Firehouse has released their new single “Mighty Fine Lady.” The song marks the band's first release with new vocalist Nate Peck , winner American Idol 2023.
The vocalist officially joined the group last May. He replaced the late Firehouse vocalist and founder CJ Snare , who passed away on April 5, 2024, at the age of 64, after a long battle with cancer.
However, the song is only available for download purchase on the band's website.
Guitarist Bill Leverty commented in an interview with The Hair Metal Guru about Snare's illness and Peck's hiring. He said [transcription via Blabbermouth ]:
"It was about two and a half years before [his death] that CJ was doing well. Then he had a stomach ache. And we were playing a show in Milwaukee. He came up to me, at the beginning of the intro to 'Love Of A Lifetime' or something like that, and he said, 'I've never felt so bad.' I said, 'Do you want to stop and take a break?', and he said, 'No, I'll get over it.' Because he had that 'the show must go on' vibe. So we finished the show and I said, 'Maybe I'll go get a look at it.' And he said, 'Yeah, it'll probably pass.' We didn't know what it was. And then it didn't get better."
CJ Snare gave his blessing to Firehouse.
“It was around that time that Robby Lochner said, ‘Yeah, I know you guys have a lot of shows booked and maybe you need a replacement. And you need to check this guy out.’ I’d never heard of him. And I don’t watch American Idol. But I checked out
Nate’s Instagram and he has all these songs that he sings from the greatest singers of all time, in my opinion. And he’s just amazing. And he’s singing live.”
“We didn’t have any rehearsals with the guy. We did a long soundcheck that day at the New England Rock Fest, which was his first show, and he just killed it. I mean, he was really nervous, but he killed it. And I sent a video to CJ, and I was talking to him on the phone. He said, like, ‘This guy is good.’ He said, ‘Bill, this is the guy.’”
According to Bill Leverty, the late CJ Snare gave his blessing to Firehouse to continue with
Peck as vocalist:
“His problem was that he never wanted us to cancel a show. Even after he got sick, he didn’t want us to cancel a show. Especially after we hired Nate. He said, ‘Okay, this guy can sound like Firehouse. So, this is the guy.’”
