Zebra (band)

Infobox musical artist
Background = group_or_band
Name = Zebra

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Years_active = 1975-Present
status = Active
Origin = United States
Genre = Hard rock
Heavy metal
Label = Atlantic Records,
Mayhem Records
Current_members = Randy Jackson
Felix Hanemann
Guy Gelso

Zebra is a hard rock band that came together in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It features Randy Jackson (guitar and vocals), Felix Hanemann (bass, keyboards and vocals) and Guy Gelso (drums and vocals). Their mainstream debut on Atlantic Records was in 1983, highlighted by the singles "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door". Like Twisted Sister, Zebra cut their teeth on the East Coast club circuit, frequently playing at clubs on Long Island, NY.

Zebra started their career by playing covers of Led Zeppelin, Moody Blues and Rush songs: it was their early fans' reaction to their Led Zeppelin renditions that helped convince the band to bring their act to New York.

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 as an original act to contend with 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's Homegrown Album", which commemorated some of the station's best local acts and performances culled from their on-air "Homegrown Hour" program.

The band continued to tour throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2003 released their first album of all-new material since 1986. A DVD of recent live performances, mostly from a show at the House of Blues in New Orleans, was released in the summer of 2007.

Trivia

Jackson explained how the band came up with their name:"We were sitting around an uptown New Orleans bar called the Boot trying to come up with a name ... after a few pitchers of beer, we saw a picture of a lady riding a Zebra (actually from a 1926 Vogue magazine cover) on the wall, liked the image and decided that was it."

In late 1982, Jason Flom signed Zebra to a five-record deal with Atlantic, although only the first was guaranteed. The self-titled debut, Zebra, was released on March 25, 1983 and became the fastest selling debut record in Atlantic Records history, selling 75,000 copies in the first week. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for eight months, peaking at number 29.

Discography

*"Zebra" (1983)
*"No Tellin' Lies" (1984)
*"3.V" (1986)
*"Live" (1990)
*"" (1998)
*"King Biscuit Flower Hour" (1999)
*"Zebra IV" (2003)
*"Zebra The DVD" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.thedoor.com The Door: The Official Zebra Website]
* [http://www.themusicofledzeppelin.com Randy Jackson's performs the Music of Led Zeppelin accompanied by orchestras throughout the US]