Seán Pugh joined the band temporarily as a second keyboard player and vocalist on some dates in the North West leg of the Something in the Air era, including Liverpool Royal Court and Blackpool.
[6] For the tour and the following album, Black Summer,[3] Steve Bartley became the full-time drummer for the band, the group playing Reading Festival and supporting Gillan.
In 1982, the line-up of Rowley, Newton, Johnson, and Bartley recorded and released Black Summer,[7] which did particularly well in Eastern Europe, where the band would do an extensive tour.
[5] For their third album, Nightwing incorporated a lead vocalist into their line-up, vocal duties previously being shared predominantly between Rowley and Newton.
Tensions in the group led to Dave Evans and Kenny Newton leaving the band just after its completion, Kerry Beswick having also played some keyboards on the album.
In 1996, Gordon Rowley reunited Nightwing, bringing together Glynn Porrino, Kenny Newton, and drummer Barry Roberts to record new tracks.
With two new compositions, one written by Porrino and an instrumental by Rowley, the three new tracks were put on a re-release of Nightwing VI named Natural Survivors, which featured different artwork, the old cover being used for the back.