Baton Rouge was a melodic hard rock band with heavy blues overtones not that far removed from early Whitesnake and Tangier.
The band originally formed in Louisiana as Voices and consisted of Kelly Keeling (guitar and keyboards), Lance Bulen (vocals), Keith Harrison (bass) and Harold Knappenburger (drums). After changing their name to Meridian and finally Baton Rouge the group relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 and revamped their lineup; Keeling took over on vocals while Bulen switched to guitar and a new rhythm section of Scott Bender (bass) and Corky McClellan (drums) was added. After a mere six live shows on the Sunset Strip they were signed to Atlantic records and hooked up with producers Jack Ponti and Vic Pepe who would co-write many of their songs. Their debut album, Shake Your Soul, debuted in 1990 and reached #160 on the Billboard charts. Keyboardist David Cremin, appeared on the album artwork, but didn't actually join the band until recording for the debut was finished.
For the follow-up album ex-Keel guitarist Tony Palmucci was brought in so that Keeling could focus solely on the vocals and Cremin was gone. Lights Out On The Playground was a commercial failure and the band promptly broke up when Keeling was offered the lead vocalist slot in Blue Murder.
A self-titled Baton Rouge album was released in 1997, but was really nothing more then Keeling supplying vocals to some Jack Ponti demos and was never really considered a group project. Keeling would resurface with the Michael Schenker Group, George Lynch and as a solo artist. Bulen joined a couple of former XYZ members in a band called Puzzle Gut before forming KingBaby. In 2001 Cremin (as vocalist) released an album with the band Roulette and Palmucci toured with Twisted Sister's Dee Snider.