Texas Rock Dyamonds Series. Obscure Melodic Metal/Hard Rock band from Texas with a shelved album forgotten since 1990. The tape with the album songs was rescued recently to digital treatment and added a few bonus tracks from rough demos. All of this material was recorded between 1989 and 1990. The CD is accompanied with an 8-page booklet with lyrics, band photos and band history. Belladonna was formed in January of 1989 in Houston Tx by Mike Conde , Rude E. and Robert Hampton. The name was given by Robert and they wrote the bulk of its songs by the spring of ’89. Mike and Rude (childhood friends) had known of Robert through a guitar student of his, Kevin Lockler. They would go see the band Robert was in at the time (St. Kelly) whenever they were playing. The songs were great and they had a lot of admiration for Rob in that regard. As Roads twist and turned the 3 found themselves forming Belladonna a couple years later. Charles Prescott joined after answering an ad for a bass player in a local magazine. They hit it off, had great chemistry and became fast friends. By that winter the band had moved to Nashville for a production deal that went sour. The experience inspired the writing of Watching You, Power Surge, and Once Again. Upon returning to Houston the band began playing out, getting radio airplay, gaining a strong following, and by the summer of 1990 recorded a live video concert for the TV show Metallurgy. By the fall of 1990 the song Once Again caught the ear of Rick Chavez (producer and leading member of the band Drive (Rampage/Rhino Records) leading the band to be courted for a recording deal. Tensions had been brewing towards the latter part of the year and the band inevitably split up with Mike and Rude leaving for Los Angeles to record "Once Again" for Drive's "Diablero" album and eventually joined forces with Drive.
 
File Under: Melodic Heavy Metal, Glam Metal, Hard Rock.
For fans of: Seduce, Odin, St. Elmo's Fire and World War III.