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Zebra | |
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 Randy Jackson of Zebra | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | Atlantic, Mayhem Records |
| Members |
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Zebra is an American hard rock band founded in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It features Randy Jackson (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Felix Hanemann (bass, keyboards, synthesizers and backing vocals) and Guy Gelso (drums and backing vocals).
In the early 1970s, Jackson and Hanemann played together in a bar band called Shepherd's Bush, but in late 1974 they left Shepherd's Bush and founded a new band, Maelstrom, with Gelso on drums and Tim Thorson on keyboards. [1] The group initially was a cover band, playing Led Zeppelin and other technically proficient rock groups such as Yes, Jethro Tull, and Pink Floyd. [2]
But in February 1975, after Thorson left, the band decided to stay as a trio, with Hanemann handling keyboards as well as bass. They then adopted the name Zebra after seeing a cover of the magazine Vogue featuring a woman riding a zebra. [1] Initially based in New Orleans, they increasingly played more often on Long Island, and eventually all three members moved there to pursue success. [3] They had introduced their original material into their cover sets years before they were signed to Atlantic Records, including "The La La Song", "Free" and "Bears" (originally entitled "The Bears are Hibernating").
Zebra had been noticed by local colleges and even had some of their early original performances recorded by Long Island FM radio station WBAB, culminating in the inclusion of one of their songs on a release of "WBAB Homegrown Album", which commemorated local acts and performances culled from the station's on-air "Homegrown Hour" program.
Zebra's mainstream debut on Atlantic Records was in 1983 with their eponymous album, produced by Jack Douglas and featuring the singles "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door?" The band continued to tour throughout the 1980s, but took a temporary break in the early 1990s after being dropped by Atlantic Records. Randy Jackson formed his solo band Randy Jackson's China Rain, and released its only album in the year 1991.
Zebra finally resumed playing in 1994 and released Zebra IV in 2003, their first album of all-new material since 1986. A DVD of live performances, mostly from a show at the House of Blues in New Orleans, was released in the summer of 2007.
During the first half of 2007, drummer Bobby Rondinelli filled in for Guy Gelso, who was undergoing treatment for chest cancer. Fortunately, he came through it and was back with Zebra by the end of that year. [4]
On July 10, 2010, during their 35th-anniversary performance at New Orleans' Mahalia Jackson Theater, Zebra was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame [5] and on October 8, 2012 they were also inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. [6]
In March 2013 Zebra performed on Cruise to the Edge, a concert cruise featuring notable progressive rock bands including Yes, Steve Hackett, UK, Carl Palmer Band, Ambrosia, Saga, Nektar, Glass Hammer and IOEarth.
Although Zebra has not released any studio material since 2003's Zebra IV, the band continues to perform live, mostly in the Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United States, including New Orleans and New York City.
In February 2017 Jackson reported to Shreveport Times that the band was working on a new album: "I have new material and hopefully we'll get to work on a new record in the next couple of months." [7] In addition to a new album, a documentary on Zebra, tentatively titled Tell Me What You Want: 50 Years of Zebra, is in the works. [8]
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US Mainstream Rock | |||
| 1983 | "Who's Behind the Door" | 61 | 10 | Zebra |
| "Tell Me What You Want" | 107 | 29 | ||
| 1984 | "Bears" | — | 15 | No Tellin' Lies |
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Louisiana Music Hall of Fame | Inductee; Mahalia Jackson Theater 35th Anniversary Concert | [5] |
| 2012 | Long Island Music Hall of Fame | Inductee | [6] |
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Zebra is the debut album by the American hard rock band Zebra, released in 1983, eight years after they were founded. The album features all original material, with the exception of "Slow Down" injected at mid-song with much of the second stanza of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes", altered at its end:
Hard rock band Zebra, known for their legendary live shows, released the album Live in 1990. The recordings are taken from two shows they performed at Sundance in Bayshore on Long Island on November 25 and 26, 1989. It features six songs from their debut album, two songs from No Tellin' Lies, three from 3.V, and a single Led Zeppelin cover.
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Felix Hanemann is an American singer and musician.
Randy Jackson is an American musician, best known as frontman for the rock band Zebra. He was born and raised in New Orleans. In addition to his career with Zebra, he is a Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee, a Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee, and has toured with Jefferson Airplane and tributes to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Doors.
No Tellin' Lies is the second album by New Orleans-based hard rock trio Zebra, released in 1984 by Atlantic Records. The album was a commercial disappointment, peaking at #84. However, "Bears" did get some radio airplay on hard rock stations.
3.V is the third studio album by Zebra. It was released in 1986 on Atlantic Records. This album marked a new, more AOR radio-friendly direction, attempting a commercial comeback for the group after the 1984 flop No Tellin' Lies. This bid would prove unsuccessful as the record company did little in the way of promotion, and the album failed to chart – it would be the group's last studio album for Atlantic before being dropped from the label. The album went out-of-print in 1990. It was reissued in 2007 as an import paired on one CD with No Tellin' Lies, another deleted title, as the stand-alone compact disc version became a scarce collector's item in the meantime. 3.V, along with the first two Zebra albums, was reissued on CD again in Japan in 2013. In 2016 Rock Candy Records reissued the album on CD.
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Zebra IV is the fourth, and last to date, album by American hard rock trio Zebra. It was released on 8 July 2003, 20 years after their 1983 debut album, and 17 years after their last studio effort, 3.V from 1986.
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