Portland, Oregon Hard Rock outfit BLACK 'N BLUE's inaugural line-up comprised ex-MOVIE STAR guitarist Tommy Thayer, MOVIE STAR drummer / vocalist Jaime St. James, who also moonlighted as skinbasher with fellow Portland acts WILD DOGS and KEVIN WET for a time, MOVIE STAR guitarist Virgil Ripper, bassist Patrick Young and former KHARMA drummer Pete Holmes. MOVIE STAR, formed in the late 70s, had also featured keyboard player Pete Horne and vocalist / bassist Julian Raymond.

Initially Jaime St. James had occupied the role of drummer but, during a transitionary phase when the group was branded LOVED BY MILLIONS, took the stage as frontman in a spate of alcohol induced bravado at the Wreck Of The Hesperaus club, this act prompting his band mates to suggest his true talents lay as a singer. LOVED BY MILLIONS introduced Patrick Young on bass and the transition to BLACK 'N BLUE took place in November 1981. By May of 1982 Ripper had departed the fledgling BLACK 'N BLUE to be superseded by erstwhile VIRGIN guitarist Jef 'Whoop' Warner. At first the group performed in the Portland clubs as a covers act, focussing on AC/DC, but gradually introduced original material.

BLACK 'N BLUE's debut demo was extremely heavy, certainly for the period, and comprised of 'Violent kid', 'Chains Around Heaven' and 'I'm The King'. It elicited a favourable response from the tape trading circuit and especially from Metal Blade Records main man Brian Slagel who added the track 'Chains Around Heaven' to latter pressings of his 'Metal Massacre' compilation album, replacing STEELER's 'Cold Day In Hell'. Eventually the band relocated to Los Angeles where further demos garnered the act useful radio airplay. The band recorded what was to be a self financed EP, produced by DON DOKKEN and Michael Wagener, featuring re-recordings of the tracks 'Violent Kid', 'Chains Around Heaven' , 'Wicked Bitch' and Sign In Blood'.

However, just before pressing the band were signed by major label Geffen Records and began work on a full length debut LP, flying to Germany to hook up with producer Dieter Dierks. The band managed to fit in a one-off appearance at London's Hammersmith Odeon opening two shows on 1st and 2nd April for WHITESNAKE and HEADPINS. These remain BLACK 'N BLUE's only British shows as a proposed tour opening for SAMSON failed to materialize due to recording schedules with Dierks in Germany.

The eponymous debut was to have featured an extra track on the European version, 'Good & Evil', but it was decided to leave the song off the record when all was said and done. US road work pre-empting the record saw BLACK 'N BLUE opening for DIO and WHITESNAKE in July. Following the release of the album in August, BLACK 'N BLUE toured in North America with NIGHT RANGER and AEROSMITH.

The band's second album, 1985's 'Without Love', found Geffen pairing BLACK 'N BLUE with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn. Whilst the record wasn't particularly well received by the group's original fan following (many believing the band to have 'sold out'), Fairbairn's production interested one particular purchaser of the album by the name of Jon Bon Jovi. So impressed was the frontman with rising New Jerseyites BON JOVI that he knew he had to engage the Canadian to produce his band's make or break third album. That album was 'Slippery When Wet'. The rest is, of course, history.

BLACK 'N BLUE's 'Nasty Nasty', released in 1986, tended to represent a back to basics approach, an attempt to distance themselves from the record company's idea of which direction the band should be going towards following the 'Without Love' record. They tapped KISS bassist GENE SIMMONS to produce 'Nasty Nasty', feeling that he would not only just be into the songs but the whole BLACK 'N BLUE package. Geffen tended to have the last word however, for sticking out like a sore thumb on an otherwise ballsy album came the JONATHON CAIN produced ballad 'I'll Be There For You', which the JOURNEY keyboard player also had a had in co-writing. Simmons' work clearly inspired the quintet however and he was thus kept on the pay roll for the ensuing 1988 'In Heat' album. BLACK 'N BLUE's fourth album utilized the keyboard and co-production services of Pat Regan.

Following the split Thayer formed AMERICAN MAN alongside ex ROYAL COURT OF CHINA guitarist Brian Jennings, bassist / vocalist Todd Jensen and drummer Kevin Muriel (a.k.a. Kevin Valentine). The trio of Thayer, Jensen and Valentine joined HARLOW in 1990. Jennings also supplied guitar to the album. Both Thayer and Pat Regan (also in HARLOW) scored co-production credits on DORO's 1990 album.

During 1989 a proposed band unit was formed involving Jef Warner, ROUGH CUTT guitarist Chris Hagar, WITCH and AMPAGE drummer Punky Peru, plus QUIET RIOT bassist Sean McNabb. This group never got beyond the  rehearsal stage. 

St. James briefly recorded demos under the handle of WET ENGINE in 1988 before going on to found FREIGHT TRAIN JANE (first using the MADHOUSE handle). The latter outfit eventually released a self financed album in 1995. In a portent of things to come, Thayer teamed up with St. James once more playing the parts of Ace Frehley and Peter Criss respectively in the amazingly successful KISS tribute band COLD GIN.

Thayer co-founded the Punk Metal band SHAKE THE FAITH, who promptly morphed into NO. 9 after releasing an album in Japan during 1994. Thayer currently works as a personal assistant for KISS having first worked for the band playing a part in the preparation of the legendary band's mammoth 'Kisstory' coffee table book before the reunion of the original line-up in 1996.

Of the other BLACK 'N BLUE men, Pete Holmes went on to form the band MONSTER with ex-MALICE duo Mark Behn and Mick Zane and worked on demos with Behn for ex DEEP PURPLE vocalist IAN GILLAN. Jef Warner produced local acts in his home recording studio in Vancouver amidst scurrilous rumours that he actually starred in porno movies following the demise of BLACK 'N BLUE (!), whilst Patrick Young returned to the North West and joined the grungeified TEN POUND RAIN.

Towards the end of 1997, October 31st to be exact, BLACK 'N BLUE reformed for a special comeback gig in Portland. The show, a 19 song set at the Key Largo club, was recorded for a live album issued during 1998.

Thayer was believed to have formed a Portland based record label with his brother John and signed 28 IF, a group fronted by Tommy's longtime buddy Jeff Labansky. Ex-KISS drummer Eric Singer played drums on 28 IF's debut album. Holmes would subsequently turn up as a member of Progressive Metal band BLACK SYMPHONY.

St. Jaimes set to work on his ST. JAMES project issuing a debut album, produced by former YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and LOUDNESS vocalist Mike Vescara, in October of 2001 on the Melodic Mayhem label. Meantime interest in BLACK 'N BLUE remained resilient and to satisfy fan demand an album of early demo material was issued in the same month. 2002 brought news that Tommy Thayer had officially replaced ACE FREHLEY in KISS. Later that year it was learned that St. James was ensconced in the recording studio with Billy Morris of WARRANT working on fresh material. The singer would also be tackling club dates under the unwieldy band title of A NIGHT OF BLACK 'N BLUE WITH JAMIE ST. JAMES.

By March of 2003 it appeared a resurrected BLACK 'N BLUE had signed to the British based Z Records label, announcing a new album entitled 'Hell Yeah!'. The band line comprised Jaime St. James, Jef Warner, Patrick Young, Pete Holmes and TEN POUND RAIN's Shawn Sonnenschein on second guitar. A November US tour package saw the band ranked alongside BULLETBOYS and L.A. GUNS. However, these gigs were dramatically cut short in early November when an altercation resulted in BULLETBOYS tour manager Mark Rojas being stabbed by a bus driver employed by BLACK 'N BLUE en route to a Detroit gig.

Jaime St. James became the new frontman for WARRANT in February of 2004. In mid 2005 it was revealed that the 'Hell Yeah!' album was still unfinished. Further news emerged in October, with Z Records stating a relocation of studios was responsible for delays but Jaime St. James posting on his website to the effect that the band were suffering without "receiving the money to get this thing done". The singer also revealed he had put down drums on the album sessions.

In November 2006 Pete Holmes was announced as joining the resurrected MALICE. Crash Music Classics issued the 'Rarities' BLACK 'N BLUE in April 2007.