The Hollywood Stars Announce 'Starstruck,' Their First Album Of New Material Since 1977

The Hollywood Stars have shared details of Starstruck, the Los Angeles band's first album of new material in over four decades. Starstruck will be released on CD and as a download by Rum Bar Records on June 14, and supported by a headlining concert at The Viper Room the next night (for tickets, visit The Viper Room. 

A vinyl LP arrives September 1 on Sioux Records. 

Originally assembled by rock ‘n’ roll svengali Kim Fowley in 1973, The Hollywood Stars recorded three albums during the 1970s, although only one was released during that decade. The self-titled The Hollywood Stars surfaced on Arista Records in 1977, and the band toured the U.S. with label mates The Kinks. Forty years later, the long-shelved remaining pair of LPs finally saw the light of day, with Shine Like a Radio: The Great Lost 1974 Album debuting in 2013, and Sound City in 2019. 

Although The Hollywood Stars had split by 1978, two of their early original recordings went on to find major success with other artists of the era — “Escape” appeared on Alice Cooper’s platinum-certified Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) while “King of the Night Time World” was included on a pair of multi platinum-selling albums by Kiss, Destroyer (1976) and Kiss Alive II (1977).

After decades of inactivity, The Hollywood Stars reformed with several original members to perform at a benefit concert in Los Angeles in 2018. The night was a success, and the decision was made to carry on. The last five years have been spent playing shows in support of their Sound City album, culminating in a 50th anniversary concert in Tarzana, California in December 2023. A four-song digital EP of new material, Still Around, was also released last year.

The lineup of the band responsible for the new Starstruck album is vocalist Scott Phares and drummer Terry Rae (founding members in 1973), bassist Michael Rummans (joined in 1976), and guitarists Jeff Jourard and George Keller (recruited in 2023). Jourard was an early member of The Motels and co-wrote that band’s second single, “Total Control,” with Martha Davis. He also played guitar on 1976’s Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Keller has played sessions with Tina Turner and George Cromarty and played alongside Rummans in the LA garage rock band, The Sloths. 

“It’s hard to express the joy I felt about entering the studio last year with this great band,” said Phares. “I left the original group in 1974, just months after completing our first album, so it’s been 50 years since I’ve worked on an album with The Hollywood Stars. Everyone contributed to the songwriting, including our two new members, and we came up with songs that stay true to our vision.” 

Recorded at Kitten Robots Studios, Starstruck was produced by the band, Loren Molinare (The Dogs, Slamdinistas), and Paul Roessler (The Screamers, 45 Grave). Each member of The Hollywood Stars contributed to the songwriting, with the album being split almost evenly between new and old compositions. “Bad, Bad Man” dates back the farthest, pre-dating even the first lineup of The Hollywood Stars. It is based on an idea by the group’s original main songwriter, Mark Anthony, and was recently finished by Phares. “Shortage of Love” was co-written in the early ‘70s by Phares and Fowley. Starstruck’s first single, the rousing glam singalong “Taxi Driver,” originally appeared on the 1977 debut album by Hero, a group for which Phares was the frontman after leaving The Hollywood Stars in 1974. Rummans contributes three tracks, including “Haunted” which first appeared on The Sloths’ 2015 album, Back from the Grave. “Total Control” is a remake that revisits Jourard’s days with The Motels.