Player (band)

He and Crowley teamed up in a new band called Riff Raff, which soon changed its name to Bandana and released a single, "Jukebox Saturday Night", on Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter's Haven label.

Instead of sticking with the R&B Pop thing, which is what the first album was, we started to think we're gonna be onstage with Clapton, so we'd better write some Rock 'n' Roll songs.

Eventually the band began to headline some of their own events, as well as continuing to open shows for artists like Heart and Kenny Loggins in the fall of 1978.

But after playing a show with the latter at Coconut Grove in Miami, Florida, on October 29, 1978, tension among the various group members resulted in a huge blow up.

After a long absence, Beckett brought Moss back into the fold in 1995 and, in 1996, Player released their fifth album, Lost In Reality, on River North Records.

He originated the role of Ridge Forrester on the new CBS-TV soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful from 1987 until August 2012, after which he made the decision to not continue in the series after he was injured in an auto accident.

As Moss was occupied with acting, Beckett kept going as Player with Friesen, Joseph, Katona and Rusty Buchanan (vocals, bass, ex-Sugarloaf) and with producer Dennis Lambert back on board, released their fourth album, Spies of Life, on RCA in late 1981.

He also was a songwriter providing material for recording artists such as Janet Jackson, Olivia Newton-John, The Temptations, Starship, Kenny Rogers and more.

Although the original lineup of Player had disbanded, Beckett and Moss rejoined forces to work on a solo album for Moss, but the duo ended up recording an additional studio album as Player instead, released in Japan in August 1995 as Electric Shadow and renamed Lost in Reality when put out on River North Records in the U.S. in May 1996.

On December 16, 1997, Player played live for the first time in years at the L.A. Music Awards at the Hollywood Palladium with a lineup consisting of Beckett, Moss, Elliot Easton (of The Cars) on guitar, Burleigh Drummond of Ambrosia on drums and Tony Sciuto of Little River Band on keyboards.

River North Records dropped the band and Player tried to buy back the rights to the Lost in Reality CD but were unsuccessful.

Player toured in the spring of 1998 with a lineup of Beckett, Moss, Sciuto, Drummond, guitarist Steve Farris (formerly of Mr. Mister) and percussionist Ron Green, with guitarist Dave Amato (from REO Speedwagon) and drummer Ron Wikso (formerly of Foreigner and The Storm) filling in for Farris and Drummond as needed, depending on the schedules of the others.

In 2000 the lineup of Player included: drummer Craig Pilo, guitarist Michael Hakes, Green, Sciuto, Moss and Beckett playing more shows across the United States.

On November 14, 2009, J.C. Crowley temporarily reunited with Beckett and Moss at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage, California, for a tribute concert to Dennis Lambert in a charity benefiting the Desert Arc Foundation.

They toured throughout the United States and Canada over the summer as part of the Sail Rock 2013 with Christopher Cross, Gary Wright, Al Stewart, Orleans, Firefall, Robbie Dupree and John Ford Coley.

[5] Moss, though still listed an official member of the band, wasn't appearing with them in the latter part of 2017, where Mark Winley (ex-Johnny Winter) was standing in for him, alongside Beckett, Math, drummer Burleigh Drummond and new Singer/keyboardist Buster Akrey, known for writing the Power Rangers music.

[6][7] In the summer of 2018, Beckett appeared with Rock The Yacht 2018 alongside Ambrosia, John Ford Coley, Robbie Dupree and Stephen Bishop.

On May 12, 2014, Player appeared on ABC's daytime drama/soap opera "General Hospital" as a surprise guest for the annual "Nurses Ball" segment.