John Arden "Jay" Ferguson (born May 10, 1947) is an American rock and pop musician known for his work with the bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and his 1978 solo hit " Thunder Island". His later career has been as a composer of music for television programs and films, most notably the theme song for the American version of ''

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'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Childhood and early musical career

Ferguson was born on May 10, 1947, in

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to John Becker and Kathleen Jane Ferguson. He grew up in the

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

and Canoga Park sections of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. At 12 years old, Ferguson's parents encouraged his musical abilities with classical piano lessons. When he was 16, Ferguson's interest transferred to the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

. Along with his brother Tom, an accomplished

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

player, he formed a bluegrass group called The Oat Hill Stump Straddlers including Michael Fondiler and Steve Fondiler. Ferguson was also a member of local garage bands Western Union and The Red Roosters, as was Michael Fondiler. He also held part-time jobs at different points as a theater usher and an architect's assistant for his father John Ferguson, and taught piano in a music store and studied at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

after high school.

The band Spirit

Spirit was founded in the mid-1960s. Many musicians of the time cited

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and their music as an influence, and Ferguson was no exception. Reuniting with longtime musician friends Randy California and California's stepfather Ed Cassidy, who, with Mark Andes and John Locke were in a band called the Red Roosters - Ferguson joined with them to form a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

influenced rock group that was originally called Spirits Rebellious, after a Khalil Gibran passage. With the general consensus that the moniker was too long, they later shortened the name to Spirit. Ferguson was the last member to join the band and found himself in the position of lead

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

. Ferguson shared singing and songwriting duties with California, writing most of the songs on their first album. Spirit began playing at various nightclubs and concerts in the

area, especially the clubs along the Sunset Strip, including

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...

. At one of these shows, French film producer

Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, screenwriter and lyricist. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrated ...

saw Spirit perform and decided he wanted them in his next

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

. It led to a cameo role for the band and a short speaking part in which Ferguson played a character based loosely on himself in the film '' Model Shop''. Spirit also provided much of the

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. The band went on to tour and record several albums.

Jo Jo Gunne

Ferguson and Mark Andes decided to leave Spirit in 1971 and form their own band. Ferguson was Jo Jo Gunne's main songwriter (writing virtually all the material) and only lead vocalist. Jo Jo Gunne became the second act signed to the new Asylum Records label. The band scored a moderate hit with the single "Run Run Run" from their debut album (1972). With the first record and some touring already completed, Mark Andes decided to leave and join a band that would later become

Firefall Firefall is an American soft rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts (musician), Rick Roberts, former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement ...

, with his brother Matt staying behind with Jo Jo Gunne. Jimmie Randall, an

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, bassist was recruited in Mark's place. Jo Jo Gunne toured all over the US and Europe for the next three years, and recorded three more albums, ''Bite Down Hard'' (1973), ''Jumpin' the Gunne'' (1973) and ''"So...Where's the Show?"'' (1974). Matt Andes left the band after the third album and was temporarily replaced with Star Donaldson on lead guitar, and then, later, John Staehely. After a four-year existence, the group split up in the mid-1970s. Jo Jo Gunne reformed in 2005, and recorded a new album, ''Big Chain'', which included both new material and new versions of several old Gunne songs.

Solo career

Ferguson took a year and a half off to rest, until record producer

Bill Szymczyk William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and recording engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the ...

asked Ferguson to come down to his

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recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

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. He contributed in 1975 on piano and vocals to

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

's live recording of '' You Can't Argue with a Sick Mind'', before Walsh subsequently went on to join

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. Ferguson recorded three studio albums and a limited-run

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

for Asylum. While managed by Martin Pichinson, he scored a Top 10 hit with the title track on his second solo album, '' Thunder Island'' (1978), which peaked at No.9 in the US. Another minor hit was " Shakedown Cruise" (No. 31) from his last Asylum album, ''Real Life Ain't This Way''. After his

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

for Asylum was completed, Ferguson changed record labels, and recorded two more solo albums for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. In 1983, his keyboards and bass were a prominent contribution to ''Language'', a 5-track EP by acclaimed Texas guitarist

Gary Myrick Gary Myrick is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Career Born in Dallas, Texas, Gary Myrick played guitar and sang in Dallas and neighboring Fort Worth starting as a teenager. Eventually, he built a significant enough reputation to be ...

, who was exploring a new-wave direction at the time. In 2025, he released a new solo album ''The Faultline'' on streaming platforms.

Soundtrack composer

In 1982, after his fifth solo album, ''White Noise'', Ferguson decided to become a

composer for

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. To date, he has written music for over 15 feature films and for many TV shows. His most recognizable composition as a TV and film scorer is the theme to the NBC-TV version of ''

'', which won him the 2007 Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Comedy Television Program. (In ''The Office'', he is also the guitarist in Kevin's band "Scrantonicity".) He is the composer of "Pictures of You" from the soundtrack to ''The Terminator'', and the entire score to '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child'' and ''Bad Dreams'', the '' Tales From The Crypt'' episode "Forever Ambergris", as well as '' Tremors 2: Aftershocks'', and '' Tremors 4: The Legend Begins''. Ferguson is also the current soundtrack composer for '' NCIS: Los Angeles'', having replaced original composer James S. Levine halfway through season one with Ferguson's music debuting in the season 1 episode, "Chinatown".

Discography

Albums

*1976: ''All Alone in the End Zone'' ( Asylum Records) *1977: ''Jay Ferguson Live'' (Asylum) (promotional issue only) *1977: '' Thunder Island'' (Asylum) U.S. No.72 *1979: ''Real Life Ain't This Way'' (Asylum) U.S. No.86 *1980: ''Terms and Conditions'' (

) *1982: ''White Noise'' (Capitol) U.S. No.178 *1989: ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child'' (soundtrack) (

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

) *2025: ''The Faultline''

Singles

*1976: "Medicated Goo" *1977: " Thunder Island" - U.S. No.9, Canada No.8 *1978: "Losing Control" *1979: " Shakedown Cruise" - U.S. No.31, Canada No.48 *1979: "Paying Time" *1980: "Terms and Conditions" *1982: "Tonite (Fallin' for Ya)"

References

External links

Bio on Jo Jo Gunne website

Biography by Steve Huey on Allmusic
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Jay 1947 births Living people American rock musicians American rock singers American male singers Musicians from Burbank, California Singers from California Spirit (band) members Varèse Sarabande Records artists Capitol Records artists Asylum Records artists