Daddy Warbux / Bux

Daddy Warbux was formed in 1967 by James “The Wheel” Newlon on Cape Cod; other members were vocalists Sheba Coates, bassist Jerry Stroup and former Fate drummer Tommy Bonarrigo. After Sheba left the band in 1972 to join covers band Cortege, former Richie & The Renegades singer-guitarist Bob Leger joined the mix. The band toured across the US opening for Humble Pie with keyboard-vocalist Wiley Crawford before renaming themselves Bux in 1972 and being signed by Frank Connolly, who was Aerosmith’s manager at the time.

Bux was a hard-rocking boogie band that included guitarist Punky Meadows, bassist Mickie Jones and lead singer Ralph Morman. In 1973, Capitol Records signed the band and they recorded their first album, but the group broke up after the sessions and the label didn’t release it because the band couldn’t tour to support the disc. Meadows and Jones went on to form Angel and cut their debut album the following year. By 1975, Angel had established a significant national presence and Capitol saw dollar signs, so the label decided to issue the two-year-old Bux recording that they’d shelved, calling it We Came To Play. Sales never reached expectations, however, since Capitol didn’t release any singles and did little to promote the release in general.

Morman went on to sing with The Joe Perry Project from 1979 to 1980 and in Savoy Brown from 1980 to 1982, appearing on Perry’s Let The Music Do The Talking and two Savoy Brown albums; he’s the singer on their highest charting US single, 1981’s “Run To Me.” Jones played on four Angel albums before his death in 2009 (Angel, Helluva Band, Heaven and An Anthology). Though Jones and Meadows were asked to join The New York Dolls, both turned down the offer. Meadows currently lives in North Carolina.

(by A.J. Wachtel)