Kendall heard about a singer named Jack Russell late in 1978 and asked him to audition for his band ZZYZX who played original and cover material. It was then and there that they decided to make their own band. The first version of the band was called Highway. Then they changed it to Livewire and finally they played one last show under the name Wires. Then in 1979 Jack Russell was arrested for shooting a live in maid in a botched robbery attempt and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The band all separated, leaving Kendall to start again from scratch. He recruited a bass player from San Diego named Don Costa and after auditioning 3 drummers that he didn't like, he decided to call Tony Richards, who he had jammed with before. They auditioned several singers including John Bush from Armoured Saint. They settled on a female singer named Lisa Baker. The name they decided on was Dante Fox. When George Lynch ask Lisa to join his band Exciter a few months later Kendall asked a singer named Butch Say to join, who had a Rob Halford type style. They would go on to play around the Los Angeles and Orange County scene for the next year or so. Kendall received several letters written by Jack from Jack's parents. The letters mainly consisted of Russell saying to please give him an audition and he will blow away any singer they have. When Kendall found out Russell got released early he talked the band into auditioning him. With a 2 to 1 vote it was decided to replace Butch Say with Russell who would become the band's 3rd singer. Russell's first show was at the Troubador in Hollywood after serving only 18 months of his sentence, at a California Youth Authority Facility. While Dante Fox was performing at The Whiskey in Hollywood one night in 1982, Alan Niven, a record executive was in the audience and came backstage to give the band his card. The following day Mark accompanied his singer Jack Russell went to the label and met with Niven. Before they knew it they were recording their first EP. Since then Great White has been recording and touring for over 30 years with sales approaching 10 million. Russell was replaced in 2011 with XYZ singer Terry Ilous after Russell could not return to the band, after a long hiatus. The band is still touring and making music, releasing their latest album Elation in May 2012 on Frontiers Records.