Following the demise of the excellent, if overlooked, London based TYTAN, English vocalist Kal Swan relocated to Los Angeles soon creating LYON with ex-STEELER drummer Mark Edwards, together with bassist Arthur Campbell and former LONE STAR guitarist Tony Smith. It wasn't long before the band switched monickers to LION, losing Smith in the process and drafting in the ex-MANSFIELD pairing of guitarist DOUG ALDRICH and bassist Jerry Best.

New York born Best and Pennsylvanian Aldrich had met at high school back in Philadelphia and put together MANSFIELD at the age of 15 with Best's brother on drums and an unidentified singer. The band released a two track 12" single before quitting the East Coast for the sunnier climes of California, playing the Los Angeles scene before splitting the group in order to form a new band, instead running into Kal Swan and Mark Edwards in 1985.

First fruits of this liaison would be the 'Powerlove' mini-album which gained the band an instant fan base in Japan. With tracks produced by LION and Duane Baron, RONNIE MONTROSE and Will Reid Dick, the record was a mish-mash of recordings. Aldrich and Best only played on three of the six tracks, the others being early demos. Kal Swan's then wife, the singer Victoria Cross (real name: Vicki Seeger), of VICTORIA CROSS sang backing vocals on some tracks, whilst his ex-TYTAN colleague, Kev 'Skidz' Riddles, played keyboards on 'Stranger In The City'.

The band was picked up by major American label Scotti Brothers. Despite a strong debut album 'Dangerous Attraction' sales were not forthcoming and LION signed to independent label Grand Slamm and having their next album 'Trouble In Angel City' licensed into Europe by Music For Nations. The album features a cover of SLADE's 'Lock Up Your Daughters'. In side activity, during 1986 Edwards also appeared on albums by RIOT and BURNING STARR.

'Trouble In Angel City' features re-recordings of all but one of the songs originally found on the 'Power Love' release. This was because the band owed Scotti Brothers one more album on their contract and, wanting to quickly leave the label, chose to re-record older material and add a variety of other songs. This ploy enabled the band to save fresh material for a proposed new album when they had gained a deal elsewhere. LION also contributed to the soundtracks of two movies, namely 'Transformers' (a re-arrangement of Ford Kinder and Anne Bryant's original theme song), 'The Wraith' and 'Friday The 13th Part III' (the latter featured the track 'Love Is A Lie').

LION folded after Edwards suffered a horrendous motorcycle accident which resulted in the drummer breaking his neck and was in an extremely serious condition for some time. With the pressures of having to find a new deal following a torrid time with Scotti Brothers and being unable to tour the band drifted apart. Aldrich teamed up with HURRICANE replacing Robert Sarzo to record 'Slave To The Thrill' and subsequently recorded and toured with HOUSE OF LORDS circa the 'Sahara' album. Aldrich also played with BRUNETTE to help out on a tour of Texas and other commitments whilst their regular guitarist was otherwise engaged elsewhere.

Aldrich and Swan were to team up once more following the guitar player's fairly brief tenure with HOUSE OF LORDS. They formed BAD MOON RISING and actually re-recorded some of the tracks demoed before the release of 'Trouble In Angel City' but saved for the next album the band never got to record. Amongst these were 'One Night In Tokyo', 'Sunset After Midnight', 'Lie Down', 'Old Flames', 'Dark Side Of Babylon' and 'Wayward Son'.

Jerry Best, after helping out DIRTY LOOKS for a period, eventually teamed up with former WHITE LION vocalist MIKE TRAMP in FREAK OF NATURE. After that outfit fell apart in early 1995 after two albums, the bassist joined DIO, although he since assisted Tramp in the recording of the Dane's solo album, with ex-FREAK OF NATURE man Kenny Korade handling guitar chores.

After recovering from his accident Mark Edwards became a Dallas based stockbroker. LION bassist Alex Campbell joined HELLION to record the 'Screams In The Night' album. DOUG ALDRICH cut a solo album. In January 2002 Aldrich joined the ranks of DIO then subsequently stepped up a further league by enrolling himself into WHITESNAKE. Late 2003 found former bass man Jerry Best recording and contributing his song-writing skills to COURTNEY LOVE's 'America's Sweetheart' album.