Longtime VIXEN Bassist SHARE ROSS Is ‘Taking A Hiatus’ From The Band; Replacement Announced

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Longtime VIXEN bassist Share Ross has announced that she is "taking a hiatus" from the band. Her replacement is Julia Lage, formerly of the Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian rock group BARRA DE SAIA and wife of Richie Kotzen, who recently completed a run of West Coast dates with her husband's SMITH/KOTZEN project. Ross made the news of her departure public last night (Tuesday, February 8) during VIXEN's pre-Monsters Of Rock cruise concert at Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida. After playing the first few songs of the set with her bandmates, Ross told the crowd that "life got a little complicated" and that "something has to give," resulting to her decision to "step away from VIXEN for a while." She then introduced her "amazing" replacement and urged the VIXEN fans to "graciously" open their arms and welcome Lage to the group. At that point, Julia and her new bandmates launched into the track "Streets In Paradise" and played the last couple of songs of the set with Ross watching the proceedings from the side of the stage. The only remaining member of VIXEN's "classic" lineup is drummer Roxy Petrucci, who is also joined in the group by guitarist Britt Lightning (a.k.a. Brittany Denaro) and singer Lorraine Lewis. In January 2019, VIXEN recruited Lewis as its new lead singer following the departure of Janet Gardner. Lewis had already performed with VIXEN in March 2018 in Durant, Oklahoma while Gardner was recovering from surgery. Prior to Lewis's addition to VIXEN, Petrucci, Ross and Denaro vowed to "expand upon the VIXEN legacy while remaining true to our musical roots." Gardner, Petrucci and Ross are considered to be part of VIXEN's classic lineup, along with founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, who died of cancer in October 2013. Gardner contributed lead vocals to VIXEN's most commercially successful studio albums — "Vixen" (1988), "Rev It Up" (1990) and "Tangerine" (1998) — as well as the group's latest release, 2018's live album "Live Fire".