Sneaker was a West Coast American rock band, active from 1977 to 1983. The band is best known for its Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit single, "More Than Just the Two of Us", from its first album, Sneaker (1981). They also had a minor hit with "Don't Let Me In", a song written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
Sneaker was composed of Tim Torrance on guitars, Mitch Crane on vocals and guitars, Michael Carey Schneider on vocals and keyboards, Mike Hughes on drums, Michael Cottage on bass guitar, and Jim King on keyboards and vibraphone. The band cited as its primary musical influences Steely Dan, Eagles and The Doobie Brothers. They released two studio albums on Handshake Records and Tapes: Sneaker in 1981 (which included their Top 40 hit, "More Than Just the Two of Us") and Loose in the World in 1982. Both albums were produced by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, a former member of both Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers. In 2001, Cool Sound Records, a Japanese record label, released Early On, a collection of their early recordings and, in 2003, released Footprints In Japan, a 1982 live recording from Osaka & Tokyo, Japan.
History
Childhood friends Michael Carey Schneider and Mitch Crane formed a duo named Schneider and Crane in the early 1970s. They later met up with bassist Michael Cottage, and the three of them put together the group Sneaker. The group's name was taken from the Steely Dan song "Bad Sneakers".