Ronnie Hawkins' backing band, the Hawks (a different group of players than the ones who became the Band), renamed themselves Crowbar in 1970. That year they recorded Official Music with King Biscuit Boy; the first album as Crowbar, Bad Manors, appeared in 1971. Larger than Life (1972), Heavy Duty (1972) and KE32746 (1973) followed before the band split in 1974. Original member Jozef Chirowski began playing with the Alice Cooper Band, while the rest (Sonnie Bernardi, John Gibbard, Roly Greenway, Kelly Jay and Rheal Lanthier) re-formed in 1977 with keyboard player Rex Harrison and bassist Rick Birkett; although the band didn't record, they toured Canada. Kelly Jay had a brief solo career in the late '70s and early '80s, and returned to recording in 1993. ~ John Bush