1967 opening for Cream and Big Brother and the Holding Company. The band – Bernie “B.B” Fieldings (vocals), Bruce Benson (guitar), Tom Mulcahy (guitar), Jerry Causi (bass), Geoff Morris (lead guitar) and Oak O’Connor (drums) – moved out West after the appearance and gigged in and around Colorado before eventually winding their way to San Francisco, where they opened for rock royalty including The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac and The Mothers of Invention before landing a deal with Atlantic. The label released their self-titled album in 1969 and a live disc (Black Pearl – Live, recorded at The Fillmore West) in 1970.

The rapid rise to fame caught up with the band, however, and the original Black Pearl lineup had split by the time the live album hit the shelves. Morris, O’Connor and Mulcahy returned to Aspen, playing as a power trio under the name Black Pearl for a while before adding three new members (vocalist Bobby Mason, harmonicist-singer Tom Becker and bassist E. Rodney Jones). The sextet played for another eight years as Black Pearl, disbanding in 1978. The band played reunion shows in Aspen in 1988, 1996 and 1999, selling out local venues and reminding several generations of classic rock’s lasting power.

(by Stephen Haag and Oak O’Connor)