Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons

Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons
Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, Melbourne International Music and Blues Festival, February 2004 Left to right: Joe Camilleri, John Power, Wilbur Wilde
Background information
Also known as	Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers, Jo Jo Zep
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Blues, rock, R&B, soul, reggae
Years active	1975 (1975)–1984 (1984), 2001–present
Labels	Oz, EMI, Mushroom, Rockburgh, Columbia, Warner Bros. Australia
Associated acts	The Pelaco Brothers, Company Caine, Daddy Cool, Ol' 55, The Black Sorrows, The Revelators
Past members	see members list below

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".

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).