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American rock and country band
the American band

Exile, formerly The Exiles, is an American band founded in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1963. The band consists of J. P. Pennington (lead vocals, lead guitar), Les Taylor (guitar, lead and background vocals), Sonny LeMaire (bass guitar, background vocals), Marlon Hargis (keyboards), and Steve Goetzman (drums). With a founding membership including original lead singer Jimmy Stokley, the band played cover songs and local events in the state of Kentucky for a number of years before becoming a backing band on the touring revue Caravan of Stars. After a series of failed singles on various labels, Exile achieved mainstream success in 1978 with "Kiss You All Over", a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. This iteration of the band mostly played soft rock and pop music. After Stokley was fired due to his declining health, Mark Gray and Taylor joined as vocalists, also contributing on keyboard and guitar respectively. However, Gray departed after only three years to begin a solo career. Exile began a transition to country music in the beginning of the 1980s with Pennington and Taylor as vocalists alongside LeMaire, Hargis, and Goetzman. This lineup was featured on their 1983 album Exile, their first as a country band and their first on Epic Records. Between then and 1987, Exile had ten number one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, as well as a number one country album with Kentucky Hearts in 1984. Hargis, Pennington, and Taylor left the band between 1987 and 1989, with LeMaire and multi instrumentalist Paul Martin alternating on lead vocals for two albums on Arista Nashville between 1990 and 1991. During the early 1990s, both Pennington and Taylor recorded as solo artists. Exile disbanded in 1995, after which LeMaire recorded one album in the band Burnin' Daylight and began writing songs for other artists. Individual members of Exile played a number of informal shows between the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, but the early 1980s lineup did not re establish until 2008. Exile has continued to tour and record under this lineup ever since. Exile's sound is defined by vocal harmony with rock and pop influences, and the band is noted for their successful transition from rock to country. Many of their country music releases were co written by Taylor and Pennington. Songs of theirs have also been covered by Alabama, Huey Lewis and the News, Dave & Sugar, and the Forester Sisters.

Exile was founded in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1963 as the Exiles, by a group of students attending Madison High School. Randy Westbrook, in the book 50 Years of Exile: The Story of a Band in Transition, describes the band's origins as "murky" due to conflicting accounts among early members. According to him, founding drummer Mack Davenport played high school dances in the band Kings of Rhythm. Davenport recalled this band consisting of Paul Smith Jr. on bass guitar, Doug Jones on lead guitar, Ronnie Hall on vocals, Doug Begley on saxophone, and Billy Luxon on trumpet. They played jazz, soul, and blues. After an unknown number of performances, this group became the Fascinations, which consisted of Davenport, Smith, Luxon, Jones, and percussionist Eddie Rhodus, with Hall and Jimmy Stokley both providing vocals. Rhodus died in a car accident and Jones departed in 1963, at which point (according to Westbrook) the five remaining members dissolved that band and founded the Exiles. Grigsby also contacted Peggy Rogers, a manager for radio and television host Dick Clark. After seeing the band perform at Speck's, she encouraged them to travel to Cincinnati Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, to accompany Lou Christie at a stop on Clark's Caravan of Stars touring revue. The Exiles rehearsed with female backing vocalists for a performance of his single "Lightnin' Strikes". During rehearsal, Cornelison noted the vocalists had been singing wrong notes and taught them the correct melody. As Christie was not present during rehearsals, he did not notice this correction until the performance. Afterward, he asked who had corrected the arrangement; when Cornelison stated he was responsible, Christie asked him to write down the correct notes, a move which impressed Rogers. In 1966, the Exiles were asked to accompany a Caravan of Stars show at Stoll Field in Lexington, Kentucky, after a truck delivering instrmuents to the show broke down. They continued to tour on Caravan of Stars throughout October and November, backing acts such as the Yardbirds. John Caldwell, a Caravan of Stars manager, encouraged the band to travel to New York City in 1967 to record for Date Records. These featured the Exiles solely as vocalists, with the instruments played entirely by session musicians. They recorded a cover of the Young Rascals's "What Is the Reason", as well as the originals "Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are" and "I'd Love to Give My Love Away". None of these singles was successful. Caldwell also asked the band to move to New York City at this point; Cornelison refused and quit, as he wanted to rejoin college and study musical theater. He was replaced by Bernie Faulkner, who had played with them at Speck's. In addition to keyboard, Faulkner contributed on guitar and saxophone. Smith was drafted after the band's move to New York City, leaving Exile without a bass player. He was briefly replaced by Larry Davis, whom the other members met while in New York, but he quickly left due to personality conflicts. As a result, Howard contacted Pennington and successfully asked him to rejoin. After three months in New York, the Exiles returned to Kentucky and resumed performing at Speck's. Due to their success backing Caravan of Stars, they were invited to do so again in 1967 and 1968. They performed twelve minutes of cover songs as an opening act before accompanying other acts on the bill, such as Freddy Cannon, Brian Hyland, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. After the 1968 tour ended, they were contacted by Mark Alan, a talent agent who invited them to return to New York for another session with Date Records. Unlike the previous session, they were allowed to play their own instruments. These sessions resulted in one unsuccessful single, "Mary on the Beach". The band was dissatisfied with their living conditions in New York and left again in early 1969. Soon afterward, Howard was also drafted and served in Vietnam for eleven months. He declined to rejoin, as he was disappointed by the second trip to New York and the lack of original material in the band's repertoire. Howard became a construction worker and then worked in a post office before retiring in 2009. Cornelison then rejoined after being turned down for a job at a lounge in northern Kentucky. As a result, Exile did not have a lead guitarist, instead relying on both Cornelison and Faulkner as keyboardists. In addition, Cornelison played trumpet, while Faulkner also played saxophone and rhythm guitar. Alan booked the Exiles as an opening act for Tommy James and the Shondells at a show in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1969. Lead singer Tommy James invited them to travel to New York a third time, as he wanted them to record a song he had written titled "Church Street Soul Revival". Pennington alternated with James on lead guitar in addition to his usual role as bassist. The song was released in 1969 on Columbia Records and became the band's first chart entry, making number four on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles charts. Working with Chapman, the band recorded a disco song called "Try It On" for Atco Records, which charted at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. As the song was not successful, Johns quit around the time of its release and was replaced by Steve Goetzman, who at the time was Pennington's roommate. Johns later joined the rock band Roadmaster. Although Chapman had initially chosen not to work with Exile again following the failure of "Try It On", his wife persuaded him to give the band a second chance, as she liked their music and noted that unlike other bands he had worked with, the members of Exile were polite to him. Chapman invited the band to the Forum, a recording studio in Covington, Kentucky, where he presented them with a song he had written called "Kiss You All Over". The band spent nearly an entire day in the studio recording it, owing to Chapman's "demanding" production style. Chapman found great difficulty with recording Stokley's voice due to his raspy delivery and poor sense of pitch, and asked Pennington to sing the lines on which he could not get a satisfactory vocal from Stokley. Through a connection with music journalist Nola Leone, Chapman was able to contact Curb Records owner Mike Curb, who signed the band as he thought "Kiss You All Over" had potential to become a hit. The band's contract consisted of four albums, with Curb handling promotion and Warner Bros. Records handling distribution. The song was also an international success, reaching number one on the Kent Music Report charts in Australia, and number six on the UK Singles Chart. Its success led to Exile appearing on variety shows such as The Midnight Special. Rogers also made arrangements to sign Exile with William Morris Agency, a talent agency who assisted in booking the band as an opening act for Aerosmith and Heart. Warner issued two more singles from Mixed Emotions. "Never Gonna Stop" did not chart, while "You Thrill Me" reached number 40. "Never Gonna Stop" was later recorded by Linda Clifford, whose version was sampled on Tupac Shakur's "All Eyez on Me". "Stay with Me" was later covered by Dave & Sugar in 1985.

Exile began working on their second Warner album, All There Is, in late 1978 before releasing it in 1979. During the sessions Chapman faced increasing difficulty recording Stokley's voice, as the singer had developed nodules on his vocal cords and was weakened by hepatitis. As a result, Chapman asked Pennington and LeMaire to sing lead vocals on some tracks instead, with both band members later noting that Chapman would often make them record as many as fifty takes until the vocal track was to his satisfaction. In addition, Chapman wanted the band to record disco, as that genre was popular at the time and he thought doing so would help the band become popular again following the failure of "You Thrill Me". The recording sessions featured a large number of synthesizers and drum machines. Opening and closing tracks "How Could This Go Wrong" and "Too Proud to Cry" were both over eight minutes long, featuring a number of disco influenced instrument solos. The latter was also Hargis's only writing credit. "Let's Do It Again" served as the lead single, reaching 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. Due to the difficulties experienced during the All There Is recording sessions, Stokley was fired at Chapman's insistence shortly after the album's release. He was briefly replaced by vocalist and guitarist Randy Rickman, who only lasted in the group for "a couple of months" due to his style not working with the rest of the band. After this, the band found two vocalists in Mark Gray and Les Taylor, who also contributed on keyboards and guitar respectively. Chapman had recommended Gray after discovering him in Los Angeles. Gray's joining briefly led to the unusual scenario of Exile having three keyboardists: him, Cornelison, and Hargis. Pennington had chosen Taylor due to his involvement in a number of local bands that had played at Martin Youth Center and Speck's. Both Gray and Taylor began auditioning with Exile in August 1979. They made their debut on Exile's third Warner album Don't Leave Me This Way (1980), which featured them and Pennington alternating on lead vocals. LeMaire thought Chapman had become increasingly focused on more successful bands with whom he collaborated, such as Blondie and the Knack, and had therefore lost interest in promoting and writing songs for Exile. In addition, due to his involvement with these bands, his sound engineer Peter Coleman took over as producer. The band members found that unlike Chapman, Coleman was willing to accept their suggestions on how each song should sound. Because of this, LeMaire later remarked that he considered Don't Leave Me This Way the best of the band's Warner albums. The album's two singles, "You're Good for Me" and "Take Me Down", both made the Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles chart in 1980.

Exile was dropped from Warner/Curb in 1981 when their four album contract expired. Westbrook noted that at the time the band did not have positive critical reception due to their soft rock sound. As a result of this, their manager Jim Morey suggested between late 1982 and early 1983 that the band begin recording country music due to that genre's increasing popularity, as well as the success of "Take Me Down" and "The Closer You Get" through their covers by Alabama. While Pennington was interested in the band pursuing this genre, Hargis and Goetzman were outspoken against such a change. Despite the latter two's reservations, the band began rehearsing covers of artists such as Merle Haggard and George Jones. This led to them playing a country set at the Rebel Room, a club inside a bowling alley in Lexington, Kentucky, before moving to another club called Breeding's. The band also played a number of shows in South Africa, where "Kiss You All Over" had become popular in the interim. Gray left the band at this point, as he wanted to become a solo artist. As a result, Pennington and Taylor became the band's two lead vocalists. After writing a number of songs for Janie Fricke, Gray was signed to Columbia Records in 1983. He charted five top ten singles on the Billboard country charts between 1984 and 1986, two of which ("Left Side of the Bed" and "Diamond in the Dust") were co written by LeMaire. Gray died of undisclosed causes at age 64 in 2016.

Through Morey, the band arranged a meeting with Nashville based producer and publisher Buddy Killen, who invited them to play a number of shows at a Nashville based club called the Stockyard. These shows were intended to aid in the band's transition to country, and were attended by representatives of major Nashville record labels. One such label, Epic Records Nashville, signed the band in 1983. By this point, the band consisted of Pennington, LeMaire, Taylor, Hargis, and Goetzman. Their first Epic album, Exile, came out that same year. Killen produced the album and Hargis served as sound engineer. Hargis noted that Killen was willing to let the band play all of their own instruments, as opposed to most country bands at the time who relied on session musicians on their albums. The album featured Taylor and Pennington alternating as lead vocalists and songwriters, with Ricky Skaggs being the only outside musician on the entire project. Although Gray had left by this point, he was a co writer on two tracks. While their first country release "High Cost of Leaving" only reached number 27 on the Billboard country charts, its follow ups "Woke Up in Love" and "I Don't Want to Be a Memory" both went to number one between late 1983 and early 1984. Exile also reached number ten on the Top Country Albums chart upon release. The success of this album led to Pennington and LeMaire putting increased focus on their collaborative songwriting, while also restarting the band's touring schedule. Exile was nominated in 1983 for Top Vocal Group by the Academy of Country Music (ACM), a nomination they would receive again in 1984, 1985, and 1987. They would also be nominated by the Country Music Association (CMA) for Vocal Group of the Year in every year from 1984 to 1987, as well as Instrumental Group of the Year in 1984 and 1985. The band's second country album, Kentucky Hearts, was released in 1984. It was their only number one album on the Billboard country albums charts. As with the previous album, Killen once again served as producer. Pennington and LeMaire wrote the entire album by themselves except for the track "Comin' Apart at the Seams", which Taylor wrote with his friend Jerry Marcum. All three singles from Kentucky Hearts reached number one on the Billboard country charts. These were "Give Me One More Chance", "Crazy for Your Love", and "She's a Miracle". "She's a Miracle" was also made into a music video, which was one of the first to be aired on the television network CMT. Tom Carter of the Lexington, Kentucky, Herald Leader wrote that the band was "more mellow and confident" than on previous albums, while also praising the harmony and instrumentation. During this timespan, Killen had the band play instruments and perform backing vocals on Ronnie McDowell's mid 1985 hit "Love Talks" due to him also being a producer on that song. In addition, the Forester Sisters covered "Just in Case" (a track from Kentucky Hearts) and took their rendition to number one on the country charts in 1985.

After the release of Kentucky Hearts, the band members were informed of former lead singer Jimmy Stokley's continued decline in health. In repsonse, they held a charity concert in Richmond to raise $18,000 toward Stokley's medical bills, which they succeeded in doing. Other former members such as Davenport, Cornelison, Luxon, and Howard were in attendance as well. The members had intended for Stokley to join them onstage, but he was too ill to do so. Stokley died of hepatitis at age 41 in August 1985. This was followed in 1986 by the release of Exile's third Epic album Hang On to Your Heart. Pennington and LeMaire wrote the entirety of the album, and it accounted for five singles. These were "Hang On to Your Heart", "I Could Get Used to You", "Super Love", "It'll Be Me", and "She's Too Good to Be True". Of these, all except "Super Love" went to number one on the Billboard country charts. Although Taylor had sung lead on a number of album tracks prior to this point, "It'll Be Me" and "She's Too Good to Be True" were the first singles to feature him on lead vocals instead of Pennington. LeMaire said that "It'll Be Me" was specifically written with the intent of having Taylor sing it, due to him having a higher vocal range than Pennington. In addition, the track "Music" features Pennington rapping. Due to the success of "I Could Get Used to You" and the Forester Sisters' rendition of "Just in Case", which peaked at number one only six weeks apart, Pennington and LeMaire were both awarded as top country songwriters of the year by Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). Walter Tunis of the Lexington Herald Leader wrote that the "playing is efficient and economical", highlighting the number of up tempo tracks and the album's relatively short length.

Following Hang On to Your Heart, Hargis noted that there was "too much partying" among the other band members, and that the label wanted to have industry professionals take his place as the band's sound engineer. In response, he quit in early 1987 and stayed in Nashville to own a music store. Lee Carroll took his place on keyboards. while Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer thought that it contained "empty, cliche ridden country pop music from a group whose members apparently think that turning up the volume on their guitars qualifies as a bold new direction." Taylor quit the band in August 1987 as he was frustrated with the label almost exclusively choosing songs sung by Pennington as singles instead of ones sung by him. In response, he chose to begin a solo career. He was replaced by multi instrumentalist Paul Martin, whose family owned a studio in Kentucky where Pennington had recorded on a number of occasions. Shortly after Martin's joining, Pennington quit as well, citing exhaustion, the departure of Taylor, and personality conflicts among him, Martin, and Carroll. In particular, Carroll thought Pennington was too controlling of the band's sound and would not let him write songs. Pennington's last show with Exile would be on New Year's Eve in 1988, and Martin was promoted to lead singer at the beginning of 1989. Epic Records dropped the band in 1989 due to the failure of Shelter from the Night along with the departures of Taylor and Pennington. After Martin was in place as lead singer, the band members then began seeking a replacement for Taylor as well. They found guitarist/vocalist Mark Jones, who joined in early 1989. Jones had previously been aware of the band when he tried to hire them for his senior prom in 1978, but they were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts. Roger BonDurant briefly joined their touring band in late 1989 as a backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist, but was not considered an official member. LeMaire told Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune that the addition of Martin to the lineup "opened up what we are capable of doing onstage" due to his ability to play other instruments such as mandolin and Dobro. In the same article, Hurst thought that Martin's singing voice was very similar to Pennington's. After it were "Nobody's Talking" and "Yet", the band's final top ten country hits. Both were co written and sung by LeMaire, accounting for his first contributions as lead vocalist since All There Is. "Keep It in the Middle of the Road" and "Nobody's Talking" were promoted through music videos as well. Despite the success of "Nobody's Talking" and "Yet", the fourth single "There You Go" under performed on the charts. Their second and final album for Arista Nashville was 1991's Justice, which also featured DuBois and Sharp as producers. While the lead single "Even Now" (composed by Sharp and Marc Beeson) was a top 20 country hit, the other two singles "Nothing at All" and "Somebody's Telling Her Lies" failed to chart at all. Westbrook noted that the former song was quickly withdrawn from release due to concerns that it was too similar to Reba McEntire's "For My Broken Heart". DuBois had suggested "Somebody's Telling Her Lies" as a replacement, but Westbrook thought that the song failed due to it lacking a hook.

Both Taylor and Pennington began their solo careers during Exile's tenure on Arista Nashville. Taylor released two albums for Epic as a solo artist: That Old Desire in 1990 and Blue Kentucky Wind a year later. These albums charted a combined three singles, and the latter included a song written with early Exile member Bernie Faulkner titled "The Porchlight". Pennington's only solo album, Whatever It Takes, was also released in 1991 on MCA Nashville. Produced by Barry Beckett, the album included two singles in its title track and "You Gotta Get Serious". Pennington performed two shows in Lexington, Kentucky to promote the album, both of which included BonDurant as guitarist. Meanwhile, LeMaire and Beeson wrote Restless Heart's 1992 hit "When She Cries". Taylor thought that the band members' solo albums were unsuccessful due to radio backlash against Exile in the intervening years. Relatedly, the members of Exile attributed the failure of their Arista albums to the lack of Pennington and Taylor, as well as a perception that Arista had begun to focus more heavily on Diamond Rio after that band reached number one in 1991 with their debut single "Meet in the Middle". Exile ended their contract with Arista and focused on touring while in search of another recording contract. They played an average of 150 shows a year between 1991 and 1993. They held a 30 year anniversary concert in 1993, which also included Cornelison, Pennington, Luxon, and Davenport. Despite this, the band's tour bus was robbed after a concert in 1993, which they took as a sign to retire from touring. Jones, Martin, and LeMaire did one show in 1994 at Dollywood, while they, Carroll, and Goetzman recorded Latest and Greatest for Intersound Records that same year. The album included a mix of original content and re recordings of previous hit singles. One such re recording was of "Super Love", which included several keyboard and synthesizer parts played by Martin. He also received his only writing credit for the band on the new song "L O V E Spells Trouble". After this album, Exile officially disbanded in 1995. Both Jones and Goetzman became artist managers, the former working with Pat Green and the latter with Steve Wariner. In 1997, LeMaire and Beeson joined former Southern Pacific member Kurt Howell in the group Burnin' Daylight, which released one album on Curb Records. Martin chose to pursue a solo career, but after proving unsuccessful in this regard he found work as a backing musician for Kathy Mattea. Later on, he became bassist in Marty Stuart's touring band, the Fabulous Superlatives, before touring with his wife and four children as the Martin Family Circus. Carroll joined his brother in franchising a number of Papa John's pizza restaurants in Pennsylvania.

Following the failures of their solo careers, Pennington and Taylor sought to reform Exile. They played a few local shows with various musicians on keyboards, drums, and bass before establishing a lineup with Steve Richmond on drums, Ray Salyer on bass, and Jason Witt on keyboards. This lineup played a concert at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2005, and that concert was issued as an album titled Live at Billy Bob's Texas. Meanwhile, LeMaire had further success as a songwriter in the first decade of the 21st century, including Diamond Rio's "Beautiful Mess", Andy Griggs's "She Thinks She Needs Me", and Clay Walker's "Fall" (also covered by Kimberley Locke). He collaborated with Shane Minor and Clay Mills on all three. In 2008, Pennington and Taylor rejoined Hargis, LeMaire, and Goetzman for a charity concert in Lexington to benefit one of their former managers, who had been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. In doing so, they re established the lineup of the band's early Epic releases. After this concert was sold out, the five members decided to begin performing officially as Exile once more. This lineup self released an extended play titled People Get Ready in 2012. The project featured a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready", as well as a re recording of "Kiss You All Over" with a guest vocal from Trace Adkins. The band released multiple projects in the 2010s and 2020s. First was a Christmas album titled Wrapped Up in Your Arms for Christmas in 2017. In 2018, they released a new album titled Hits, consisting of re recordings of their hit singles. This was followed a year later by The Garage Tapes, which included various demos from their early years. A second Christmas album, Joyful Noise, followed in 2021. Exile signed with Clearwater Records in 2022. Their first Clearwater release was the studio album A Million Miles Later in 2023. Pennington and LeMaire wrote most of the album except for a cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons". One track, "Down in Cold Water", features guest vocals from the Isaacs. Also in 2023, former member Billy Luxon released a memoir of the band's early years, titled Exiled: The Climax and Surrender of Jimmy Stokley.

Exile is noted for their successful transition from pop and rock music to country music. Most of the band's sound is defined by the songwriting, composition, and singing of Pennington and LeMaire. Westbrook noted Pennington's sense of melody, such as the use of Lydian mode on the title track of All There Is, as well as the Southern gospel chord progressions of "Woke Up in Love" and the Hang On to Your Heart album track "Promises, Promises". Additionally, Westbrook found influences of Western swing and boogie woogie on tracks such as "I've Never Seen Anything", "Proud to Be Her Man", and "Keep It in the Middle of the Road". Also present on the albums with Epic were three part vocal harmonies among Pennington, Taylor, and LeMaire.