Jo Jo Gunne

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Jo Jo Gunne is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1971 .

Band history

Jay Ferguson ( keyboard , piano , vocals and guitar ) and Mark Andes ( bass and vocals), who had previously left the band Spirit , formed Jo Jo Gunne with Andes' brother Matt Andes (guitar, vocals) and William “Curly” Smith ( Drums , vocals and harp ) and signed a record deal with the newly established record label Asylum Records. They borrowed their group name from the Chuck Berry song of the same name from 1958, which also announced the program of the band: straightforward rock 'n' roll .

The first single Run Run Run , released from the self-titled 1972 debut album, was also the only hit of the group: Top 30 in the USA and 6th in Great Britain. In addition to this rock-pop song with catchy tune ("doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo , run - run - run “) the debut offers hard, straightforward West Coast rock and boogie with funk and soul moments and is one of the most convincing releases of the group. Mark Andes then left the band and was replaced by Jimmie Randall.

The album cover for the third LP Jumpin 'the Gunne (1973) shows the band members lying next to each other in a large brass bed. On the back a corpulent, naked woman hovers diagonally above them, while a little pig looks up at her on the floor. The innersleeve reveals the pig and the fat woman face to face, nose to nose. The album credits are noted on it in a way that cuts of beef are written out on a drawing of a cow in butcher shops. This illustration, which is widely perceived as tasteless, was held responsible for the fact that the band's sales figures fell rapidly, while the album itself offers technically solid but uninspired mainstream rock with no particular highlights.

After Jumpin 'the Gunne Matt Andes left the band and was replaced first by star Donaldson and then by John Staehely, who had previously played on the Spirit album Feedback . The last original album by Jo Jo Gunne So ... Where's the Show? (1974) showed the band once again in top form, but could not build on their early success commercially. In 1975, Jo Jo Gunne finally broke up.

Jay Ferguson started a successful solo career, which brought him two hit singles with Thunder Island and Shakedown Cruise in the late 1970s . The Andes brothers joined a revived version of Spirit in 1976. Mark Andes was a permanent member of Firefall from the start and played for Heart from the early 1980s . Curly Smith was successful as a studio drummer, also playing for Spirit in the 1980s and Boston during the second half of the 1990s .

reunion

Jo Jo Gunne was revived in 2004/2005 with the original line-up. Jay Ferguson, Mark and Matt Andes and Curly Smith have been touring together again since then and recorded a new album ( Big Chain ) in 2005 .

occupation

Founding members

  • Jay Ferguson (born May 10, 1947 in Burbank , California ), keyboards and vocals
  • Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ), bass and vocals - until 1972 and from 2004/2005
  • Matthew Andes (* 1950? In California), guitar and vocals - until 1973 and from 2004/2005
  • William “Curly” Smith (born January 31, 1952 in Wolf Point, Montana ), drums, harp and vocals

Reshuffles

  • Jimmie Randall (born February 14, 1949 in Dallas , Texas ), bass and vocals - from 1973
  • Star Donaldson, guitar - short term for Matt Andes
  • John “LBJ” Staehely (born January 25, 1952 in Austin , Texas), guitar and vocals - from 1974

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Jo Jo Gunne
  US 57 May 27, 1972 (22 weeks)
Bite down hard
  US 75 May 19, 1973 (17 weeks)
Jumpin 'the Gunne
  US 169 01/19/1974 (7 weeks)
So ... where's the show?
  US 198 12/28/1974 (1 week)
Singles
Run Run Run
  DE 42 06/12/1972 (2 weeks)
  UK 6th 03/25/1972 (12 weeks)
  US 27 03/18/1972 (11 weeks)

LPs / CDs

  • Jo Jo Gunne - Asylum 1972, Collectors' Choice Music 2003
  • Bite Down Hard - Asylum 1973, Collectors' Choice Music 2003
  • Jumpin 'the Gunne - Asylum 1973, Collectors' Choice Music 2004
  • So ... where's the show? - Asylum 1974, Collectors' Choice Music 2004
  • Big Chain - Blue Hand 2005

Singles

  • Run Run Run / Take It Easy - Asylum 1972
  • Shake That Fat / I Make Love - Asylum 1972
  • Ready Freddy / Wait a Lifetime - Asylum 1973
  • Take Me down Easy / Rock Around the Symbol - Asylum 1973
  • I Wanna Love You / Neon City - Asylum 1974
  • Where is the show? / Where is the show? (mono) - Asylum 1974

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barry Graves, Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: Das neue Rock Lexikon , Volume 1. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, ISBN 3-499-16320-9 , pp. 409/410.
  2. ↑ Review of the album Jo Jo Gunne at AMG
  3. ↑ Review of the album Jumpin 'the Gunne at AMG
  4. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US