How Rock Band Zebra Found Their Name

Portrait Of Zebra At Chicagofest — Portrait of the members of American Rock group Zebra as they pose backstage at Chicagofest, Chicago, Illinois, August 11, 1983. Pictured are, from left, Randy Jackson, Felix Hanemann, and Guy Gelso. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

A band may have great musicians, excellent songs and writing, a fantastic stage presence and more: But none of that matters without a name. Coming up with a great name for a band can be challenging, something musicians can agonize over. For Guy Gelso, Felix Hanemann and Randy Jackson of Zebra, settling on their name wasn’t easy.

The origins of the three-piece that is Zebra came from the remnants of a four-piece band called “Maelstrom.” According to Jackson, Maelstrom was composed of the three original Zebra members and keyboardist Tim Thorson. The band primarily played progressive rock music, but began playing more dance-friendly music to get more gigs. Uninterested in playing more dance music, Thorson left the band in February of 1975, leaving dual keyboard and bass duties to Hanemann.

A friend of Jackson’s from school, who was throwing a dance for her sorority, was desperately searching for a band at the last-minute, as the band they had hired had canceled. Knowing Jackson had put a band together, she approached Jackson and asked if his band would play. Gelso, Hanemann and Jackson were about ready to relaunch as a trio, so they got together to come up with a new name ahead of their first gig.

“Yeah we were ready. And we were just – you know – we just didn’t know what the first gig was going to be. That just happened to be it. So, it kind of forced us to put up or shut up with the name.”
Randy Jackson of Zebra

They met at an uptown New Orleans bar, each bringing a list of names to ponder over drinks. After several drinks and a host of names shared, the trio hadn’t found anything that stuck. Jackson recalls a name for the band, “Tragic Dancer,” which for better or for worse is all that remains of the proposed names.

The three musicians noticed a picture on the wall above them, displaying a 1926 Vogue Magazine cover featuring an illustration of a woman riding on the back of a zebra.

By the time the trio had decided to depart the bar, they settled on “Zebra” for the name. The pressure of their impending gig at the sorority dance helped the name stick.

“Yeah we were ready,” Jackson said in an interview with Houston’s Eagle. “And we were just – you know – we just didn’t know what the first gig was going to be. That just happened to be it. So, it kind of forced us to put up or shut up with the name.”

Eight years later the band released their debut album, Zebra, which went RIAA-certified gold and peaked at No. 29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 charts – the rest is history.

For the full interview with Jackson, click here!