The band's lineup consisted of guitarist John Spinks, vocalist and bassist Tony Lewis, and drummer Alan Jackman.
On 22 March 2018, lead singer/bassist Tony Lewis announced a solo album called Out of the Darkness, which was released on 29 June 2018 through Madison Records.
Bassist/singer Tony Lewis, guitarist/keyboardist and songwriter John Spinks and drummer Alan Jackman played together in the late 1970s in a power pop band called Sirius B.
After rehearsing for about six months and playing several gigs, their style did not match the punk rock that was surging in popularity in England and they broke up.
[14] Spinks adopted the name 'Baseball Boys' from a teen gang called "The Baseball Furies" in the cult film The Warriors, a movie that he had just seen.
The band got a reputation as a very "American-sounding" group and signed in the United States after playing for just a few months in England.
Their manager, an American living in England, recommended a new band name with a similar attitude since 'Baseball Boys' seemed too "tacky" and "tongue-in-cheek".
[6] After the Babylon LP, Alan Jackman parted ways with the band and was replaced for a concert tour by Paul Read.
Spinks and Lewis continued as a duo, switched labels and began recording Diamond Days for MCA.
Its leadoff single, "Closer to Me", was a near top 40 hit, and a second release, "Winning It All", gained some notice due to extensive play during NBC's NBA Finals coverage, the NBA Superstars series featuring Larry Bird, the 1992 Summer Olympics, Chicago Bulls championship ring ceremonies and the film The Mighty Ducks.
The Outfield returned to their East End roots, and often played low-key gigs at a local pub, where much of the clientele were unaware that the group had sold millions of records in the US.
In addition, the Outfield announced Brent Bitner had taken over the band's management and launched their official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Myspace pages in November 2009.
The lead single, "California Sun", was a regional number one AOR chart hit and has subsequently been the second most added song on AC radio as of 15 August 2011.
In 2013, the band rerecorded vocals to their single "Your Love" to be incorporated into American DJ Morgan Page's reworking of the song, which was released in the summer of that year.
[18] After taking a few years off from music, lead singer/bassist Tony Lewis announced his return with a solo album, Out of the Darkness, which was released on 29 June 2018 through Madison Records[11] and with the help of his wife Carol and their collaborative songwriting.
On 19 October 2020, singer Tony Lewis died suddenly and unexpectedly at his home near London, leaving Alan Jackman and Simon Dawson as the last surviving members.
[3] Annelise Wamsley of the Tampa Bay Times described the band's style in 1987: "the Outfield specializes in what you could call an early '80s American Sound.
You need a simple hook that can be repeated a dozen or so times, lots of electric guitar solos, a standard rock beat and basic lyrics.
John Spinks said in 1986 interview with the Los Angeles Times that he was very influenced by "the music that gives me a rush" and that he "grew up on the Beatles".
[15]Wamsely made a similar remark, writing, "This is the stuff people listen to in their cars, on the way to work or play at high school dances.
"The music is hopelessly, numbingly derivative of just about every Journey/Foreigner/Cars cliché in the book — with none of the style that makes those bands special," said Matt Damsker, rock critic for the Hartford Courant.
[21] Yet, writing for the 1992 issue of the Rolling Stone Album guide, Paul Evans described The Outfield as "having an ambition no more complicated than to sound like a monster on the radio.