For as long as he can remember , powerhouse vocalist Ronnie Platt was a passionate appreciator of the legendary progressive / classic / melodic rock band Kansas . In fact , the group ’ s original singer Steve Walsh helped shape his singing style , which was repeatedly demonstrated while fronting a lengthy list of area bands , such as a particularly fruitful run with west suburban based ARRA . Though Platt could frequently be found gigging all around Illinois throughout the last three decades , he did strike some national gold in 2007 by joining Shooting Star for a few years , including a festival gig where the group crossed paths with Journey , Sheryl Crow and Kansas ( the latter of whom ’ s original members Rich Williams and Phil Ehart were especially complimentary to the sky-high singer ).
Come 2014 , Walsh announced his retirement from Kansas and it turns out Platt ’ s casual concert connection with that very guitarist and drummer came in handy . He simply shot Williams a message asking to be tossed into the potential pool for replacements , got a phone call the very next day , followed by a face to face meeting with both veterans ( more for personality compatibility rather an actual audition ). Less than a week after the adventure began , the hopeful was given an official invitation to leave behind his day job of driving an 18-wheeler and join the world class band for the foreseeable future . From then until now , he ’ s not only logged more than 200 shows with Kansas , but was also a major motivating factor in its return to the recording studio after a 16-year hiatus .
Although expectations were grand for the aforementioned members , longtime players Billy Greer ( bass ) and David Ragsdale ( violin ), plus fellow newcomers David Manion ( keyboards ) and Zak Rizvi ( rhythm guitar ), the resulting album The Prelude Implicit ( Inside Out Music ) is truly worth the wait . Here ’ s more from the extremely personable and down to earth Platt about the entire whirlwind in advance of a homecoming show at the Copernicus Center on Friday , November 4 , where Kansas will unveil new tunes in tandem with celebrating the 40th anniversary of the landmark Leftoverture album .
Illinois Entertainer : Was joining a major band always in the back of your mind or were you perfectly content with all the groups you ’ d been in locally ? Ronnie Platt : Truthfully no . Maybe when you ’ re 10 years old and you ’ re fantasizing about being Mick Jagger or John Lennon , but coming from a musical family , I just fell in love with doing the music . I never really had the preconceived notion of “ I ’ m going to be a rock star some day .” I just always enjoyed singing , and whether it ’ s in front of 10 people or 10,000 , I just want to be better than my last show . One thing I will say is from the age of probably 14 , I have never been without a band . At one point when I was in ARRA in the mid ‘ 90s , I was in four bands at once . I just couldn ’ t get enough , but I didn ’ t have the preconceived goal of “ wow , I ’ m going to be the lead singer of Kansas or Boston or Journey .” I never ever had that mindset … I ’ ve always been persistent in singing , being in a band and wanting to be a better musician and I can ’ t complain to where it ’ s got me at this point .
IE : Do you feel like you ’ re officially a Kansas member now or are you still pinching yourself ? RP : Knowing that there ’ s a Kansas album [ that just ] released that I ’ m not only singing and performing on , but one where I had a major part in lyric writing , oh boy , I ’ m pinching myself until I ’ m black and blue ! But the other aspect of that is it ’ s been twoand-a-half years now since I ’ ve gotten the call . It ’ s gone by like the blink of an eye and I can ’ t believe I ’ m at 200 shows already with this band , but I feel like I ’ m part of the Kansas family now , you know ? And it is a family . When we play around the Kansas City area , ( original guitarist / keyboard player ) Kerry Livgren joins us and will play a song or two on stage with us . ( Original violin player / co-vocalist ) Robby Steinhardt has been on stage with us a few times . We see ( original bassist ) Dave Hope a couple of times every now and then and then Budd Carr , Kansas ’ old manager , has been out a couple of times . And I ’ ve talked to ( second singer ) John Elefante a few times . We have a close mutual friend in Mr . Kevin Chalfant ( The Storm , 707 , Two Fires ) and John ’ s just been so supportive and very complimentary . It really is a big family and now I really
20 illinoisentertainer . com october 2016
Continued on page 53