Jellyfish

First emerging in 1989 from San Francisco, California, influential power-pop patrons Jellyfish left a strong legacy despite only releasing two studio albums during their five-year career. The band was formed by mutual jazz lovers Andy Sturmer (drums, vocals) and Roger Manning (keyboards, vocals) who met at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California in the early 1980s. They played with Atlantic Records-signed pop-rockers Beatnik Beatch before quitting in 1989. After recruiting guitarist Jason Falkner – who was at the time lead axe-wielder for the Three O'Clock, a Los Angeles-based Paisley Underground band – through a newspaper advertisement and inviting Roger Manning's brother Chris Manning on board to play bass, the following year, the group headed to Schnee Studios in North Hollywood to record their debut album of psychedelic-dipped power-pop, Bellybutton; caught somewhere between Cheap Trick and the Beatles. With its trippy cover art, the album was produced by Albhy Galuten (who was known for his work on the Bee Gees' seminal 1977 album Saturday Night Fever) and engineer Jack Joseph Puig and was a critical success, also making a dent on the US charts (reaching Number 124 on the Billboard 200). In 2007, UK pop favorites McFly took their cover of "Baby's Coming Back" from the album to Number one on the UK Singles Chart. After touring Bellybutton – at one point notably opening for INXS at Wembley Stadium – Jason Falkner and Chris Manning were replaced by Tim Smith (bass) and Eric Dover (guitar). Bolstered by their newfound reputations, Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning were invited to work with Ringo Starr on his 1992 solo album Time Takes Time and that same year, were nominated for International Breakthrough Act at the BRITS in 1992. The band's second and final album came in 1993, Spilt Milk, which was a commercial flop in the US but a top 40 hit in the UK (reaching Number 21). The LP earned a cult following and a high-profile fan in Queen's Brian May. The following year, Jellyfish contributed a cover of Harry Nilsson's "Think About Your Troubles" to the tribute album For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson but their split due to "creative differences" was announced in May 1994. Three compilations including 2006's Best! followed and in 2017, Roger Manning, Tim Smith and Eric Dover reunited for a new band called the Lickerish Quartet, releasing the Threesome Vol. 1 EP in May 2020 and the Threesome Vol. 2 in January 2021.