Founded in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana…and still selling out venues close to 50 years later, Zebra has defied all the odds of most rock groups, by staying together and continuing to evolve their sound throughout the years. All original members, Randy Jackson, Felix Hanemann & Guy Gelso are at the top of their game, playing for loyal fans across the country and drawing in new generation fans year after year.
After gaining a reputation for being a hard-rocking cover band in the ’70’s New Orleans bar scene, they took a chance on the thriving Long Island rock club circuit, to be closer to the major recording studios and record companies, hoping for that big chance at a major record deal.
For several years, while they built their following, Zebra split time between the Tri-State area and southern Louisiana, playing up to 250 gigs a year. The band recorded two demo tapes, and as they shopped them to record labels, radio stations in both New York (WBAB-FM) and New Orleans (WRNO-FM) gave Zebra a boost by playing songs from the demo—in particular, “Who’s Behind the Door?” which became a frequent request.
In late 1982, ZEBRA was signed to a major contract with Atlantic Records. Their first album, Zebra was produced by Jack Douglas, (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, John Lennon) went gold and was the fastest selling debut album in the history of Atlantic Records. Zebra sold over 75,000 copies in its first week and spent eight months on the Billboard charts, peaked at number 29. Following up with major tours along side some of the biggest bands of the 80’s, and headlining venues throughout the USA through the 90 until now…they have released 3 successful studio albums, a live album and a best of Zebra collection, and are currently in production on a new release to coincide with their 50th year anniversary as a band, something that very few bands can say.
Opener: Starz
During the ‘70s when disco and punk were the rage, only a handful of bands were daring enough to play hard rock and heavy metal music. "You could almost count those bands on one hand," said Starz lead guitarist Richie Ranno. "They were Aerosmith, KISS, Queen, Ted Nugent, Starz and Angel. We kept the flame alive between the original hard rock groups and heavy metal today."
All together Starz recorded four studio albums, Starz, Violation, Attention Shoppers, and Colesium Rock and gathered critical acclaim with their ability to mesh the smooth with the hard. "We loved pop melodies," admitted Ranno in retrospect, "and we also loved heavy guitars. We liked to combine hooks with a harder edge. Our singer Michael Lee Smith had a great sense of melody. In the course of four albums, we only used orchestrations or keyboards once, preferring to mix heavy rock productions with melodic overtones."
