Ten

Ten are an English melodic hard rock band which were formed in 1995. Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of a one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the US, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of Ten.