JINX (Chicago)
Wild Blue grew out of a Chicago group called Jinx that toiled in the local club scene beginning in the late 1970’s. The core members of this band were Joe Zanona (keyboards), Terry Curtin (bass guitar), and Frank Barbalace (guitars). They had been looking for a female vocalist, and they found one in Renee Varo; Mike Neff was also added as the drummer. A few years later though, they got a dreaded call: There was a cabaret singer from California who had been using the name Jinx for some 15 years. They tried to work out a deal with her, but to no avail, so they started calling themselves Wild Blue. Thus, the name of their first LP, No More Jinx is basically an inside joke.
Chrysalis Records decided that they wanted to try to find a new name for the band – they had liked Jinx, but not Wild Blue – and they delayed the release of the album until early 1986, leaving the band in limbo for several months. By October 1985, it had been over a year since their last live date.
(June 2012)
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The UARB of three months back, Wild Blue was a successful band called Jinx for many years in the local scene in Chicago; their history was hinted at in the title of their album, No More Jinx.
(September 2012)
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Following the break-up of Trillion, the bandmembers all went on to other musical projects. Guitarist Frank Barbalace was a member of Jinx that later became the UARB of June 2012, Wild Blue, where I have more info about him.
(October 2012)
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Previous UARB Wild Blue was a popular Chicago band called Jinx that was ready to go national; but someone in California was already using the name, so eventually, they settled on their new name. As a nod to their roots, their first album was called No More Jinx.
(June 2014)
