fourth album simply titled Head East (1978) produced another hit with the band's cover of former Argent singer Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone", which peaked at number 46. In 1979, the band released the double-LP Head East Live!, and A Different Kind of Crazy. The former peaked at number 96 on the US Hot 100 charts. The band also performed on the soundtrack to the comic anthology film J-Men Forever. Head East also performed at the Culver Academies Graduation party in 1979, which in the prior years had been headlined by Styx and Quicksilver. In March 1980, bassist Dan Birney and guitarist Mike Somerville left the band, while singer John Schlitt was fired over a drug dependency. He would later recover, become a born-again Christian and reappear as the lead singer of the Contemporary Christian Music band Petra. Remaining members Boyd and Huston hired bassist Mark Boatman, guitarist Tony Gross, and former drummer and singer Dan Odum (during Huston's absence) to record their following album titled U.S. 1, released in October 1980. The album was their last to reach the charts and last recorded release on A&M. The band continued with little success, releasing albums on small labels. Some of them were Onward and Upward (1982) on Allegiance Records and Choice of Weapons (1988) released on Dark Heart Records, the latter album featuring Kurt Hansen taking on bass and vocal duties. By the time Choice of Weapons was recorded, Steve Huston had departed the band to become a recording studio engineer, in Indianola, Iowa in the early 1990s, leaving Boyd as the only original member. These were the last studio albums recorded with new original material being released as Head East. Subsequent albums featured re-issued, remixed studio and live performances of the more successful material. They would still continue to play around, with guitarist Somerville returning from 1994 to 2003. In 1999, a live album titled Live on Stage was released. The album featured songs from two shows at Denver's Rainbow Music Hall. The first five tracks are from a 1980 show featuring the original personnel, while the last 10 tracks are from a 1981 show featuring the latter line-up. The band continues to tour to this day, playing 30 to 40 shows each year. The band's original guitarist and songwriter Mike Somerville (born Michael A. Somerville on August 15, 1952 in Peoria, Illinois) died on February 28, 2020,