Heaven

Although they somehow managed to get both <a href="spotify:artist:6ZLTlhejhndI4Rh53vYhrY">Ozzy Osbourne</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:77tBvvyd6SD4Y9Um1xcbxP">Lita Ford</a> to sing backup on their third and final album, Knockin' on Heaven's Door (maybe they were favors for the band's manager, Michael Browning -- formerly attached to <a href="spotify:artist:711MCceyCBcFnzjGY4Q7Un">AC/DC</a>), Australia's Heaven are now only barely remembered for their contributions to '80s hard rock. Formed in Sydney in 1980 by Scottish-born singer Allan Fryer -- who had only recently narrowly lost out to <a href="spotify:artist:0TJOVQKoS7sbGVn8RkkvPI">Brian Johnson</a> in becoming <a href="spotify:artist:711MCceyCBcFnzjGY4Q7Un">AC/DC</a>'s replacement for deceased vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:62OSqVRTfWPbv9EovmbH4l">Bon Scott</a> -- Heaven debuted two years later with the Twilight of Mischief album, and its 1983 follow-up, Where Angels Fear to Tread, saw former <a href="spotify:artist:1WsfEkSfrPIhy1lK7ZLRRH">Rose Tattoo</a> guitarist Mick Cocks brought into the fold. And, even though sales for both were pretty modest worldwide, belief in Heaven's -- or at least Fryer's -- promise was such that the band was relocated to Los Angeles and sent out on the road with, at different times, <a href="spotify:artist:2tRsMl4eGxwoNabM08Dm4I">Judas Priest</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5M52tdBnJaKSvOpJGz8mfZ">Black Sabbath</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:07XSN3sPlIlB2L2XNcTwJw">Kiss</a>.

Still, come the release of the aforementioned Knockin' on Heaven's Door in 1984, Heaven's image had been buffed up with a SoCal glam rock sheen, and their lineup sexed up so that Fryer was now backed by suitably poof-haired and pouting guitarists Mitch Perry (ex-Steeler) and Mark Cunningham (ex-<a href="spotify:artist:1FX4aA0cUcWndv39j1YoTm">Rick Derringer</a> band), bassist Dennis Feldman, and drummer Tommy Dimitroff. Alas, all this Machiavellian scheming was ultimately for naught, as the album's title track cover of the classic <a href="spotify:artist:74ASZWbe4lXaubB36ztrGX">Bob Dylan</a> anthem failed to gain the expected amount of traction on radio and irritating lineup changes continued apace (even former <a href="spotify:artist:711MCceyCBcFnzjGY4Q7Un">AC/DC</a> bassist Mark Evans was brought in to play guitar for one hot minute). By the end of 1985, Heaven had officially folded. Its musicians immediately scattered toward other, mostly inconsequential band hookups and Allan Fryer eventually returned to Australia, where he unexpectedly convened a Heaven reunion of sorts in 2001 and set out on tour in support of a visiting <a href="spotify:artist:2tRsMl4eGxwoNabM08Dm4I">Judas Priest</a>. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi