Michael,
Don, and Steve Kehr rose from the East Coast in the mid-'80s, fronting Urgent, an album rock quintet who released two LPs of discerning quality but limited panache. Rounding out the group was bassist Klyph Black, who worked with
Nikki Buzz in Vendetta, and Yul Vaz on drums. The legendary luminaries
Ian Hunter and
Mick Ronson produced and wrote four songs for Urgent's debut, aptly christened
Cast the First Stone. Considering the loud rock pedigree of the personnel, the disc surprisingly resembled Canadian AOR (
Honeymoon Suite,
Loverboy), and strong first single "Running Back" briefly hoofed FM radio. Two years later, in 1987, Thinking Out Loud appeared. Featuring three songs Urgent co-wrote with
Hunter and
Ronson, the record sank like a stone. ~ Doug Stone