A top band during the 1980s, Great White produced hit songs like “Once Bitten Twice Shy”, “House of Broken Love”, and “Call It Rock n’ Roll.” Throughout their time on the stage, the band released over a dozen studio albums. Their last album to release was Full Circle back in 2017. While selling millions of albums worldwide, Great White started from a love for music shared by guitarists Mark Kendall and singer Jack Russell. Although enjoying the stardom, Russell eventually left the group due to medical issues and struggling with addiction. While recalling the band’s history, Kendall continued to share his love for his former bandmate.
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For Russell, his life started to spiral out of control back in 2011 when he suffered a perforated bowel and a shattered pelvis. At the same time, the singer consistently abused alcohol and painkillers. Recalling that time, Kendall said, “It was awful. We basically just said we wanted him to get well and be better, because he wasn’t able to perform up to his potential because of addiction. And I myself have been sober for almost 16 years and I work with a lot of people that suffer and are struggling.”
Mark Kendall Continues To Pray For Jack Russell
Although hating watching Russell leave the band they created, Kendall insisted he was still his brother. “Jack Russell has never done anything to hurt me. He just had an addiction. He’s still a brother. It’s unfortunate because he’s such a talent. He had one of the best rock voices ever. He could sing anything — beautiful ballads, anything hard, heavy-hitting. He had the range, good-quality voice — just the greatest ever.”
With nothing but fond memories to keep his company, Kendall explained, “We created everything from nothing, just him and I, getting this bass player and that drummer and just plugging away and making music. So you hate for something to happen to where someone can’t perform to their potential anymore. It’s unfortunate. But we’re just moving down the road.”
Hoping that Russell eventually gets better, Kendall concluded, “I know he’s really in a bad spot. So you’ve just gotta pray for people.”
(Larry Marano/Shutterstock)
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