The single 'Wait' went #1 in many Asian countries, however that was the main area of the album's success, the grunge invasion causing the American European markets to be near closed to classic rock. The album was very different to the previous two albums.

'Steelheart' ended that night, at least for a while, after a very impressive career.įour years later, Matijevic formed a new version of Steelheart with Kenny Kanowski (guitars), Vincent Mele (bass) and Alex Makarovich (drums) to record and release the album 'Wait'.

Matijevic miraculously found the strength to walk off the stage and he was immediately taken to a hospital. The 1000 pound truss hit Matijevic on the back of the head, driving one of the greatest vocalists of all time, face first into the stage, breaking his nose, cheekbone, jaw and twisting his spine.

Matijevic tried to dodge the massive rig, but without success. While performing, 'Dancing in the Fire', a hit from the 'Tangled in Reins' album, Matijevic decided to climb a lighting truss, which was inproperly secured. The show took place on Halloween night, a night which will forever be remembered by Steelheart fans. Nearing the end of the tour, Slaughter asked Steelheart to perform one last show which would occur in Denver, Colorado. Steelheart was later asked by the heavy metal band, Slaughter, to go on tour with them. The album wasn't as much a commercial success, reaching only #144 on the billboard charts, a sign that the grunge invasion was taking force. Also, the song, 'Steelheart', featured Matijevic hitting his highest note of the three albums. Steelheart's next effort, 'Tangled In Reins' was a much more mixed combination than the debut, with sleaze glam songs like 'Sticky Side Up' to smooth ballads such as 'Mama Don't You Cry'. 'Everybody Loves Eileen' and 'Can't Stop Me Lovin' You', the latter tune further showing off Matijevic's vocal range yet also giving lead guitarist Risola time to shine, had accompanying music videos created for them as well. while its related music video soon became MTV's 2nd most requested clip. Second single 'I'll Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes)' reached #14 in the U.S. In terms of specific songs, the power ballad 'She's Gone' showcased Matijevic's incredible vocal range and hit #1 on several international charts. Before too long, the album even hit platinum status. 'Steelheart' sold 33,000 albums on its first day in Japan alone. The guys found themselves hitting the big time as the album reached #40 on the Billboard 200 chart, the band's fan-base growing around the world. Musically, their work featured a style similar to hard rock and pop metal acts of the day, examples being Ratt and Whitesnake, yet the guys scored a coup in working with seminal producer Mark Opitz, who had worked on iconic rock releases such as AC/DC's 'Powerage'. Since then, Mili and his band-mates have showcased just how broad their influences are and the raw strength of Mili's vocals have been noticed by many critics.įormation and early acclaim (1990-2000) Steelheart had the line-up of Matijevic (vocals), Chris Risola (guitar), Frank DiCostanzo (guitar), James Ward (bass), and John Fowler (drums) when the band's self-titled debut album came out in 1990. The group's debut album, titled simply 'Steelheart', brought the group strong commercial success yet had them pegged, somewhat unfairly, to the glam metal movement. The outfit has gone through many line-up shifts since it got started in 1990, yet Mili's powerful voice and multi-octave range has remained the heart and soul of the band. Steelheart is a musical group fronted by Croatian-American musician Miljenko 'Mili' Matijevic.

Steelheart rock band