He is a bass player and singer from Fairborn, Ohio, who began performing gigs with the group The Sunbursts when he was just 13 years old. They became The Demons and then evolved into yet another group that performed for around a year.
When he was about 18 he became a member of London Fog & The Continentals, which entailed him learning to play the saxophone. He performed and toured with them for about 18 months and after writing songs with a new group member, Chris Sparks, they decided to start up the band Moonsparks.
At the same time he decided to go back to education and enrolled in Wright State University to study improvisation, jazz bass and music appreciation.
With Moonsparks he wrote the rock opera The Window Washer’s Suite and after a time they decided to spread their wings and moved themselves to California. After having no success with various record companies they went to A&M who put them in touch with the producers of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.
This led to them getting an offer from Chrysalis Records and after a brief return to Ohio they further moved to Alabama and recorded and album. The producers fled the US for Europe for some reason but they also took the masters with them and so the record deal with Chrysalis was no more.
After this disappointment he and Chris Sparks put a new band together which began to see moderate success in clubs all over the country before returning to California as a base. They added a drummer and settled in Carmel for the next few years, playing clubs throughout the region to some success.
Around 1979 they moved South to Los Angeles where they managed to get studio work but lost their drummer who was going to follow other career avenues outside music. This led to the disbandment of Moonsparks and he started to play with the band Catch who were the openers for several touring acts such as Rick Springfield and The Motels.
After not too long he and Chris Sparks once again put Moonsparks back together and after getting some musicians to join them they could once again be heard performing at various local venues. The singer Jeff Paris, approached him and asked if he would join his band and soon he found himself recording and touring with him for the next two years while Moonsparks was put into a hiatus.
More opportunities were on their way for him though when he was asked to take over Chuck Negron’s position in Three Dog Night. He toured with them for around a year and then returned to Los Angeles and formed the band The Pack. They played gigs for a while and then he was asked to audition for Night Ranger as a lead singer and bass player.
This was successful and so he disbanded The Pack and went straight into the recording studio as a member of Night Ranger and then began touring. They toured for several years and got a record deal but the group went he went his own separate way after some problems.
He put his own studio together, began to write songs and produced the band called Persons Unknown. In 2003 he appeared on his debut solo album Still Moon.
Sources:
- http://garymoon.com/chapterone.html
- http://garymoon.com/chapter2.html
- http://garymoon.com/chapter3.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Moon
- http://www.getreadytorock.com/10questions/gary_moon.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightranger
- http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/music/artists/three_dog_night/biography/3.html