White Lion was a Danish-American glam metal band that was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist/guitarist Mike Tramp and Italian-American guitarist Vito Bratta.

At first they had a hard time finding a stable rhythm section, and they tried several different ones including Michael Clayton on drums (who later played in the band Tyketto).

After a while, they recruited drummer Nicki Capozzi and bassist Felix Robinson (formerly of Angel) and named the group White Lion.

Fight to Survive charted at number 151 on Billboard 200 and featured the band's debut single and music video, "Broken Heart."

This incarnation of White Lion was hired to play a fictional band in the Tom Hanks/Shelley Long movie The Money Pit, which was released a year later.

Nicki Capozzi was subsequently fired due to health issues and was in September 1985 replaced by former Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo.

Pride would remain on the Top 200 Billboard album charts for a full year, selling two million copies in the US alone and achieving double platinum status.

In August 1989, White Lion released their third album, Big Game, a musically eclectic follow-up to Pride that featured the single "Little Fighter" (which peaked at No.

They did a European tour, including a string of UK arena shows supporting Mötley Crüe with Skid Row, and also played with Ozzy Osbourne and Cinderella.

The album featured the singles "Love Don't Come Easy" which peaked at number 24 on the Mainstream Rock Charts, "Lights and Thunder", which is an eight-minute heavy rock epic with a complex structure inspired by Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand",[7] and a re-recorded version of the band's debut single "Broken Heart", all of which featured music videos.

Greg D'Angelo and James LoMenzo left the band in June 1991 when they came back from the European tour, citing "musical differences," but White Lion carried on with bassist Tommy T-Bone Caradonna and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (a sideman for Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Suicidal Tendencies, Y&T, and Fiona).

After briefly touring in support of Mane Attraction, Tramp and Bratta decided to fold the group, their last show being held in Boston at the Channel in September 1991.

A video/DVD album featuring concert footage, behind the scenes interviews and all of the band's music videos was also released, titled Escape from Brooklyn.

Vito Bratta stayed briefly with Atlantic Records to help produce an album for CPR, and later tried to form a new music group that never panned out.

Despite a dedicated worldwide following of guitar aficionados, Vito disappeared from public view from 1992 until his interview by Eddie Trunk live on February 16, 2007.

Vito is the sole owner of the White Lion music catalog, retaining the legal and distributive rights to all four original albums.

Mike Tramp went on to form the alt-rock / heavy metal band Freak of Nature, The follow-up was significantly heavier and darker than White Lion, featuring two guitar players and more visceral songs with a strong rhythmic foundation.

With summer festivals in Europe already booked, Tramp attempted to put together a "new White Lion" featuring former members James LoMenzo and Jimmy DeGrasso, along with Warren DeMartini of Ratt.

The band had several concerts canceled in late 2005 as promoters backed away due to the threat of possible legal action and by the end of the year Tramp had almost completely given up on White Lion, but six months later was inspired to continue with the booking of a European tour for November and December 2006.

Tramp's White Lion played several dates in Europe including Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Even though Live Nation believed Bratta's lawsuit to be frivolous and had confirmed that Mike Tramp has the legal right to perform as White Lion, they did not want to spend 'one dollar' on litigation.

Faced with the cancellation of a tour that was to begin within weeks, the band's attorneys negotiated a deal with Vito Bratta to drop his threatened lawsuit.

[26] Despite the threatened legal action and the band's removal from the Poison/Ratt tour, White Lion continued touring and fulfilled their many headline shows in the U.S. that were scheduled between the Poison shows, including the Rocklahoma festival with Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Y&T, Gypsy Pistoleros, Dirty Penny, Greg Leon Invasion and Zendozer.

Tramp also confirmed to MelodicRock.com that the band had just finished recording its new studio album and the CD would be mixed by Dennis Ward and titled Return of the Pride.

[citation needed] The new studio album entitled Return of the Pride was released on March 14, 2008, and the band was now once again simply known as White Lion.

[27] Following the release of Return of the Pride, Tramp faced a tumultuous time of professional indecision as he tried to decide between continuing his solo career or pouring his energy into White Lion.

[34] In August 2024, Songs of White Lion Volume 2 was released, featuring Tramp re-imagining ten more select cuts from White Lion's catalog[35] Volume 2 includes the new single and music video for the re recorded "Lights and Thunder"[36] and the reworked "Lonely Nights",[37] "Out With the Boys",[38] "The Road to Valhalla"[39] and "Till Death Do Us Part"[40] were also released as singles featuring visualizer music videos.

Tramp will embark on an extended tour supporting Songs of White Lion Volume 2 starting in mid-August 2024 with European and US dates,[41] followed by Australia in 2025.

The song "Little Fighter" was about the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by the environmental group Greenpeace that was destroyed by the French government.