Jo Jo Gunne was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States, in 1971 by Jay Ferguson and

Mark Andes Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948) is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Canned Heat, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal. Early life Andes was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Los Angeles, one o ...

after they had left the rock band Spirit. The band was named after the

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

song " Jo Jo Gunne". The band released their eponymous debut album in 1972 and had a top 10 hit song, "Run Run Run", in the UK. They released three further albums before disbanding in 1974. They reunited in 2005 for a time to record a fifth album, ''Big Chain''.

Career

Jo Jo Gunne was formed by Jay Ferguson ( keyboards,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

) and brothers

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

(

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and vocals) and Matt Andes (born February 6, 1949; guitar, vocals), along with William "Curly" Smith (born January 31, 1952,

Wolf Point, Montana Wolf Point is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,517 at the 2020 census, down 4% from 2,621 in the 2010 Census. It is the largest community on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Wolf ...

; drums, vocals, and harp) in 1971. Ferguson chose the group's name, "Jo Jo Gunne", from a 1958

song about a monkey of that name that caused a fight between a lion and an elephant. They performed their first major show in Los Angeles in May 1971 before they were signed to

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

. The band's first album, ''Jo Jo Gunne'', was released in 1972 and the album reached number 57 on ''Billboards Top 100 Albums. The band had a number 6 hit in the UK Singles Chart in April 1972 with a song, "Run Run Run", taken from the album. It also received airplay on U.S.

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

FM radio stations. The song reached number 30 in Canada. Their second album, ''Bite Down Hard'', was a minor success, peaking on the ''Billboard'' Top 200 chart at number 75. Due to the lack of a breakout single, this album sold more poorly than their 1971 introductory effort. The album was produced by

Bill Szymczyk William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and recording engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the ...

, who was best known at the time for his production work on

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

's '' Barnstorm'' and

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

's '' Completely Well''. The band's third album, ''Jumpin' the Gunne'', featuring an obese naked woman on the cover, failed to rise any higher than number 169 on the ''Billboard'' Top 200 chart. The band's fourth album, ''So...Where's the Show?'', featured new guitarist John Staehely (a former member of Spirit), whose harder-edged sound complemented Ferguson's songs, giving the band a much harder rock sound than on their previous efforts. The group did not maintain the commercial momentum of their first release. They broke up in 1974.

Personnel changes

Following the first album, Mark Andes left the band after a falling out with his brother Matt and Ferguson, and was replaced by Jimmie Randall. Randall introduced a brighter bass sound and helped increase the band's overall volume. Matt Andes left after ''Jumpin' the Gunne'', and was briefly replaced by Starr Donaldson (born September 23, 1950) in 1974. A replacement was soon found in John Staehely (born 25 January 1952,

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

), who had played on ''

Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

'', the Spirit album that followed Ferguson and Andes's departure. Staehely's

overdriven Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly ...

guitar was a significant change from Matt Andes's

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

–style

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

. After the band broke up, Ferguson recorded several solo albums, which yielded the

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s "Thunder Island" and " Shakedown Cruise". He then scored TV shows and several movies. Mark Andes joined

Firefall Firefall is an American soft rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts (musician), Rick Roberts, former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement ...

and then

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

. Smith went on to have a career as a session drummer, and played with Spirit in the 1980s, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

from 1994 to 2000.

Reunion

The original line-up temporarily got back together around 1992. In a July 1995 interview in ''Vintage Guitar Magazine'', Mark Andes recalls: "Curly Smith called me up and noted that it was the twentieth anniversary of when that band had formed;

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

took us into the studio and we recorded a lot of new material, but it didn't go anywhere". They began

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

again in 2005 in Santa Barbara at Jay Ferguson's studio. The 2005 recordings were eventually put out as an album, ''Big Chain'', on Blue Hand Records. The music was co-produced by the band and engineered by Ferguson.

Discography

Albums

Singles

*"Run Run Run" - No. 27 (US), No. 30 (Canada), No. 42 (Germany), No. 6 (UK) *"Shake that Fat" *"Ready Freddy" *"Rock Around The Symbol" *"I Wanna Love You" *"Where Is The Show" *"Take Me Down Easy" *"Big, Busted Bombshell From Bermuda"

References

External links

Official homepage
* * {{Authority control 1971 establishments in California Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups from Los Angeles Rock music groups from California Asylum Records artists