During the winter of 2004 Michael, accepted to be part of a melodic rock oriented project patronized by Frontiers Records’ President Serafino Perugino. He approached both Michael Kiske and Dennis Ward with the proposition of recording a melodic rock/AOR album.
According to Kiske “The whole band was an idea of Serafino Perugino from Frontiers Records…He first got into contact with Dennis Ward of Pink Cream 69 and hired him to oversee the project…He proposed the idea to me and after hearing the songs, I agreed to do the record. I was impressed by the strength of the material.”
The resulting PLACE VENDOME debut album includes songs set to follow a straight melodic rock sound, “comparable to bands like FOREIGNER or JOURNEY”, according to Kiske.
Production duties are handled by Dennis Ward, with songs written on purpose for the record by himself with David Readman and Alfred Koffler, with contributions also from Gunther Werno. Musicians on the album include, besides Ward on bass, Kosta Zafiriou (ex. PINK CREAM 69) on drums, Gunther Werno (VANDENPLAS) on keyboards, Uwe Reitenauer (PINK CREAM 69) on guitars.
Place Vendome’s second album was released on February 20, 2009 and featured the same line-up. The songwriting for the STREETS OF FIRE album was provided by Torsti Spoof (Leverage), Ronny Milianowicz (Saint Deamon), Robert Sall (Work of Art) and Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear). A video was filmed for the song “My Guardian Angel“, marking Kiske’s visual return since 1996.
In 2012, Frontiers Records announced that Michael Kiske agreed to start working on a third Place Vendome album. A change in the line-up was also announced, with Dirk Bruinenberg (ex-Adagio) replacing Kosta Zafiriou as the drummer. The band’s third album, THUNDER IN THE DISTANCE was released on November 1, 2013. The songwriting for this release was provided by Magnus Karlsson, Timo Tolkki (ex-Stratovarius), Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline), Tommy Denander (Radioactive), Roberto Tiranti and Andrea Cantarelli (Labyrinth), Sören Kronqvist (Sunstorm) and Brett Jones. A music video was filmed for the song “Talk To Me“.
In 2016, it was confirmed by Dennis Ward that a fourth Place Vendome album was being recorded. The new album would be entitled CLOSE TO THE SUN and would feature songs written by Magnus Karlsson, Jani Liimatainen (Cain’s Offering, ex-Sonata Arctica), Olaf Thorsen (Vision Divine, Labyrinth), Fabio Lione (Angra, ex-Rhapsody of Fire, Vision Divine), Simone Mularoni (DGM), Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere), Alessandro Del Vecchio and Mike Palace. The album was released on February 24, 2017 and was the first Place Vendome release to feature guest guitar solos by Gus G (Firewind, ex. Ozzy Osbourne), Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray, Unisonic), Mandy Meyer (Krokus, Unisonic), Alfred Koffler (Pink Cream 69), Magnus Karlsson, Simone Mularoni and Michael Klein.