NASHVILLE, TENN. — 2018 marks Exile’s 55th year as America’s longest running band. On September 30, 1978, the award-winning band, who had initially set out to play small clubs in Richmond, Kentucky back in 1963, skyrocketed to world-wide fame with their multi-week chart-topper “Kiss You All Over.” The song was an instant hit in over 60 countries and made the Top 5 of Billboard’s Year End Hot 100 Singles of 1978, then later scored in the Top 10 of Billboard’s The 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time category. The iconic song has been showcased in feature films such as “Happy Gilmore,” “Employee of the Month,” “Zookeeper, “Wildhogs,” and is played in it’s entirety at the end of the 7th episode of “Mindhunter” currently available as a Netflix original.
As Vinyl Confessions recently discovered, “Forty years ago, Exile would be one of only two fresh bands to score a Number One hit; the other being Player of “Baby Come Back” fame.” For the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame members, their four weeks at the top of the pop charts helped the group sustain into what is now an unheard of 55-year career. Original member and keyboardist Marlon Hargis told Vinyl Confessions, “Literally in a week, everything changed. One Friday night we played in Lexington for the door money and the next Friday we flew to Los Angeles to do The Midnight Special and be on an Aerosmith tour.”
The 5 original Exile members re-formed in 2008 with J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire, Marlon Hargis and Steve Goetzman and continue to perform for legions of fans today. Exile’s newly released project Hits contains 11 number one hits spanning three decades, along with four additional top ten’s. The ultimate, cross-over band has sold over 8 million records worldwide with three Gold albums and has performed over 100 times at the Grand Ole Opry. As Hargis likes to say, “Exile has lasted longer than most marriages.”