Beginning in mid-June, the Legends of Rock tour will be hitting the road for its inaugural tour that will feature Jefferson Starship, Mark Farner, Formerly Of Grand Funk Railroad, Rick Derringer and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels.

Four great artists performing their memorable hits from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s all on the same stage for a classic rock show that will definitely be a crowd-pleaser.

Jefferson Starship rose from the ashes of another legendary San Francisco band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Jefferson Airplane. Founder Paul Kantner, who passed away in January of this year at the age of 74, knew that combining powerful creative forces, personalities and talents could create something far greater than the sum of its parts. Between 1974 and 1984, Jefferson Starship released eight gold and platinum selling albums, twenty hit singles, sold out concerts worldwide and lived out legendary rock and roll escapades. Today’s Jefferson Starship — featuring original member David Freiberg (also a founder of San Francisco luminaries Quicksilver Messenger Service), longtime members Donny Baldwin (drums) and Chris Smith (keyboards and synth bass), Jude Gold on lead guitar and GRAMMY nominee Cathy Richardson anchoring the female lead vocal spot made famous by the inimitable Grace Slick — remains dedicated to breathing new life into the living catalog of the Jeffersonian legacy, going to the edge, pushing the sonic boundaries and staying true to the original spirit of the music. The band keeps a hectic touring schedule bolstered by several recent television appearances. The music that defined a generation and spanned decades is alive and well and more relevant than ever in pop culture songs such as Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” “Somebody to Love,” “Volunteers” and “Wooden Ships” along with Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles,” “Count on Me,” “Jane,” “Runaway,” “With Your Love,” “Fast Buck Freddie” and “Find Your Way Back” continue to reverberate throughout the collective consciousness today. Fans attending this year’s Legends of Rock concert can expect to hear the majority of these great songs!

Shortly after co-founding the band in 1969, Grand Funk Railroad lead singer and guitarist Mark Farner took his American band to the heights of success. They would quickly release their debut album, On Time, in August of that year and four months later, follow it up with their sophomore effort titled, Grand Funk. In 1970, Closer to Home featuring Mark’s song, “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)” would be released and the band would go on to sell more albums that year than any other American band. As the lead singer, guitarist and principle songwriter, Mark and the band experienced incredible heights of success in the early 70’s, selling out Shea Stadium faster than the Beatles. From 1969 to 1974, Grand Funk Railroad would release nine consecutive studio albums that would “go” gold or better. Five of those nine would achieve platinum status selling at least a million units each… With hit songs such as “We’re An American Band,” “Walk Like A Man,” “The Loco-Motion,” “Shinin’ On,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Bad Time” among others, the band fortified itself in rock history. Since his days with Grand Funk, Mark has continued to perform with his solo band throughout the world.

When guitar slinger Rick Derringer breaks into his legendary rock anthem, “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” you’ll likely see many an air guitar in the audience. Now more than four decades after its release, the hugely popular hit continues to be a staple on classic rock radio and has been featured in several movies over the years including the Richard Linklater cult classic, Dazed and Confused, and other flicks including The Spirit of ’76, Rush, Stag and What A Girl Wants. It’s a little known fact that before his success as a solo artist, Rick had a band at the age of 17 called The McCoys that had a #1 hit in 1965 called “Hang on Sloopy.” Yep, that’s Rick! The song would eventually be knocked out of the top spot by the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” In 1966, Rick and the band would find themselves opening up for the Rolling Stones on their entire American tour. Although “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” was written and recorded a few years earlier with friend and legendary guitarist Johnny Winter, it would be Rick’s solo version in 1973 that would propel him into the stratosphere of rock stardom. In 1977, Rick appeared on Led Zeppelin’s last North American tour. In the years to follow, Rick would perform with such artists as Alice Cooper (“Under My Wheels”), Steely Dan (“Show Biz Kids” and “Chained Lightning”), Richie Havens, Edgar Winter, Johnny Winter and Weird Al Yankovic among others. Today, he continues to perform on a variety of tours, including Legends of Rock.

The hits began for Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels at the tail end of ’65, with the release of their first hit single, “Jenny Take a Ride!”. In 1966, they recorded and began to perform a medley featuring Little Richard’s “Jenny Jenny” and Chuck Willis’ classic R&B song, “C.C. Rider.” The song would quickly enter the Top Ten charts, setting the stage for what was to come that year. Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels would follow up their initial hit with two more in ’66 including a rendition of the Righteous Brothers’ “Little Latin Lupe Lu” and the song that would, ultimately, be their biggest hit, “Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.” A year later, in typical Detroit fashion, Mitch and the band kept their pedal to the metal and delivered another Top Ten song called “Sock It To Me-Baby!” At the end of 1979, Bruce Springsteen would pay tribute to the band by performing the “Detroit Medley,” a selection of the band’s greatest hits including “Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Jenny Take A Ride!” and “C.C. Rider” for the triple live No Nukes album. In 1983, Mitch released an album titled, Never Kick A Sleeping Dog, produced by John Cougar Mellencamp that thrust him back into the spotlight with the Prince-penned song, “When You Were Mine.” Mitch has recorded over two dozen albums in his illustrious career and continues to tour all over the world. Known for his incredible live show, Mitch is coming at you with all his hits in a night to remember.