Day joined The Amboy Dukes in 1969 after their former vocalist was fired. Day had just quit his own band, Rusty Day & The Midnighters. He stayed only for one album, Migration.
Career with Cactus
was initially conceived in late 1969 as a supergroup of the Vanilla Fudgerhythm section of bassistTim Bogert and drummerCarmine Appice with guitarist Jeff Beck and singer Rod Stewart. However, Beck had an automobile accident and Stewart joined Ronnie Wood in Faces. Out of frustration, Bogert and Appice formed what became known as Cactus in early 1970. The cast was complete when Day joined them on vocals and Jim McCarty joined on lead guitar. Having made a name for himself in Detroit's rock scene, Day worked to restore The Band Detroit to national prominence. The Band Detroit was formed as an offshoot of The Detroit Wheels by members Steve Gaines, Teddy "T-Mel" Smith, Nathaniel Peterson, Terry Emery, Bill Hodgeson, and others. There is a recording of Rusty Day, Steve Gaines, and the rest of the band performing in 1973 called The Band Detroit - The Driftwood Tapes, which got released as a Lynyrd Skynyrd bootleg in 1998. In 1976, Day re-incarnated Cactus by placing an ad in Rolling Stone which stated that he needed exceptionally good guitar, bass, and drums. This line-up lasted from 1976 until 1979, and featured Gary "Madman" Moffatt, who currently plays drums for.38 Special. Day, having turned down AC/DC's request to have him join their band to replace Bon Scott, and Rossington-Collins's request to have him replace Ronnie Van Zant, eventually formed Uncle Acid & The Permanent Damage Band which scored him a deal with Epic Records. Rusty Day formed his last band, The Rusty Day Band, in 1979 and hired Jacksonville guitarist Mike Owings. Owings had just left the Jacksonville, Florida band Lizzy Borden with Steve Gaines' brother, Bob Gaines, as drummer. Owings was 20 years old and has since been a member of The Allen Collins Band, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Molly Hatchet, David Allan Coe and is currently bandleader of the Jacksonville group Woolly Bully.
Death
Day was fatally shot at his home on June 3, 1982. His son, his dog, and Garth McRae were also fatally shot during the same attack. The murder officially remains unsolved, although the Seminole County Sheriff's Office believe the victims may have known the perpetrator, and that the killings may have been drug related. In 2011, it was speculated that Ron Sanders was the one to perpetrate the shooting.
