[1] It was founded by Rick Roberts, former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr.

A&R representatives from Atlantic Records, who had already heard the band's demo tape, saw the Other End shows and signed Firefall to a multi-album contract.

I can't really prove that, but he had been filling the gap as our de facto manager ever since we had parted company with our last official guy and he was getting pretty comfortable calling the shots.

We were not the easiest band to work with at any time and considering the fatigue factor, we were probably raging jerks and for all the chart success we had achieved, we were hardly making a decent living.

We were mostly serving as an opening act on a lot of 'A' list tours, and as such, we weren't being paid like a band with an unbroken string of gold and platinum albums and more than a half dozen straight top fifty singles.

The differences were apparently noticeable enough that the band's management, with help from their friend Mick Fleetwood, pressured the record label into letting them rework the album.

Andes and Clarke were replaced by Kenny Loggins' former rhythm section, consisting of bassist George Hawkins and drummer Tris Imboden.

With the two new players, the band recorded Clouds Across the Sun, which was released in December 1980,[1] and spawned the early 1981 hit "Staying with It", which was done as a duet with singer Lisa Nemzo.

Larry Burnett suddenly disappeared from the group, after playing a show at Miami Baseball Stadium with Heart, Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead and Freewheel on April 19, 1981, to return to his hometown of Washington, D.C. to enter rehab.

But after playing a concert with the band in Lahaina, Hawaii with Pure Prairie League in August, Rick Roberts announced that he also was leaving for a solo career.

At Ron Albert's suggestion, Bartley got together with two Miami-based musicians, Johnne Sambataro (during the '70s and '80s, he adopted the conventional spelling of John for his first name) and Chuck Kirkpatrick.

Sambataro was a singer/guitarist/keyboardist/bassist/songwriter who had sung on record with Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman, the members of the Bee Gees and many others.

Kirkpatrick was a singer–guitarist–keyboardist who had sung with Johnne on a number of the aforementioned sessions and had worked as an engineer at Criteria on such albums as Derek & The Dominos' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.

Backing Bartley, Sambataro and Kirkpatrick were a number of Miami session players, with Stephen Stills and Rick Roberts making guest appearances.

Chuck's brother Scott (a top-notch session drummer who, like Johnne, had also played on record and toured with McGuinn, Clark & Hillman) and Colorado bassist Greg Overton were chosen and, at the last minute, David Muse decided to rejoin the band.

The album had a much harder edge than its predecessors, with more of an emphasis on an '80s style synth/drum programmed production, which many of the group's fans thought reflected too great a departure from the classic Firefall sound.

Though the first single, the rocking "Runaway Love", written by Bartley, Sambataro, and Paul Crosta, briefly appeared in a video on MTV and received limited radio airplay, this album too failed to attract sales and quickly disappeared.

In 1983 Overton quit (he would return briefly to play a few shows with the group in Medford, Oregon in July 1986 as a fill-in) and Muse decided to retire from touring again.

[citation needed] The wound was serious enough to almost require amputation of Kirkpatrick's left arm, but doctors were able to save it and Chuck was able to play again after a difficult rehab period.

And after Dan Clawson left that same year, there were several people to occupy the woodwind–keyboards chair, including Bray Ghiglia (1993–1994), the returning David Muse (1994–1995; 2000–2003; 2011–2022), Jim Waddell (1993; 1995–96; 1998–2000; 2003; 2022–present), Bob Fisher (1996–1998; 2007) and Chris Ball (2003–2011).

The first single, "Love Find A Way", received some minor play on some stations, but Redstone did not have the distribution clout to get the CD into all stores, so overall sales were disappointing.

Manshel, who had begun to take time off from the group to work on a solo album, left altogether in September 1999 to pursue his own career and the band reverted to a five-piece.

During the summer of 2011, David Muse, who just survived a bout with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, returned to play shows with Firefall once again, alternating with Chris Ball before rejoining permanently.

Other members of this band included Bobby Caldwell (Captain Beyond, Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer), Max Combs, Allen Carman, and Billy Sandlin.

In June 2014, Jace Hill (guitar and vocals) joined the band for a short spell to sub for Steven Weinmeister, who was back by early July.

In November 2014, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame announced that Firefall would be among the 2014 inductees at a January 2015 event at the Paramount Theater in Denver.

By late 2014, Firefall's lineup was Jock Bartley, David Muse, Sandy Ficca, Mark Andes, and Gary Jones.

On January 9, 2015, Firefall was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame with Poco, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Stephen Stills, and Manassas, at the Paramount Theater in Denver.

Lance Hoppen (of Orleans), John Trujillo (a bassist friend of Sandy Ficca's) and former Firefall member Steven Weinmeister filled in for him.

[8] The album featured a lineup of Jock Bartley, Mark Andes, David Muse, Sandy Ficca and Gary Jones.