Dokken
is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. The band was nominated for a Grammy in 1989.

Dokken was composed of founder Don Dokken on vocals, George Lynch on lead guitar, Juan Croucier on bass and "Wild" Mick Brown on drums. In 1983 Croucier left Dokken in order to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. Currently only Dokken and Brown remain from the original line-up. After several personnel changes on guitar Dokken's attorney Jon Levin stepped in to fill the role in 2004. In 2001 Barry Sparks replaced Jeff Pilson on bass. In 2009 Sean McNabb replaced Barry Sparks on bass guitar.

Dokken was first formed around 1978 when Don Dokken teamed up with Jim Monanteras, Greg Leon, and Mick Brown. Prior to this Don had been playing club shows in the Los Angeles area billed as "Airborn", but had to change the band name to Dokken because another band with the same name had already acquired a record deal. In 1981 Don Dokken flew to Germany to sing background vocals on the upcoming Scorpions album Blackout in order to assist the band's vocalist Klaus Meine who was suffering from a vocal ailment. While there, Accept was recording in another studio and its manager was able to secure Don a deal with Carrere Records. Breaking the Chains was first released on this label in Germany under the name "Don Dokken", but shortly thereafter Don met up with George Lynch and Mick Brown, playing a band called Xciter at the time.

With the addition of Juan Croucier, Dokken finally had a steady line-up. Meanwhile in the United States, manager Cliff Bernstein got the band signed in the United States. The band did an arena tour in the United States supporting Blue Öyster Cult in 1983, but when the tour was over the band was left with little money and was nearly dropped from the label due to the album's lack of success.

While the band was very popular in Europe during this time they had not yet made commercial progress in the United States. Magazines such as Kerrang! publicised Dokken in the UK.

Juan Croucier left Dokken in 1983 to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. 1984 saw the release of album Tooth and Nail on 13 September. The album contained several hit songs including "Just Got Lucky", "Alone Again", and "Into The Fire", and sold over one million copies in the US alone, peaking at #49, while selling another estimated one million copies worldwide. On 9 November 1985 the band's third album Under Lock and Key was released. It also sold over one million copies with the singles "In My Dreams" (#24), "The Hunter" (#25) and "It's Not Love". During this time in the 1980s, Dokken opened for such bands as Judas Priest, AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Dio among others. In 1986 Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a documentary about concert goers before a Dokken and Judas Priest concert, was filmed and released.

Following a successful tour with Scorpions, Dokken returned to the studio in December 1986 to record "Dream Warriors", a song for the movie soundtrack A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The track brought the band to the attention of many UK hard rock fans. The song was released as a single (Dream Warriors / Back for the Attack) on 10 February 1987. After this release, the band took nearly 6 months off before recording Back for the Attack. The album was released on 27 November 1987, with the singles "Burning Like a Flame" (#20), "Heaven Sent" and "Kiss of Death" making the album the band's most successful release, reaching #13 on U.S. charts. It also included a remixed version of the single "Dream Warriors" (#22), and the accompanying music video featured band members interacting with the film's characters. Back for the Attack became Dokken's third record to reach platinum status. Sculptor Steve Fiorilla's customized writhing skeleton guitar was the highlight of their video for "Burning Like A Flame".

After releasing "Back for the Attack", the band toured as part of the Monsters of Rock Tour 1988 festival in the summer of 1988 along with Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica, and Kingdom Come Recordings from their April 1988 tour in Japan led to the release of live album Beast from the East on 16 November 1988, which went Gold in the United States and charted at #33. The album scored one studio single, titled "Walk Away" and a music video was made for it. …