Michael Schenker Group

Multinational hard English rock band

The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) is an English hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1993. After the release of their second live album, 1984's Rock Will Never Die, its members began to have serious discussions that caused a two year hiatus, and Michael ended the band in 1986. The group has had many different members over the years with Schenker the only constant presence.

The band was formed in 1979, following the departure of Michael Schenker from UFO, in an attempt to have a band that better suited his needs. He therefore decided to move to London; a few weeks after his arrival in the British capital, he joined Gary Barden, vocalist of Fraser Nash, who, with bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Denny Carmassi founded a new band, simply called Michael Schenker Group. The following year they recorded their second album, MSG, which placed at No. 14 on the UK charts. During their promotional tour, they played at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan in Japan, where their first live album was recorded titled One Night at Budokan. It was released in 1982 with great success in the UK where it was certified silver after exceeding 60,000 copies sold. In October 1983, the band released Built to Destroy, the first with keyboardist Andy Nye and which also featured Derek St. Holmes, known at the time as Ted Nugent's vocalist. To promote it, they gave several concerts in the UK and later went on tour to other European countries as the opening band of Iron Maiden. Their farewell concert was held on December 18, 1983 at the Dortmund festival, after which the band disbanded, and the guitarist founded the McAuley Schenker Group. After deciding to wrap up the McAuley Schenker Group project, Schenker decided to re found the band in 1996 with Leif Sundin on vocals, Barry Sparks on bass and Shane Gaalaas on drums with whom he recorded Written in the Sand. Two years later, they released The Unforgiven, with Kelly Keeling replacing Sundin and with John Onder replacing Sparks.