John Elefante

==1981–1984: Kansas==
In late 1981, Elefante auditioned for his second band position, as the new lead singer and keyboardist for [[Kansas (band)|Kansas]], after the departure of its co-founder [[Steve Walsh (musician)|Steve Walsh]]. The previous year, Kansas was one of the top-grossing concert acts in the world.<ref>Pollstar{{better source needed|date=July 2022}}</ref> Several of the top vocalists of the time applied for the job, including [[Sammy Hagar]], Dennis "Fergie" Fredriksen, and Jim Stafford.

Elefante did lead vocals and keyboards on two albums, and was a major songwriter along with [[Kerry Livgren]]. On 1982's ''[[Vinyl Confessions]]'', he sang the No. 4 [[Billboard charts#Mainstream Rock Tracks|Billboard Mainstream Rock]] hit, "[[Play the Game Tonight]]". He wrote "Chasing Shadows and the Top 40 single, "Right Away". In 1983, on the following album, ''[[Drastic Measures]]'', he wrote "[[Fight Fire With Fire (Kansas song)|Fight Fire with Fire]]", which remains the band's highest charting single at No. 3 (Mainstream Rock). He wrote "Everybody's My Friend", which is the second single and reached No. 34 on the [[Billboard charts#Mainstream Rock Tracks|Billboard Mainstream Rock]] chart.

While with Kansas, he became a record producer. He issued ''Perfect Timing'' (1984) for the Southern California group, [[Sweet Comfort Band]]. Though not a major commercial success, [[Petra (band)|Petra]]'s ''[[Back to the Street]]'' was a Grammy-nominated, breakthrough, commercial success for both Elefante and the band. He also contributed songwriting, keyboards, background vocals, and engineering to the effort.

In 1984, on the retrospective collection ''[[The Best of Kansas]]'', he wrote the album's one new track, "Perfect Lover". That year, he, Kerry Livgren, and Dave Hope left the band.