IN: Exile, originally known as The Exiles, is an American band founded in Richmond, Kentucky, by J.P. Pennington. They started by playing local clubs which led to touring with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars opening shows and providing backup for major rock artists of the period. Their name was shortened to Exile in 1973, consisting of guitarist Pennington, leader/lead singer Jimmy Stokley, Bernie Faulkner B3 sax acoustic guitar, Billy Luxon trumpet, keyboardist Buzz Cornelison, bassist Kenny Weir, and drummer Bobby Johns.

The band changed musical styles throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. They shortened their name to Exile in 1973 and released their eponymous debut album through Wooden Nickel Records that same year. Singles released from the album proved unsuccessful, and it would be a good five years before the band released a full-length follow-up album. In 1977, the band released the single "Try it On" on Atco Records, and it became a minor hit. The following year, Mike Chapman, an Australian who had established himself as a record producer in the UK, came to the United States in search of an experienced group who wrote their own material. Chapman heard an Exile demo and went to their next concert. Chapman evidently enjoyed what he saw. He and Exile decided to collaborate and together they produced the Mixed Emotions album on Warner/Curb Records. The first single release from that album was Kiss You All Over. The single reached Billboard's Top 40 on 5 August 1978. It remained on the chart for seventeen weeks and was No. 1 for four weeks in September. It was a best-seller for six months. Their follow up single, "You Thrill Me," also from the Mixed Emotions LP did not fare as well, although it did reach the Top 40 for one week on 3 February 1979. The band toured with Aerosmith, Heart, Dave Mason, Boston, Seals & Crofts and other hot pop acts of the late seventies throughout the United States, Europe and Africa. All There Is, the group's second Warner Bros. Records album, recorded a year later with a distinct disco beat, yielded a foreign hit, "The Part Of Me That Needs You Most." This single did particularly well in Europe and South Africa. Don't Leave Me This Way, their third album, produced by Peter Coleman, yielded two more singles, "Take Me Down" and "Smooth Sailing." Once again, it did well in Europe and South Africa although their popularity in the United States waned. Numerous personnel changes took place in 1979. Perhaps most significantly, Stokley would leave the group that year, forcing remaining members guitarist/vocalist J.P. Pennington, keyboardist Buzz Cornelison, keyboardist/vocalist Marlon Hargis, bassist/vocalist Sonny Lemaire and drummers Steve Goetzman and Gary Freeman to search for a new lead singer. A young singer, Les Taylor, accepted an invitation to join the group and shared lead vocal duties with Pennington. By the early 1980s, other lineup changes took place, including the exit of original member Buzz Cornelison, plus keyboardist Mark Gray, who co-wrote "The Closer You Get" and "Take Me Down", both of which became hits for the group Alabama, played a short stint from 1980 to 1982.

Did they write or release any top charters or win awards?

OUT:

IN: Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (born 22 February 1949) is an Austrian former Formula One driver and a three-time F1 World Drivers' Champion, winning in 1975, 1977 and 1984. He is currently the only driver to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren, the sport's two most successful constructors. He is considered by some as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines (Lauda Air and Niki).

After an unsuccessful start to the 1970s culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973 season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca di Montezemolo and were resurgent in 1974. The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his debut race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. His first Grand Prix (GP) victory - and the first for Ferrari since 1972 - followed only three races later in the Spanish Grand Prix. Although Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions, a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one more race that year, the Dutch GP. He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car. The 1975 F1 season started slowly for Lauda; after no better than a fifth-place finish in the first four races, he won four of the next five driving the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a third-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza; Lauda's teammate Regazzoni won the race and Ferrari clinched their first Constructors' Championship in 11 years; Lauda then picked up a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP at Watkins Glen. He also became the first driver to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife in under seven minutes, which was considered a huge feat as the Nordschleife section of the Nurburgring was two miles longer than it is today. Lauda famously gave away any trophies he won to his local garage in exchange for his car to be washed and serviced. Unlike 1975 and despite tensions between Lauda and Montezemolo's successor, Daniele Audetto, Lauda dominated the start of the 1976 F1 season, winning four of the first six races and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of the year at the British GP, he had more than double the points of his closest challengers Jody Scheckter and James Hunt, and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. It would be a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham's victories in 1959 and 1960. He also looked set to win the most races in a season, a record held by the late Jim Clark since 1963.

who did he work with?

OUT:
Lauda's teammate Regazzoni