Transister

Transister is an alternative rock band formed in late-1995 in Los Angeles by music business veterans from both the United States and the United Kingdom. Despite only having released one album to moderate sales, their work has been featured on a number of film soundtracks. Transister's formation was the culmination of various collaborations between songwriter Eric Pressly, former Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark, and vocalist Keely Hawkes. Hawkes first made use of Pressly's songwriting on her 1993 solo debut for EMI, while Pressly and Clark first worked together on the band King L in 1995. The three were encouraged by the results of their early songwriting attempts, and decided to release a six-song EP on their own label.

None of the members of Transister were strangers to each other or to the music scene when they decided to form the band. As the frontman for '80s pop group Danny Wilson, co-founder Gary Clark already had one hit under his belt: the love song "Mary's Prayer." After Danny Wilson broke up, Clark lent his skills as an engineer, producer, and songwriter to various big-name artists: Heart, Julia Fordham, and Lauren Christy, among others. He also released a solo album which was well received among the music intelligentsia in the U.K. The other founding member,

Eric Pressly, had written songs for Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner, and had performed extensively as the musical director for Cher. Pressly and Clark's first collaboration was the band King L. The band was signed to Virgin in the early '90s. When the label released King L, Clark started work on a second solo album. On impulse, he decided to experiment with a new sort of project. Enter Keeley Hawkes, a female singer/songwriter who had enlisted Pressly's writing services on her own solo album (EMI, 1993). Early collaborations between the three proved to be so successful that they decided to form a band and go the distance. Thus was born Transister.

Transister began to attract major-label attention after KCRW DJ Christopher Douridas played a few of the self-recorded tracks on Morning Becomes Eclectic in early 1996. Interscope Records released Transister's self-titled debut in the US in 1997; UK and international distribution was handled by Virgin Records. Tracks from the album were featured on a number of film soundtracks, including Night Watch, Wild Things, Jawbreaker, Never Been Kissed, and Charlie's Angels.