Song:Thunder Island
Album:Super Hits Of The '70s: Have A Nice Day Vol. 21
Jay Ferguson scored a top ten hit in 1977 with Thunder Island. Though he is perceived as a one hit wonder one of his other songs charted. He was also lead singer of Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne. He has composed music for films and TV since the 80s. He was born May 10, 1947 in Burbank, CA. Ferguson took piano lessons as a child. As a teen, he played banjo with his fiddle playing brother Tom in the bluegrass band The Oat Hill Stump Straddlers. And he played in a few garage bands. This led to Spirit. Ferguson was lead singer and he wrote most of the songs with Randy California. Band infighting led to Ferguson and Mark Andes leaving Spirit in 1971 to form Jo Jo Gunne. They scored a big hit with Run Run Run. Andes then left to form Firefall. Jo Jo Gunne split up in 1975 after recording four albums. Eagles producer Bill Szymczyk asked Ferguson to come to his studio in Miami to play on Joe Walsh's 1975 album You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind. This was just before Walsh joined Eagles. I suppose Szymczyk could have had Ferguson join Eagles too. But instead he produced Ferguson's three albums on Asylum Records. Thunder Island was from the second album. it reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Walsh plays slide guitar on the record. Ferguson's other chart single was Shakedown Island in 1979. You can get Thunder Island on this Rhino various artists comp. After three albums for Asylum, Ferguson recorded two albums for Capitol. Since the 80s, Ferguson has composed music for film and TV. He has worked a lot for TV and he is currently the composer for the series NCIS: Los Angeles. Here's Jay Ferguson performing Thunder Island on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert 1979.
I love Thunder Island and Run Run Run. I still play the Run song a great deal. Love his music. Thanks so much Frank. Appreciate a great deal. Yours David
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