Zebra -

Zebra was an American symphonic/hard-rock trio from New Orleans that made the 1983/84 Atlantic albums Zebra and No Tellin’ Lies, scoring FM hits with “Who’s Behind the Door,” “Tell Me What You Want,” and “Bears.” Their 1986 third album 3.V preceded a seventeen-year pause, ended by the 2003 comeback Zebra IV.

Members: Randy Jackson (lead vocals, guitar, piano, Mellotron, synthesizer, percussion), Felix Hanemann (bass, keyboards, strings, synthesizer, vocals), Guy Gelso (drums, percussion, vocals)

Background

Zebra formed in February 1975 in New Orleans when guitarist/vocalist Randy Jackson, bassist/keyboardist Felix Hanemann, and drummer Guy Gelso regrouped as a trio after keyboardist Tim Thorson left Maelstrom.

Jackson grew up in New Orleans, where cousin Judy Hicks gave him piano lessons and a Beatles concert prompted him to teach himself guitar. He graduated early from high school in January 1973 and enrolled at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Hanemann graduated from Warren Easton High School and studied music at the University of New Orleans and Loyola University, where he minored in English. Gelso grew up in Oakland, California, and moved from Sacramento to New Orleans around 1973 to pursue local band work.

Hanemann and vocalist/lyricist Eldridge Madere led Shepard’s Bush, an original-material New Orleans band with bassist Tony Kelsick and drummer Rusty Houser. Jackson worked nights at New Orleans club The Library, where daytime manager Madere told him that Shepard’s Bush needed a lead guitarist. Jackson auditioned at Hanemann’s house and joined the group for roughly a year. Shepard’s Bush dissolved with a debt to Felix Hanemann’s brother Buddy for the group PA system. Library night manager Keith Retells subsequently directed Jackson to Gelso at French Quarter club Cosmos II, where the pair discussed a new band. Jackson brought in keyboardist Tim Thorson and asked Hanemann to play bass in Maelstrom. The group rehearsed Yes and Jethro Tull covers, then accepted dance bookings to repay the PA debt. Thorson left after the repertoire shifted toward dance material, and Hanemann absorbed keyboard parts into the three-piece lineup.

Jackson, Hanemann, and Gelso spent about six months rehearsing as a trio, then accepted a sorority dance in early February 1975 under the new name Zebra. The name came from a decoupage at New Orleans bar The Boot that reproduced a 1926 Vogue cover of a woman seated on a zebra. Zebra combined covers with original songs but did not identify the originals from the stage, which allowed the trio to test new material among club audiences. The band developed the approach through Louisiana and Gulf Coast engagements while Jackson expanded the original repertoire.

Zebra pursued the New York market once the Louisiana circuit supported regular club work. The Good Rats recommended Long Island after sharing a New Orleans bill with Zebra, and New Orleans acquaintances Larry and Richie Mancini connected the trio with Long Island club owner Lee Feldman, who booked Zebra to open for Rat Race Choir on Jan. 31, 1976, the first Long Island engagement. He also housed the musicians in his attic as Zebra established bookings at the 1890s and other area clubs. Within several months, the trio could support itself on Long Island and made the region a base while retaining Louisiana dates. Zebra eventually worked as many as 250 engagements per year across the tri-state area and southern Louisiana. Jackson wrote “Tell Me What You Want” after a late-night engagement at Speaks in Island Park near the end of the decade.

Zebra recorded two demo tapes and circulated them among record companies while WBAB-FM in New York and WRNO-FM in New Orleans aired selections. Atlantic rejected an earlier submission, but WBAB program director Bob Buchmann later placed Zebra demos in regular rotation on Long Island. Listener requests pushed several songs into the station request rankings, and WBAB included an early version of “Who’s Behind the Door?” on the 1981 WBAB Homegrown Album. Buchmann introduced the band to Atlantic representative Jason Flom through the station response. Atlantic promoted Flom into A&R, and he signed Zebra in late 1982 to a five-album contract.

Atlantic assigned Jack Douglas to produce the debut sessions, with Rod O’Brien as engineer and John Agnello as assistant engineer. The recordings included material that Zebra had developed across the club years, including “Who’s Behind the Door?,” “The La La Song,” and “Tell Me What You Want.” Atlantic scheduled a March 1983 release for the self-titled debut.

Discography: