Jimmy Crespo

Returning to session work following the breakup of Flame, Crespo attracted the attention of Aerosmith’s management following the departure of Joe Perry from the band in 1979. Invited to audition for the vacant lead guitarist position, Crespo was asked to join Aerosmith in October 1979. Contributing a guitar solo to the song “3 Mile Smile” for the already recorded Night in the Ruts album, Crespo commenced touring with the band soon after joining. The tour was hampered by the increasingly erratic state of the band’s singer, Steven Tyler, at this stage heavily beset by drug addiction and suffering several on-stage collapses. Drummer Joey Kramer formed a band called Renegade during this time, and he recruited Marge Raymond to sing lead and front the band. Jimmy Crespo, Tom Hamilton and Bob Mayo completed the line-up. An album was recorded at the Power Station in NYC and was produced by Tony Bongiovi, but it has never been released. Renegade is somewhat of a legend in the music industry and the tapes are much sought after by fans. Tyler, after realizing that Renegade was buzzing the industry and about to take off, came back to fulfill his contractual obligation to CBS. Renegade is referenced in several Aerosmith autobiographies.[1] Crespo and Tyler soon forged a songwriting partnership. Crespo co-wrote Aerosmith’s 1982 album Rock in a Hard Place with Tyler.

Charting at number 37 on the US Billboard chart, Rock in a Hard Place reportedly cost over $1 million in production costs, featuring a plethora of production and engineering staff amongst its credits. Xavier Russell said of it in Sounds: “As soon as the needle hit the wax, it melted and the speaker covers blew across the living room floor. Commercial difficulties during pre-production of the band’s next album coupled with Tyler’s new manager’s desire for him to reconvene with Perry led Crespo to exit the band in mid-1984, as the “classic” 1971–1979 Aerosmith lineup re-formed. Crespo is credited by Aerosmith and fans for keeping Aerosmith together. Crespo went on to join band Adam Bomb through the remainder of 1984 and into 1985.