Bloodrock

In 1963 Jim Rutledge, Nick Taylor, Ed Grundy and Dean Parks formed the Naturals in Fort Worth, Texas and relesed a single in 1965. Soon afterwards they changed their name to Crowd +1 and released three singles. Park left the band and was replaced by Lee Pickens on guitar and soon Stevie Hill joined on keyboards and vocals. In 1969 they changed their name to Bloodrock and Terry Knight, who produced Grand Funk Railroad, recorded their first album. It was released in 1970 and peaked at 160 on the Billboard top 200 chart, that same year they opened for Grank Funk and Jimi Hendrix. Rick Cobb came in to play drums and Jim Rutledge switched to full time vocals. This lineup was on their next four albums: Bloodrock 2, Bloodrock 3, Bloodrock USA and Bloodrock Live. In 1972 Rutledge left the band and Warren Ham took over the vocals and added the flute and saxophone. Their next album, "Passage" charted at 104 on the Billboard 200 in 1972. The next year Cobb left and was replaced on drums by Randy Reader and they recorded the album "Whirlwind Tongues". In 1975 Reader had left the group and Matt Betton stepped in. Bloodrock then recorded their final album, "Unspoken Words", soon after the band called it quits and the album was not released untill the year 2000.
Dean Park became the musical director for the Sonny and Cher show and a session musician. Jim Rutledge retired from the music industry but he did release a single, "Hooray For Good Times". He went to own a video company. Ed Grundy played in some country bands then got his bachelor's degree and became a respiratory therapist. Nick Taylor played guitar for some country bands, formed the Nick Taylor Band and then sold automobiles untill his death in 2010 from a car accident at age 63. Lee Pickens formed the Lee Pickens Group and released one album, LPG, it did not have commercial success and Capitol dropped them. He went on to sell insurance and then run a car wash. Steve Hill released several solo albums up until his death from leukemia in 2013. Rick Cobb goes by the name James Cobb and formed the Quietus Trio. Warren Ham went on to play for Cher, Bread, Kansas, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Donna Summer, Toto, Amy Grant, Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr, and Olivia Newton John.