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Members
3 Male
Origin
Melbourne, Australia
Genre
R&B
Style
Folk
Mood
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Born
3 MaleOrigin
Melbourne, AustraliaGenre
R&BStyle
FolkMood
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Born
1975
Active
1975 to Present...
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Most Loved Tracks3 users
Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons - Shape I'm In3 users
Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons - Hit and Run
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Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons are an Australian blues and rock music band which features singer, songwriter and saxophonist, Joe Camilleri (aka Jo Jo Zep). The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had several Australian chart hits, including "Hit and Run", "Shape I'm In" and "All I Wanna Do". The Falcons dissolved in 1981 and the group's biggest Australian hit, 1982's "Taxi Mary", as well as the New Zealand top ten hit "Walk on By", were both credited simply to Jo Jo Zep. In 1983, Camilleri and other members of the Falcons formed The Black Sorrows.
The late 1970s line up of Camilleri, Jeff Burstin on guitar, Tony Faehse on guitar, John Power on bass guitar, Wilbur Wilde on saxophone and Gary Young on drums, reunited in 2001, and again in 2003 to release a new album. In 2007, the group was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Further reunion concerts occurred in 2008 and 2011, and an Australian tour took place in 2013. According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, the group was initially a "funky, energetic R&B band" which "infused the music with large dose of reggae rhythms" and later was a "brass-driven, latin-styled big band".
Biography
Formation (1975–1976)
In late 1975, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons were formed in Melbourne as Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers. The band was put together after Ross Wilson (ex-Daddy Cool, Mighty Kong), who was waiting out his recording contract, had turned to producing other artists for the label, Oz Records. He decided to produce a version of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run", as a one-off Christmas single for Mushroom Records. Contractually, Wilson could not perform the vocals himself, so he asked his friend, Joe Camilleri (ex-The Pelaco Brothers with Stephen Cummings) to sing and play on the recording. Camilleri's nickname was Jo Jo Zep, which was derived from a traditional Maltese nickname for "Joseph", so the group was named Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers. The line-up included bass guitarist, John Power (ex-Foreday Riders).
To promote the single, Camilleri and Power formed a more permanent blues and rock music band. Power had relocated from Sydney to Melbourne to join Company Caine for an album which Wilson was producing. However Company Caine, which also included guitarist Jeff Burstin, and drummer John McInerney, had soon separated. Wilson suggested that all three team up with Camilleri to perform "Run Rudolph Run" as part of a Christmas show at the Myer Music Bowl. This performance (still billed as "Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers") marked Camilleri's first appearance on Countdown – the Australian national TV pop music series. After the Christmas performances, they added a second guitarist and vocalist, Wayne Burt (ex-Rock Granite) and Daddy Cool's drummer Gary Young replaced McInerney. Now a five-piece outfit consisting of Camilleri, Burstin, Burt, Power, and Young, the band renamed themselves Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, with the Falcons part referencing Camilleri's Maltese background. Camilleri had wanted his former bandmate, Cummings, to join as lead vocalist, but Cummings declined and later formed The Sports.
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