Formed by brothers Michael (vocals, guitar), Don (vocals, keyboards) and Steve Kehr (drums), and rounded out by Miami native Yul Vazquez (lead guitar) and Klyph Black (bass), Urgent rose from the East Coast in the mid-1980s. Initially looked at by
Epic Records, the band wound up signing with newly formed
EMI subsidiary
Manhattan Records and turned to British rock legends
Ian Hunter and
Mick Ronson for the production of their debut album.
Cast the First Stone was released in 1985 and became a minor success with the single "Running Back" peaking at No. 79 on the
Billboard Hot 100. A second single off the album, "Love Can Make You Cry", was re-recorded for and featured on the successful
Iron Eagle soundtrack album. The 1987
Tom Allom produced follow-up album,
Thinking Out Loud, which spawned the single/video "Can't Take It No More", was not a success and the band split up. Yul Vazquez, along with drummer Peter Clemente, would join former
Plasmatics man
Jean Beauvoir on his
Drums Along the Mohawk tour before both joined
Diving for Pearls whose eponymous debut album was released via
Epic Records in 1989. Vazquez segued into an acting career starting in 1992 with the movie
The Mambo Kings and had a memorable recurring role on
Seinfeld between 1995 and '98 as Bob, The Intimidating Gay Guy. Vazquez was nominated for a 2011
Tony Award for "
Best Featured Actor in a Play" for his role of Cousin Julio in
The Motherfucker With the Hat. Bassist Klyph Black was also a member of Detroit, MI power trio Vendetta, featuring guitarist/vocalist Nikki Buzz, whose
Max Norman produced album was issued on Epic Records in 1982. Black, along with Peter Clemente, was part of the second incarnation of Secret Chiefs, a NY band put together by
Hanoi Rocks frontman
Michael Monroe. Black and Clemente both appear on Monroe's 1987 debut solo album,
Nights Are So Long. Black was a long-time member of the
Grateful Dead cover band
Zen Tricksters and can now be found in the bands Black & Sparrow, Jam Stampede and Rumor Has It. Michael and Steve Kehr were members of pop rock band Sterling who released the album
City Kids, produced by
David Kershenbaum, on
A&M Records in 1980. Don Kehr would contribute backing vocals to the 1989 Hunter/Ronson album
YUI Orta as well as to Ian Hunter's
Artful Dodger album in 1996. He also rekindled his
Broadway career, having made his Broadway debut at age 12, co-starring with
F. Murray Abraham in
Legend in 1976. In 2005, he released the solo album
Shift. Kehr can be seen as Norm Waxman in
Clint Eastwood's 2014 movie adaptation of
Jersey Boys. After the demise of Urgent in 1987, Michael Kehr formed the short lived The Michael Kehr Project before retiring from music and turning his focus on family. He resurfaced in 2008 and began writing new songs and working with producer Mark DeSimone. Shortly afterwards, he reunited with brother Donnie and the two have since written new music together, including the song "Falling". ==Band members==