Kix (band)
American band
Kix (stylized as KIX) was an American hard rock band formed in 1976, that achieved popularity during the 1980s. The band's classic lineup consisted of Donnie Purnell (bass, keyboards, backing vocals, primary songwriter, co-leader), Ronnie "10/10" Younkins (guitar), Brian "Damage" Forsythe (guitar), Steve Whiteman (lead vocals, co-leader), and Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant (drums, backing vocals). Kix covered Aerosmith, April Wine, Led Zeppelin, and others before signing with Atlantic Records in 1981. After peaking in the late 1980s, band members continued to record and tour until their disbandment in 2023.
Some journalists consider Kix to be among the greatest glam metal acts of all time.
History
Early years (1976–1987)
Brian "Damage" Forsythe's originally played drums then later guitar. His first band was Vanilla Grass as drummer; this band morphed into different things, and around late 1975 he left school to tour the south with two musician friends. The band Atlas Ram (featuring Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant) stole Brian Forsythe's rhythm guitarist, breaking up his band.
The very first lineup of what became KIX permanently formed in Hagerstown, Maryland and featured Donnie Purnell (from the band Jaxx), Tee, Tunes, and Donnie Spence, and very briefly used the name KIX, but soon went by the name Tee and Tunes. In December 1976, Ronnie "10/10" Younkins joined Donnie Purnell and the rest.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q587184. VIAF identifies the subject as 147668012. The Library of Congress control number is n91056170. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1981, 2023 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kix (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.