Jo Jo Gunne
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Jo Jo Gunne is a rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Jay Ferguson (keyboards, vocals and guitar) and Mark Andes (bass and vocals) after the two of them had left Spirit.
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[edit] Career
With the addition of Andes' brother, Matt Andes (born California) (guitar, vocals), and William "Curly" Smith (born 31 January 1952, Wolf Point, Montana) (drums, vocals and harp), the four of them were signed to Asylum Records.
They had a Top 40 hit with the song, "Run, Run, Run", taken from their 1972 self-titled debut album.
The group did not maintain the commercial momentum of their debut release. With Jumpin' the Gunne's tasteless album cover being blamed for drastically falling sales, they broke up in 1975. However they made several notable tracks, especially "Take It Easy," "Broken Down Man," "Neon City," and "Falling Angel."[citation needed]
[edit] Personnel changes
Following the first album, Mark Andes left the band and was replaced by Jimmie Randall (born 14 February 1949, Dallas, Texas). Randall introduced a brighter bass sound, and helped hike up the band's overall volume.
Matt Andes departed after Jumpin' the Gunne, and he was briefly replaced by Star Donaldson. A more permanent replacement was found in John Staehely (born 25 January 1952, Austin, Texas), who had played on Feedback, the Spirit album that followed Ferguson and Ande's departure. Staehely's overdriven guitar was a complete change from Matt Andes's Ry Cooder style slide guitar.
After the band broke up, Ferguson recorded several solo albums, including the hit singles "Thunder Island" and "Shakedown Cruise", and scored TV shows and mostly non-notable films. Andes joined Firefall, and later, Heart. Smith went on to have a successful career as a session drummer, and also played with Spirit in the 1980s and Boston from 1994 to 2000.
[edit] Reunion
The original line-up reformed in 2005, and are touring and recording again.
[edit] Albums
- Jo Jo Gunne (1972)
- Bite Down Hard (1973)
- Jumpin' The Gunne (1973)
- So...Where's The Show? (1974)
- Big Chain (2005)

