One of the most memorable front men to come from the highly-produced MTV hard rock era was Jani Lane – the front man of rock band Warrant who combined tough melodies and a great voice. Born John Kennedy Oswald in Akron, Ohio, on February 1, 1964, he was the front man known to many as the voice of the band Warrant, whose hits include such well-known party anthems and ballads of their day as "Cherry Pie."

Early years

As with many rock performers of his time, it was during childhood and teenage years in the United States that Jani Lane found his love and interest in music performance, which would be his calling for decades ahead. In addition to the music talent that helped him grow into one of those voices that can be associated with the glam era in rock and roll, Lane's performance skills helped to set him apart from his peers. Unlike many others, it was clear right from the early days that for the boy the stage performance and singing meant not only the music but also the performance per se – an art form which can include emotions and dramatics in equal measure to the melodies.

Eventually he went to live in California, another thing that helped him grow as a rock star and find a way to develop his talent further. Hard rock music in California meant that there were a lot of talented singers to compete with and that in order to get noticed Jani Lane needed not only talent but a certain charisma, too. In contrast to many others who were capable of only loud singing and playing of instruments but couldn't deliver songs convincingly enough to make people pay attention and listen, the young singer had a sense of what song is and its components.

His sense of song made Jani Lane ready to go on and become famous in the rock world through working with and helping the band Warrant to become successful.

Warrant's fame

It was through the music produced by Warrant that Jani Lane gained his name and reputation. Warrant's Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, which became the first full-length album by Warrant in 1989, featured Jani Lane's strong performances in its tracks and gave listeners a chance to see this talented young man sing and play music. Songs "Down Boys" and "Heaven" are examples that show what kind of range of emotions Lane was able to perform, going from aggressive "Down Boys" to rather calm and even fragile "Heaven", the latter being among the songs that proved the versatility of his talent and helped the band get wide acclaim.

It should also be mentioned that in "Heaven" Lane showed not only his ability to change his voice but also to show a different attitude and emotion in music, thus helping the album become more successful through his vocals.

The next album, Cherry Pie (1990), which featured the title track of that name, became a breakthrough, too, although at the same time for the wrong reasons. While the album had more memorable songs ("Don't Waste My Time" among them), the popularity of the band Warrant became associated with "Cherry Pie". This song was a very good example of the songs of the period when rock became somewhat superficial.

It does not diminish Jani's talent in any way though: not only was this song catchy, it also showed the skills that would distinguish his vocals throughout the career: his strong voice helped give the song the right atmosphere while Lane's ability to perform helped to give it a sense.

Cherry Pie and other hits of the time showed that Jani Lane was a man able to create the mood in which he performs the songs: songs like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" performed by him in the albums after that showed that Warrant could do music which goes beyond the simple pop hits and is full of meaning and feelings.

Thus, Warrant was lucky enough to have a singer who gave each song a character of its own and allowed people to feel its spirit and mood and understand its lyrics. And his work in Warrant showed that Jani Lane was the voice that gave character to the whole band.

Later years and works

After the peak of his fame, which passed together with the popularity of the style of glam-metal rock, which had been so popular at that time, Lane started working solo, releasing the album "Back Down to One" and participating in several different side-projects (for example, the band called "Saints of the Underground") – all this allowing him to continue performing his favorite hard rock even in spite of changes in the trends of music in recent years. Such choice of music style and the songs to perform showed that the singer was still interested in hard and catchy rock songs full of strong melodies.

The later career of Jani Lane was a testimony of the difficulties that faced the artists like him: as the music industry changed, there wasn't so much place left for his music style as there used to be before. At the same time Jani Lane was always interesting for people to watch because in addition to his musical talent he had a character: people who watched the development of his career noticed the singer's humour and openness in addition to his talents in the studio and on the stage. That was a reason why Lane remained to be the subject of interest for rock music fans till his death.

Lane died on August 11, 2011 in Los Angeles.