St. Holmes was born and raised in
Riverview, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He received his first guitar for his eleventh birthday. He started his own neighborhood band, The Organized Confusion, and also played for high school dances.
1970s St. Holmes started the three-piece band Scott in 1972, for which he was lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. In 1974, Scott opened for an
Amboy Dukes show at the Lincoln Park Theater. The Amboy Dukes and their guitar player
Ted Nugent had already recorded several albums and were a staple of the Midwest rock scene at the time. When the Amboy Dukes broke up, Nugent's road manager (Phil Nicholson) contacted St. Holmes about auditioning as lead singer for Nugent's new solo project. St. Holmes remained in Nugent's band for the 1977 album
Cat Scratch Fever and its subsequent tour which produced the 1978
Double Live Gonzo! album. He and Nugent then parted ways, as their differences continued to grow. In 1979, St. Holmes joined up with Ted Nugent's bass player Rob Grange and ex-
Montrose drummer
Denny Carmassi to form St. Paradise. They released one self-titled album for
Warner Bros. in 1979 before moving on to other musical projects.
Later career In 2000, St. Holmes released his first solo album
Then and Now, a collection of his own rock material. Bassist Chase Chitty (
Pat Travers Band), drummer Steve Pace (Hydra,
Krokus,
Whitford/St. Holmes) and keyboardist Russ Still accompany St. Holmes with songs such as "Standing in the Rain", "Dr. Love" and "Surrounded", and the energy rocker "In Too Deep". On July 4, 2008, St. Holmes made a guest appearance at Ted Nugent's 6,000th concert in Detroit. He jammed on "Hey Baby", "
Cat Scratch Fever", and "
Stranglehold" with Nugent. On August 24, 2008, he joined Nugent on stage at
Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury in Westbury, New York. He sang and played guitar with Nugent on "Hey Baby", "Just What the Doctor Ordered", "Dog Eat Dog", "Stormtroopin", "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Stranglehold". St. Holmes re-recorded some famous Aerosmith songs for a special promotion and made them available in
MP3 format on his website. St. Holmes sang in the
Paul Reed Smith Band, co-writing songs such as "One in the Same" and "Ice Cold Kisses". The self-titled CD was released in June 2010, with a second album,
Time to Testify released in February 2017. On December 27, 2008, St. Holmes was a special guest at a Get the Led Out concert at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland. He played guitar for "Rock and Roll", then sang and played "Stranglehold" (Ted Nugent). St. Holmes is actually the voice heard in the track recording. He also performed "Stranglehold" with Get the Led Out at the Nokia in New York City in March 2009 and again in Baltimore in May 2010. In 2010, St. Holmes participated in a tribute album titled ''Mister Bolin's Late Night Revival'', a compilation of 17 previously unreleased tracks written by guitar legend
Tommy Bolin prior to his death in 1976. The CD includes other artists such as
HiFi Superstar,
Doogie White,
Eric Martin,
Troy Luccketta,
Jeff Pilson,
Randy Jackson,
Rachel Barton,
Rex Carroll,
Kimberley Dahme, and
The 77's. A percentage of the proceeds from this project will benefit the Jackson Recovery Centers. He toured again with Nugent from 2011 to 2014 and appeared on Nugent's 2014 album
Shutup & Jam! Whitford/St. Holmes reunited for a 2015 tour and the follow-up CD
Reunion was sold at these shows. Also in 2014, St. Holmes announced that Gibson would release a signature guitar in his name later in the year. The guitar is a white
Gibson SG custom with an ebony fingerboard and three
humbucker pickups. The guitar is fitted with a
vibrola. St. Holmes performed at the 2015
Dick Wagner Memorial "Remember the Child" benefit concert in Detroit, and he co-headlined the same event in 2016 with
Brad Whitford and
The Frost. In 2017, St. Holmes surprised fans by joining an
REO Speedwagon performance for an impromptu rendition of "Stranglehold" during the annual NAHA (Native American Heritage Assoc) benefit Rock Legends Cruise. St. Holmes is known for playing a variety of guitars throughout his career, including
Fender Stratocasters,
Gibson Les Pauls,
PRS Guitars, and various Gibson hollow-bodies. ==Discography==