After a few months at the Holiday Inn the band realized that what audiences there really wanted was not a front man who repeated off-color limericks or introduced songs by saying, "This next one is called 'She was only the fisherman's daughter, but when she saw his rod, she reeled'." What these lonely traveling salesmen and divorced or philandering middle-aged men were really looking for was a good-looking chick singer.
So they unceremoniously dumped the lead singer, replaced him with a talented female vocalist, and renamed the band as "Skyline," featuring Al Perkins on bass, Ron Pekrul on drums, Gail Hensley on vocals, and Bob Burtis on keyboards and vocals. It was around this time that Bob passed through a difficult and troubling phase in his musical career during which he developed a strange affinity for leisure suits in pastel colors while wearing a pageboy hairstyle, much like that of Richard Carpenter.
It was a difficult period for many musicians and performers, when Holiday Inns and Steak & Ale restaurants became popular hangouts for young adults, and Barry Manilow was the artist of the day. When Skyline could no longer find work, Bob jettisoned the bass player and drummer and began working with lead vocalist Gail Hensley as a duo around the Twin Cities.
