Tesla

Fact Sheet

Musical genre:	Rock
Country	USA

Tesla is both the name of an American hard rock band and the nickname of its singer, Jeff Keith, originating from Sacramento, California. The band formed in 1984 as City Kidd and was renamed to Tesla during the recording of their first album on the advice of their manager. Aside from Keith, the group also includes Frank Hannon (Guitar), Tommy Skeoch (Guitar), Brian Wheat (Bass), Troy Luccketta (Drums).

Tesla's music fitted well with the blasting sound of the 80s hair bands, but was more bluesy and lyrics dealt with other themes than just the usual, girls, alchocol and violence. But what set them even more apart from their contemporaries was their T-shirt and jeans image which was in strong contrast to for that that time characteristic leather pants and flashy-make up.

Tesla's popular 1990 remake of Signs, originally recorded by the Five Man Electrical Band (who also inspired the album which the remake came from, Five Man Acoustical Jam), is probably the most mainstream of Tesla's hits. However, many fans remember fondly Tesla's other hits such as Gettin' Better, Modern Day Cowboy, Little Suzi, Edison's Medicine and Love Song.

The band derived their name, certain album and song names, and some song content from events relating to Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer born in the 19th century.

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