Exile Photograph

 

Exile

People Get Ready

A Short History of An Endless Career

In 1963, the year before the Beatles scored their first American hit, a group of kids calling themselves The Exiles climbed onto an outdoor stage in the small midstate town of Richmond, Kentucky and proceeded to make musical history—not just with their songs but with their longevity as well.  Forty-nine years later, that same band—Exile—is still rockin’ with a mix of original and seminal members.  Nations have had shorter life spans.

Biography - Exile  - People Get Ready

JP Pennington, guitar/vocals
Les Taylor, guitar/vocals
Marlon Hargis, keyboards/vocals 
Sonny LeMaire, bass/vocals 
Steve Goetzman, drums 

In 1963, the year before the Beatles scored their first American hit, a group of kids calling themselves The Exiles climbed onto an outdoor stage in the small midstate town of Richmond, Kentucky and proceeded to make musical history—not just with their songs but with their longevity as well.  Forty-nine years later, that same band—Exile—is still rockin’ with a mix of original and seminal members.  Nations have had shorter life spans.

Nowadays, J. P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire, Marlon Hargis and Steve Goetzman can look back on a career arc that embraces 11 No. 1 country and pop hits, two gold albums and fans by the hundreds of thousands.  Best of all, Exile is still touring and creating and recording brilliant new music. 


That fact became evident in September 2010 with the band’s digital release of the EP People Get Ready on Big Horse Records, distributed by GMV Nashville.  The following year, fellow country star Trace Adkins approached Exile with the proposal that he and they join forces to re-cut a new version of the band’s international breakthrough hit, “Kiss You All Over.”  GAC videotaped that historic session for the network’s Hit Exchange series and, beginning in December 2011, broadcast that edition of the popular program multiple times.  On July 4, 2012 AirPlay Direct distributed People Get Ready to radio, featuring as the lead single the J. P. Pennington/Sonny Lemaire/Shane Minor-penned “Bread On The Table.”


Following the band’s debut in Richmond City Park, which, as founding member Pennington recalls was “upstaged” by a fist-fight in the crowd, The Exiles steadily moved on to regional and then national fame.  In 1966, pop music godfather Dick Clark tapped the band for his “Caravan of Stars,” a touring company headlined by the likes of The Rascals, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Freddy Cannon, Bryan Hyland and B. J. Thomas. 


Over the next few years, the band (which had pared down its name to Exile in 1973) chased and secured record deals in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.  But it always fell short of achieving that one giant radio hit that would launch it to superstardom.   Then, in 1978, it happened, thanks to a three-and-a-half-minute surge of heavy breathing called “Kiss You All Over.”  The song rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart and stayed there for four weeks.

From then on, it was a blur.  The band appeared on Midnight Special and Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert and toured with Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Heart, Aerosmith, Dave Mason, Seals & Croft and other rock luminaries.  Now the guys from tiny Richmond, Kentucky, were pounding out music on giant stages throughout the U. S., Europe and South Africa.


But one hit does not a career make.  A series of albums and a few personnel switches failed to re-ignite Exile’s pop fire.  Fortunately, the band had been noticing the artistic changes taking place in country music, how it seemed to be opening itself to rock and pop influences following the Urban Cowboy craze.  “Going country” certainly wasn’t a stretch for Pennington, whose mother, Lilly Mae Ledford, was the pivotal figure in the Coon Creek Girls, an “old-time music” band that once played at the White House to entertain President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the King  and Queen of England.


Through their manager, Jim Morey, Exile attracted the attention of Nashville superproducer Buddy Killen.  A deal with Epic Records soon followed.  Then the No. 1 hits began pouring out, every one of them written by Pennington and LeMaire.  The first, “Woke Up In Love,” topped the country charts in 1984. 
Over the next three years, Exile reigned with “I Don’t Want To Be A Memory,” “Give Me One More Chance,” “Crazy For Your Love,” “She’s A Miracle,” “Hang On To Your Heart,” “I Could Get Used To You,” “It’ll Be Me,” “She’s Too Good To Be True” and “I Can’t Get Close Enough.”   When it came to light-the-candles-and-warm-the-brandy love songs, Exile was country music’s answer to Barry White.


By the late 1980s, though, the band was suffering from road-weariness.  So, one by one, the members peeled off in different musical directions. After a hiatus of several years, during which Pennington and Taylor headed and toured with various permutations of the band, the original members of Exile’s country incarnation reunited in 2008 for what they believed would be a one-time benefit show.  But the audience response was so encouraging—and the music still sounded so damn good—that Pennington, Taylor, LeMaire, Hargis and Goetzman decided to regroup and do it all over again.

After 49 years, they certainly know what they’re doing.  And the new crowds they’ve attracted know it, too.

Press Releases - Exile

January 25, 2013 - Exile - Exile Announces Its 50 Years In Music Tour 

August 29, 2012 - Exile - TV Alert

March 7, 2012 - Exile - Stars Go Blue Concert

January 23, 2012 - Exile Releases People Get Ready, Band's First New Album in 15 Years

December 15, 2011 - Exile and Trace Adkins Revive “Kiss You All Over”

July 21, 2010 - Exile Signs to Artist Events Inc. for Exclusive Booking

February 19, 2010 - Exile - Billboard Declares Exile’s “Kiss You All Over” One of the “50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time”

March 9, 2009 - Exile - Kentucky Legislature Honors Native Sons Exile

January 12, 2009 - Exile's Back and Talking About It!

October 29, 2008 - Exile Greets Nashville on Reunion Tour With Nov. 5 Show at 3rd & Lindsley Club

October 1, 2008 - Exile - The Hitmaking Band, Reunites to Tour, Record

Images - Exile

Call 615-952-9250 or E-mail for Access to High Resolution Images

Exile Photograph    Exile

Photos by Tim Campbell

 

More Information - Exile

Career Highlights

Writing and recording hit songs for more than 3 decades

  • Scoring 18 hits, including 11 No. 1 singles and 7 Top 10 singles
  • Exile’s first No. 1, “Kiss You All Over,” was a hit in 60 countries.
  • Exile’s music has been used in numerous movies, including Happy Gilmore, Man On The Moon, Employee Of The Month and Wild Hogs.
  • Band earned 11 nominations for Vocal Group of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, as well as individual nominations for Best Drummer and Best Keyboard Player.
  • Sold more than 8 million albums and singles worldwide
  • Earned Gold Records from U.S., England, Germany, Australia, South Africa and Canada
  • Had songs recorded by other major label artists, including Alabama, Kenny  Rogers, Janie Fricke, Forrester Sisters, Sheena Easton, Tracy Lawrence, Travis Tritt, Restless Heart, Diamond Rio, Clay Walker and Andy Griggs
  • Alabama’s “Take Me Down” and “The Closer You Get,”  both No. 1s, were written by members of Exile and were multimillion sellers
  • Members of Exile awarded BMI Songwriter of the Year Award, BMI Song of the Year Award, BMI Songwriter of the Century Award and ACM Song of the Year Award  
  • Exile songs have received BMI Airplay Awards for more than 9 million performances on radio
  • Through its pop years, Exile toured with Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Dick Clark Caravan of Stars, Boston, Doobie Brothers and Seals and Crofts.  Through the country years, it toured with Kenny Rogers, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Alabama, Alan Jackson, Lee Greenwood, George Strait, The Judds and Randy Travis
  • Exile toured extensively throughout the U. S. and performed in Japan, England, Germany, Holland, Canada and South Africa

 

 

Discography

Country Singles
EVEN NOW (TOP 10) 1991
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS (CHRISTMAS RELEASE) 1991
KEEP IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (TOP 5) 1990
NOBODY'S TALKIN' (TOP 5) 1990
I CANT GET CLOSE ENOUGH (#1) 1988
JUST ONE KISS (TOP 5) 1988
FEEL LIKE FOOLIN' AROUND 1988
IT'S YOU AGAIN (TOP 20) 1988
SHE'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (#1) 1987
I COULD GET USED TO YOU (#1) 1986
IT'LL BE ME (#1) 1986
SUPER LOVE (#1) 1986
SHE'S A MIRACLE (#1) 1985
CRAZY FOR YOUR LOVE (#1) 1985
HANG ON TO YOUR HEART (#1) 1985
GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE (#1) 1984
I DON'T WANT TO BE A MEMORY (#1) 1984
WOKE UP IN LOVE (#1) 1984
THE HIGH COST OF LEAVING (TOP 20) 1983

Pop/Rock Singles
HEART AND SOUL 1981
TAKE ME DOWN 1980
DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY 1980
YOU THRILL ME 1979
NEVER GONNA STOP 1979
KISS YOU ALL OVER (#1; SOLD 5 MILLION COPIES) 1978
MARY ON THE BEACH
WHAT IS THE REASON
ALLIGATOR TIME
COME ON
ANSWER TO HER PRAYERS
CHURCH STREET SOUL REVIVAL
PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER
TRY IT ON
MISTER FUNK MEETS THE BOOGIE MAN

Albums
PEOPLE GET READY 2010
EXILE LATEST AND GREATEST 1995
JUSTICE 1991
STILL STANDING 1990
SHELTER FROM THE NIGHT 1987
GREATEST HITS 1986
HANG ON TO YOUR HEART 1985
EXILE (COUNTRY) 1984
KENTUCKY HEARTS 1984
HEART AND SOUL 1981
DON’T LEAVE THIS WAY 1980
MIXED EMOTIONS 1979
STAGE PASS 1979
ALL THERE IS 1979
EXILE 1973
J. P. PENNINGTON  WHATEVER IT TAKES
LES TAYLOR  BLUE KENTUCKY WIND
EXILE SUPER HITS EXILE COLLECTIBLES
EXILE LIVE AT BILLY BOB

 

 

 

Clippings - Exile

None available.