Legs Diamond

by Greg PratoLegs Diamond was an obscure hard rock/heavy metal band from the late '70s. Founding members Michael Diamond (bass) and Jeff Poole (drums) were originally from the San Francisco area, but it wasn't until the duo relocated to Los Angeles that they found the missing pieces to the puzzle -- singer Rick Sanford, guitarist Roger Romeo, and keyboard player/guitarist Mike Prince -- resulting in a recording contract with Mercury. 1977 saw a pair of releases, a self-titled debut and A Diamond Is a Hard Rock, and although they supported both albums with arena tours opening for such major rock acts as Styx, Ted Nugent, and Kiss, neither failed to dent the charts. Shortly after a switch to the independent Cream label a year later, Legs Diamond issued their third release overall, Fire Power, which was a more mainstream-oriented release, as the group hoped that the switch would bring them breakthrough success. The ploy didn't work, as it was even more poorly received than their previous releases, leading to the group's breakup shortly thereafter. In 1984, Sanford, Romeo, and Prince revived the group (with newcomers Dusty Watson on drums and Mike Christie on bass), issuing several ignored albums -- 1984's Out on Bail, 1986's Land of the Gun, and 1990's Town Bad Girl -- before splitting up once more. But in 2001, Legs Diamond was revived again for a new release, The Wish.