Enuff Z'nuff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since November 2006.

Enuff Z'nuff is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, founded by Donnie Vie (guitar, keyboards & vocals) and Chip Z'nuff (bass & vocals). Their main influences include Badfinger, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello, Queen, and most notably, The Beatles.

Formed in 1984 as Enuff Z'nuff, the band soon grew a strong local following. By the following year, they had recorded their first demos, which would later be officially released in 1994. Their first single, "Fingers On It," was featured in the 1986 movie Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer.

The band released their first major label offering, a self-titled debut album in 1989 on Atco Records, with original members Donnie Vie and Chip Z'Nuff being joined by guitarist Derek Frigo, the son of singer/actress Brittney Browne and renowned violinist/songwriter Johnny Frigo. They had two minor hits that year with the psychedelic-flavored pop rock gems "New Thing" and "Fly High Michelle," which both received steady airplay on MTV. The band's heavy glam rock appearance in their videos was later parodied on MTV's Beavis & Butthead.

For their follow-up album, 1991's Strength, the band tried to remove their glam image. It was released in 1991 to strong reviews, including Rolling Stone magazine calling the group "The hot band of the year." There were videos for the singles "Mother's Eyes" and "Baby Loves You," as well as appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman.

The band filed chapter 7 and left Atco Records but soon after was picked up by Clive Davis Arista Records for their 1993 album Animals With Human Intelligence. The album received critical acclaim however the guitarist Derek Frigo left the band because of creative differences. However, the band continued for several years, touring and releasing albums on several indie labels, and finding a solid fanbase overseas.

The band had also made regular appearances in the mid-90's through 2005 on the Howard Stern Radio Show, and there is a chapter on Chip Z'nuff in Howard Stern's book Private Parts.

Lead singer and songwriter Donnie Vie stopped touring with the group in early 2001 to embark upon a solo career. Former lead-guitarist Derek Frigo, died from an apparent drug overdose at the age of 36. In 2006 the existing original members reconvened to shoot a pilot for VH1's reality based show Bands On The Run. The band recently finished up production in Las Vegas on their 16th album tentatively title "Lost In Vegas" due for release in 2007. The band today regularly tours throughout the US & Europe with guitarist/singer/songwriter Johnny Monacoperforming lead vocals & guitar.

[edit] Trivia

A tribute song was written after Derek Frigo's death by Matthew Rele (www.matthewrele.com) simply titled "Derek" which will be included on Matthew Rele's new album titled "Organic" to be released late 2006, early 2007. The song has been floating around as a bootleg or is sometimes featured at myspace.com/rele.

The Guilty Gear series of fighting games, notorious for its hard rock and metal nomenclature, features a character named Chipp Zanuff, an obvious reference to the band.

The last name Z'nuff is referenced on Homestarrunner in one of Strong Bad's e-mails, entitled "band names", where he cites it as an example of deriving a band name from a really cool last name of one of the members (among other examples such as Van Halen and Dokken).