Legendary bassist Billy Sheehan has confirmed that Talas — the classic Buffalo, New York band he fronted from the 1970s into the mid-1980s — will play live shows in 2027 with James Naro on lead vocals. James is the son of the late Phil Naro, who sang on the band’s 2022 reunion album 1985 before his death in May 2021 at the age of 63. Sheehan announced a July 10 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk.”
Sheehan said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “When we did the 1985 record with Talas, which was everything that was going on with us in 1985 when I left to join David Lee Roth, all those songs, we went back and did them all right, and a singer, Phil Naro, came out and just nailed it. He got up to the mic and knocked it out of the park.
“We didn’t know how ill he was at the time. Now we know even how much greater he was to have stepped up to the mic and done what he did in the condition he was in, and sadly we lost him soon after that record.
“And I’m really, really pleased to announce that his son, James, who has got an amazing voice, much like his dad, has decided to do some shows with Talas. So we’re gonna go out with that lineup, and James is gonna sing. I already had him sing a couple of our songs just to see if it fit, and he sent me his voice, and he’s the spitting image of his dad. Wonderful, sweet kid, on top of it.
“So, we’re very excited. The beginning of next year we’re gonna go out and do some shows as Talas with Phil’s son at lead vocals, and we’re so, so happy about it. He’s such a wonderful young man, and we’re gonna have a blast.”
1985 was released in September 2022 via Metal Blade Records. The album featured Sheehan, Phil Naro, drummer Mark Miller and guitarist Kire Najdovski, collecting material the band had written in the mid-1980s around the time Sheehan departed to join David Lee Roth’s band. Phil’s death from tongue cancer in May 2021 — not long after the album was recorded — gave the project a deeply elegiac quality. The 2022 album also followed a 2017 reunion Talas staged for the “Bands At Barnard” charity event in Greece, after which the band played only sporadic dates.
After his Talas tenure, Phil Naro paired his powerful voice with a number of recording projects involving Kiss co-founder Peter Criss and Canadian rockers Coney Hatch. He also co-wrote several tracks with Rascals founding guitarist Gene Cornish and co-wrote three songs for Canadian artist Lee Aaron’s 1989 album Bodyrock.
Sheehan went on to form Mr. Big in 1989, achieving a Billboard No. 1 single in the U.S. and 14 other countries with “To Be With You” from the band’s second album, Lean Into It.
