Gabriel “The Gun” Gonzalez, No Doubt’s original trumpet player, died on Sept. 12 in a fatal motorcycle accident in Hermosa Beach, Ca, a family representative confirmed to SPIN. He was 57.
In addition to No Doubt, Gonzalez also played in ska bands like Save Ferris, The Untouchables, The Skeletones, and Kingston A Go Go.
Gonzalez spoke to SPIN in January about his late fellow No Doubt band member, John Spence. During the interview, Gonzalez also talked about his time in No Doubt, sharing that before the name they became known for, the Anaheim band was called Apple Core. Apple Core included former No Doubt keyboardist Eric Stefani, Gwen Stefani, Gonzalez and other rotating members.
“We were all into Madness and Prince Buster and all the Trojan shit, so Eric started banging out some upbeat ska shit and we were just goofing off writing music and we’re like, ‘let’s form a group’ and then bing bang boom, that’s how it happened,” he said of No Doubt’s origins.
Gonzalez is credited as a co-writer on No Doubt’s “Total Hate ‘95” and “Paulina.” Gonzalez said he helped compose many of the band’s original early songs, although most have not been officially released.
“We all kind of knew that we were creating something different, and being in the mod-ska scene in the early mid-’80s was a pretty spectacular thing,” the Cuban American trumpeter told SPIN.
Born July 11, 1967, Gonzalez was a first-generation Cuban American. Raised in Anaheim, Ca. he played trumpet in the band at Loara High School before he joined forces with the Stefanis, who also attended the school. After playing on and off with No Doubt in the ‘80s, Gonzalez attended Berklee School of Music in Boston.
He is survived by his three children.