List of Mountain band members

Two line-ups of Mountain in 1970 and 2016.

Mountain was an American hard rock band from Long Island, New York. Formed in July 1969, the group originally consisted of guitarist and lead vocalist Leslie West, bassist and second vocalist Felix Pappalardi, drummer Norman "N. D." Smart and keyboardist Steve Knight. Pappalardi and Smart had performed on West's debut album Mountain earlier in the year (which was also produced by the bassist), and subsequently added Knight to complete the initial lineup of the band of the same name. Later in the year, Smart departed and was replaced by Canadian drummer Laurence "Corky" Laing. The group released three commercially successful albums – Climbing! in 1970, and Nantucket Sleighride and Flowers of Evil in 1971 – before breaking up in early 1972 due to increasing tensions between band members.

By mid-1973, West and Pappalardi had reformed Mountain with new members Allan Schwartzberg (drums) and Bob Mann (rhythm guitar, keyboards), who together released the live album Twin Peaks from their only concert tour. Laing later returned to the group and Mann was replaced by David Perry, with the new lineup's first studio effort Avalanche released the following July. Mountain broke up for a second time after another tour, with its final show taking place on December 31, 1974. West subsequently embarked on a solo career, before reforming Mountain for a third time in 1981 with Laing on drums and Miller Anderson on bass. On April 17, 1983, founding member Pappalardi was killed by his wife and musical collaborator Gail Collins Pappalardi, in what was deemed to be an accidental shooting.

Mountain released Go for Your Life in 1985, which featured new bassist Mark Clarke. Shortly after its release and promotion, the group quietly disbanded again. West and Laing returned as Mountain in 1992, with new bassist Richie Scarlet. After changing personnel again by replacing Scarlet with Randy Coven and later Noel Redding, the group released its sixth studio album Man's World in 1996 with a returning Clarke on bass. After another breakup in 1998, Mountain returned in 2001 to record Mystic Fire, which featured session bassist Chuck Hearne alongside West and Laing. For the subsequent touring cycle, Scarlet returned to the band. James "Rev" Jones took over in 2008, until 2010 when the band quietly dispanded.

Corky Laing formed a new project, Corky Laing Plays Mountain, in 2015. This project included bassist/vocalist Joe Venti and guitarist/vocalist Phil Baker in 2015. For their 2016 United States tour, Laing and Venti were joined by Richie Scarlet, now on lead guitar, and Ken Sidotti on keyboards. They performed Mountain music in addition to songs by West, Bruce and Laing and Cream. And in 2017, Mark Mikel was playing bass with Chris Shutters and Richie Scarlet on guitar in the lineup. Mikel continued until touring was ceased in 2020 due to COVID-19.

West died of cardiac arrest on December 23, 2020.

In 2021 Corky Laing's Mountain resumed touring with a lineup of Laing (drums, vocals), Joe Venti (bass, vocals) and Richie Scarlet (guitar, keyboards).

Members

Mountain

Name	Years active	Instruments	Release contributions
Leslie West	1969–1972 1973–1974 1981–1985 1992–1998 2001–2010 (died 2020)	guitar lead vocals	all Mountain releases
Felix Pappalardi	1969–1972 1973–1974 (died 1983)	bass keyboards lead vocals	all Mountain releases from Climbing! (1970) to Avalanche (1974)
Steve Knight	1969–1972 (died 2013)	keyboards	all Mountain releases from Climbing! (1970) to Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
Norman "N. D." Smart	1969	drums	Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
Corky Laing	1969–1972 1973–1974 1981–1985 1992–1998 2001–2010	drums percussion vocals	all Mountain releases, except Twin Peaks (1974)
Bob Mann	1973	rhythm guitar keyboards	Twin Peaks (1974)
Allan Schwartzberg	1973	drums	Twin Peaks (1974)
David Perry	1973–1974	rhythm guitar backing vocals	Avalanche (1974)
Miller Anderson	1981–1984	bass vocals guitar (studio only)	Go for Your Life (1985) – one track only
Mark Clarke	1984–1985 1995–1998	bass vocals	Go for Your Life (1985) Man's World (1996) Eruption (2004)
Richie Scarlet	1992–1993 2001–2008		Mystic Fire (2002) – one track only Eruption (2004) Live in Texas 2005 (2006) Masters of War (2007)
Randy Coven	1993–1994 (died 2014)		none
Noel Redding	1994–1995 (died 2003)		Over the Top (1995) – two tracks only
James "Rev" Jones	2008–2010		none

Corky Laing's Mountain

Name	Years active	Instruments
Corky Laing	2015–present	drums percussion vocals
Joe Venti	2015–2016 2021–2022 2023	bass vocals
Phil Baker	2015–2016 2019 2019–2021 2023–present	guitar vocals
Richie Scarlet	2016–2018 2019 2019 2021–2023	guitar keyboards
Ken Sidotti	2016 2022	keyboards
Mark Mikel	2017–2021	vocals bass keyboards
Chris Shutters	2017–2019	guitar vocals
Mark Clarke	2022 (guest)	bass vocals
Brent Ek	2022 2023–present	bass vocals

Timeline

Corky Laing's Mountain

Lineups

Mountain

Period	Members	Studio and live albums
Mid – late 1969	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Felix Pappalardi – bass, keyboards, vocals N. D. Smart – drums Steve Knight – keyboards	Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
Late 1969 – early 1972	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Felix Pappalardi – bass, keyboards, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion Steve Knight – keyboards	Climbing! (1970) Nantucket Sleighride (1971) Flowers of Evil (1971) Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
Band inactive early 1972 – mid 1973
Mid – late 1973	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Felix Pappalardi – bass, vocals Bob Mann – guitar, keyboards Allan Schwartzberg – drums	Twin Peaks (1974)
Late 1973 – late 1974	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Felix Pappalardi – bass, keyboards, vocals David Perry – guitar, backing vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion	Avalanche (1974)
Band inactive late 1974 – 1981
1981–1984	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Miller Anderson – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion	none
1984–1985	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Mark Clarke – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion	Go for Your Life (1985) Eruption (2004)
Band inactive late 1985 – 1992
1992–1993	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Richie Scarlet – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	none
1993–1994	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Randy Coven – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	none
1994–1995	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Noel Redding – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	Over the Top new tracks (1995)
1995–1998	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Mark Clarke – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	Man's World (1996)
Band inactive late 1998 – 2001
2001–2002	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	Mystic Fire (2002)
April 2002 – August 2008	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Richie Scarlet – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	Eruption (2004) Live in Texas 2005 (2006) Masters of War (2007)
August 2008 – December 2010	Leslie West – guitar, vocals Rev Jones – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, percussion, vocals	none

Corky Laing's Mountain

Period	Members	Studio and live albums
November 2015 – May 2016	Phil Baker – guitar, vocals Joe Venti – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals
June – December 2016	Richie Scarlet – guitar Joe Venti – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals Ken Sidotti – keyboards
January 2017 – July 2017	Richie Scarlet – guitar Chris Shutters – guitar, vocals Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
December 2017 – November 2018	Chris Shutters – guitar, vocals Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
May – June 2019	Rickie Scarlet – guitar Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
June 2019	Phil Baker – guitar Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
August – October 2019	Richie Scarlet – guitar Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
October – November 2019	Phil Baker – guitar Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
August 2021	Richie Scarlet – guitar Mark Mikel – bass, vocals, keyboards Corky Laing – drums, vocals
October 2021 – October 2022	Richie Scarlet – guitar Joe Venti – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals
October 2022	Richie Scarlet – guitar Mark Clarke – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals Ken Sidotti – keyboards
October – November 2022	Richie Scarlet – guitar Brent Ek – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals
January – February 2023	Richie Scarlet – guitar Joe Venti – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals
September 2023	Phil Baker – guitar Brent Ek – bass, vocals Corky Laing – drums, vocals

References

^ Eder, Bruce. "Mountain: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
Ling, Dave (October 15, 2016). "The Story Behind The Song: Mississippi Queen by Mountain". Classic Rock. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
Eder, Bruce. "Twin Peaks – Mountain: Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Top Album Picks" (Scan). Billboard. Vol. 86, no. 30. New York City: Billboard Publications, Inc. July 27, 1974. p. 60. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
Strong, Martin C. (May 8, 2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh, Scotland: MOJO Books. pp. 672–673. ISBN 978-1841950174.
^ "Mountain – Go For Your Life". DMME.net. July 5, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
Huey, Steve. "Felix Pappalardi: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
Prato, Greg. "Randy Coven: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Over the Top – Mountain: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Man's World – Mountain: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Mystic Fire – Mountain: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Ex-Megadeth Bassist, Guitarist To Join Sebastian Bach's Touring Line-Up". Blabbermouth.net. April 27, 2002. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Former MSG Bassist Rev Jones To Tour With Mountain". Blabbermouth.net. August 29, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
"Current Projects". Corkylaingworks.com.
^ "CURRENT PROJECTS". Corky Laing. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
"Leslie West, Mountain guitarist, dead at 75". Classic Rock. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
"TOUR". Corky Laing. Retrieved January 25, 2024.

v t e Mountain
Leslie West Felix Pappalardi Steve Knight Corky Laing N. D. Smart Bob Mann Allan Schwartzberg David Perry Miller Anderson Mark Clarke Richie Scarlett Randy Coven Noel Redding Rev Jones
Studio albums	Climbing! Nantucket Sleighride Flowers of Evil (Side 1) Avalanche Go for Your Life Man's World Mystic Fire Masters of War
Live albums	Flowers of Evil (Side 2) Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On Twin Peaks Greatest Hits Live Eruption
Compilations	The Best of Mountain
Videos	Sea of Fire
Songs	"Mississippi Queen" "Theme for an Imaginary Western" "Hotel Happiness" "Nantucket Sleighride"
Related articles	Cream Creation Gail Collins Pappalardi Mountain West, Bruce and Laing

Categories: