The Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) welcomes Air Supply for their 50th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, March 13 at 8 p.m., as part of the duo’s worldwide tour, “The Lost in Love Experience,” which began Nov. 1, 2025.
Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster or by calling the bergenPAC Box Office at (201) 227-1030. Tickets are $69, $79, $99, $129, and $159. For more information, click here.
Air Supply: An Overview
Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, collectively known as the soft rock duo Air Supply, are beloved by millions of fans around the globe. They have spent nearly half a century refining their skills, harnessing their passion, and unleashing the intimate yet rocking energy of their iconic 1980s hits that made them global rockstars.
Roughly 50 years (exact date: May 12, 1975) since they met in the chorus of the Australian touring company that hosted Jesus Christ Superstar, the duo continues to tour North America and overseas, with about 130 performances a year. Prepare to enjoy the duo’s hit songs, which include “All Out of Love,” The One That You Love,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Here I Am,” and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.”
Beginnings and Early Career
Air Supply’s founding members met on May 12, 1975, during rehearsal for the Australian production of the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It was a musical that used a rock opera style to tell the story of the last week of Jesus Christ’s life from the perspective of Judas Iscariot.
Chrissie Hammond, an English singer and musician, best known as one half of the rock duo Cheetah, portrayed Mary Magdalene, while the current Air Supply members, Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell, were in the chorus. With the show, they toured Australia and New Zealand for 18 months.
In 1958, at the age of three, English-born Hammond migrated to Melbourne with her family, including her older sister, Lyndsay Hammond, who also became a rock singer. Russell, also English-born, had been a percussionist with the United Kingdom group Union Blues in 1965.
After arriving in Australia in 1968, Russell performed solo and later in 1973 became a member of Eli Flash with Hammond, her sister Lyndsay, Brenton White, and Sam McNally later of Stylus. The song “Love and Other Bruises” was originally demoed by Russell, Lyndsay Hammond, and Brenton White in 1974.
Hitchcock left school in 1965 to work as a salesman while also joining a band called the 19th Generation, where he sang and played drums.
19th Generation playing in the 1960s. Russell Hitchcock is on the left, playing drums.
Photo/Olivertwist6, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Air Supply was formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975 as a vocal harmony group. Hammond and Hitchcock were on vocals, and Russell was on guitar. When “Jesus Christ Superstar” ended in late 1976, Hammond left Air Supply to form a hard rock group with her sister called Cheetah. Hammond was replaced by Jeremy Paul, who went on to play bass guitar and backing vocals for the group.
Air Supply’s first single, titled “Love and Other Bruises,” was released in October 1976 and peaked at No. 6 on the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart. It first aired on the TV show called “Countdown” in Dec. 1976. The song is their highest charting single in Australia.
After releasing their single, the group released their debut album, “Air Supply,” in December 1976. This album reached No. 17 on the Kent Music Report albums chart and was even given gold accreditation.
Becoming Stars in the U.S.
Air Supply’s original version of “Lost in Love” appeared on the duo’s fourth album, “Life Support,” released in 1979. The song became a massive success, reaching No. 13 in Australia and No. 3 in New Zealand.
The song was such a big hit that it caught the attention of music executive Clive Davis, who at the time was President of Arista Records. Davis quickly signed the duo and released their U.S. debut album “Lost in Love”.
Air Supply’s first Stateside track, “Lost in Love,” became the fastest-selling single in the world, reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. They followed up this success with Graham’s “All Out of Love,” which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100.
The duo played their first official show in the U.S. at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, California, on Oct. 1, 1980. The show marked the beginning of a three-month bus tour. Later on, they drove overnight, 12 hours, to Portland, Oregon, got up, and held a press conference at the Holiday Inn with 100 people. Both look back fondly on these moments, having never experienced anything like it before.
Present Career
Continuing to make musical history with every sold out performance around the world, legendary pop duo Air Supply was riding the wave of an eventful year in 2025, with concerts across North America, Australia, South America, Europe and Asia, a biopic in the works, an impending Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and “A Matter of Time,” their first studio album in 15 years.
Graham Russell’s heartfelt and soul-piercing songwriting talents, along with his and Russell Hitchcock’s dynamic trademark vocals, are on emphatic display throughout the multi-faceted 11-track collection, which was released digitally on Dec. 3, 2025, with the same release date for an exclusive special edition 80’s style vinyl version.
Released to coincide with Air Supply’s incredible 50th anniversary as a duo, A Matter of Time caps a historic career that compares to the Beatlesque feat of five consecutive Top Five Singles (“Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” “Every Woman in the World,” “The One That You Love,” “Here I Am”).
During their early 80’s run, they sold a collective total of 20 million copies of their first three albums (“Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Now & Forever”) and the 1983 “Greatest Hits” collection and achieved multi-million radio plays for five of their hits, including “Sweet Dreams” and the Jim Steinman-penned “Making Love Out of Nothing At All.” In 2010, the year Air Supply released their last studio album, “Mumbo Jumbo,” Graham was honored with a BMI Million-Air Certificate recognizing three million performances of “All Out of Love.”
“When it comes to our longevity, it’s sometimes hard to think about it, but Russell and I do often, usually while we’re traveling between cities,” said Graham. “You can never imagine being in a band or being an artist for that long, so it’s not easy to wrap your thoughts around it. When we started having some success, we thought we’d be around for a few years. Then, as the years roll by, all of a sudden, we’re at a half-century since we met, and people still enjoy hearing our songs and seeing us perform them.
“If someone had told us back in 1976 when we recorded our first album, we would still be around, performing and recording stronger than ever, we would have told them they were insane,” Russell says. “These wonderful recent developments — playing the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, the biopic, the Hollywood Walk of Fame — feel like a great stamp of approval from the media. But more importantly, they affirm the validity and continued relevance of our music.”
About BergenPAC
The Bergen Performing Arts Center is located at 30 North Van Brunt St., Englewood, N.J., 07631
Founded in 2003, the 1,367-seat Bergen Performing Arts Center, or BergenPAC, is the area’s cultural center. Housed in a historic Art Deco-style theater with one of the finest acoustic halls in the United States, BergenPAC attracts a stellar roster of world-class entertainment.
The Performing Arts School at BergenPAC is the innovative, educational performing arts initiative that, through programs, classes, outreach, school shows, and main theater presented shows, reaches more than 30,000 students and community youth annually.
The Performing Arts School provides community youth, age 2 months to 21 years, with unique, “hands-on” training in music, dance, and theater by industry professionals. It is through the ongoing generosity of sponsors, donors, members, and patrons that the not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation BergenPAC and The Performing Arts School are able to thrive and enrich our community.
