Mr. Mister

Mr. Mister was an American pop rock band of the 1980s. The band's name came from an inside joke about a Weather Report record called Mr. Gone where they referred to each other as "Mister This" or "Mister That", and eventually selected "Mr. Mister."^[1] Mr. Mister may be considered as representative of the melodic sound of 1980s pop rock.^[2] The band consisted of Richard Page on vocals and bass guitar, Steve George on keyboards, Pat Mastelotto on acoustic and electronic drums and Steve Farris on guitars.

Early work

Richard Page had previously worked as a session musician (for Quincy Jones) and had composed for Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, and many more. In the late 1970s, he and his childhood friend Steve George founded the band Pages (most notable song: "I Do Believe in You") in Phoenix, Arizona, from which Mr. Mister was founded in 1980. The two continued to apply their tight harmonies to background vocals on albums by successful pop artists like Laura Branigan and the Village People, while working to break their own material. All four members had done extensive session work for other artists and brought numerous influences to the band.

Mainstream success

When the first Mr. Mister album, I Wear the Face, was released in 1984, Page was offered the chance to replace Bobby Kimball as lead singer of Toto, and later was offered Peter Cetera's place in Chicago; he refused both offers.^[3]

Welcome to the Real World album cover

The second album, 1985's Welcome to the Real World, with lyrics from Page's cousin John Lang, was the breakthrough for Mr. Mister, with three top 10 singles, two of which hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts (most notably "Broken Wings", which was inspired by the book of the same title by Khalil Gibran^[4]). They had several #1 MTV videos and headlined the first MTV Spring Break show in 1986. Mr Mister had several Grammy Award nominations, including the 1986 Grammy for "Best Pop Band" (which was awarded to the "We Are the World" ensemble, USA for Africa).

During this time, Mr. Mister toured with other popular acts including Don Henley, The Bangles, Eurythmics, Tina Turner, and Adam Ant. The band's third album was Go On..., which the band said was "some of the best stuff we ever did," showing a much more mature band and a sound that hinted at progressive rock.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, Go On... was not a commercial success.

Guitarist Steve Farris left around 1989, replaced by Buzz Feiten and later Trevor Rabin. The band began working on a fourth album, Pull, with session guitarists, but were dropped by their label before it could be released, and the band decided to break up. The album remains unreleased to this day, although one track ("Waiting in My Dreams") later appeared on a 2001 greatest hits collection by the band. However, in December 2008 Page told the internet radio station 95.7 StarFM about plans to release Pull on his new website: "I'm in the process of getting it back from the record company and publish it on the website." After a Jan. 2009 podcast interview with Page, Inside MusiCast posted a portion of a follow-up e-mail from Page stating "The Pull album might be released. We're talking to the record company about it now."^[5]

Post-breakup

After Mr. Mister broke up, Page released a solo record and a band record as Third Matinee (with Patrick Leonard) in 1994, and continued to write hit songs for many artists including "I'll Remember" (with Leonard and Madonna), a 1993 hit for Madonna. Two years later, he released Shelter Me, his first solo album. Steve George worked extensively as musical director with Kenny Loggins and Jewel. Steve Farris went on to work with Rod Stewart, Whitesnake, Tori Amos (during her tenure in Y Kant Tori Read), and 4 Non Blondes. Pat Mastelotto recorded several hits with The Rembrandts, Jude Cole, Cock Robin, Martika, as well as alternative bands (XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, The Sugarcubes), and many others. Since 1994, Mastelotto has been a member of King Crimson and done thousands of live shows and participated in several Crimson records, including producing and mixing the King Crimson Projects. He also currently runs several side projects including Mastica, TU, Tuner, and KTU. Mastelotto is also a member of the melodic rock band Mecca.

Discography

Albums

• 1984 - I Wear the Face - #170 U.S.
• 1985 - Welcome to the Real World - #1 U.S. (1 week), #6 UK^[6] (RIAA: Platinum)
• 1987 - Go On... - #55 U.S.
• 1989 - Pull - (unreleased album)

U.S. compilations

• 1999 - Broken Wings: The Encore Collection
• 2001 - The Best of Mr. Mister

Singles