In 1984, Chip and Donnie met at a baseball diamond in their home town of Blue Island, a suburb of Chicago. After learning that they were both very musically proficient, they went off together to record in a friend's grandmother's basement. As Chip recalls in an interview, "We sat around one day and with my little four track, and boom, we had 14 songs by the end of the day. We played the songs for some friends, they went 'Wow,' and realized we were on to something."
Chip had been persuing a minor league baseball career at the time, and Donnie had been living in an apartment, as he had been since he was 15, playing in bars to make ends meet. Chip, going under the nickname Chip Z'Nuff, and Donnie as Donnie Vie, joined up with drummer B.W. Boeski and guitarist Geno Martino to form Enough Z'Nuff.
Enough Z'Nuff aquired quite a following in Chicago, and in 1985 they went into the studio to make a demo tape named Hollywood Squares. Eventually the guys altered their name to Enuff Z'Nuff, and in the late eighties both Boeski and Geno left the band to persue other activities. They were soon replaced by drummer Vikki Fox and guitarist Derek Frigo.
After a total of four years and tons of demo songs of recording, Enuff Z'Nuff got their big break. They signed a ten song deal with ATCO Records, and released their self titled debut in August of '89. Their first single, New Thing, enjoyed some airplay and success, and when in early 1990 their follow up Fly High Michelle reached the top 50, things looked great for the band. After an extensive and successful tour with Nelson and a British tour in 1990, the band set off to make their follow up record, Strength.
Admitting that they were jumping on the Poison band wagon with their glam image, the band decided to tone down their image for Strength. "I think the first thing people saw were the shades and the lipstick," Donnie asserted in an interview, "And some got turned off immediately by that." Strength got off to a great start as the band was invited to make their network television debut on NBC's Late Night With David Letterman. They really got the crowd going with an excellent rendition of Baby Loves You. They were hailed by Rolling Stone as the new hot band, but unfortunately the public never caught on. Baby Loves You, as well as their other single, Mother's Eyes, got low radio play and the videos had little air time on MTV.
After the Strength record's short run, the band hit some hard times. They lost their record deal, suffered from some drug problems, and lost their drummer to the Vince Neil Band, who was replaced by Ricky Parent. It didn't take long for a new label, Arista, to pick the band up. With the backing of industry giant Clive Davis, the band looked like it really got their big break. They were again invited on Letterman, and they rocked the house with an incredible performance of Superstitious. Their first single, Right By Your Side, however, didn't get much attention from the listening public. Soon following, there was some "internal friction" between the label and the band, and their next single Innocence barely got the label's backing at all. Dissapointingly, Animals With Human Intelligence was doomed for the discount bin without becoming the breakthough success it should have been. The band asked to be released from it's contract, and with the alternative scene being hot, Enuff Z'Nuff got lost in the shuffle and had to release material on an independent label.
In 1994 the band released their original demo tape Hollywood Squares as 1985. With the liner notes penned by Howard Stern, this record sold over 100,000 copies world wide, very well by indie standards...especially when you consider the material was a decade old! With the cash the disc created, they were able to go back into the studio to record two new albums at one time, Tweaked and Chip and Donnie: Brothers. Although they were now without a lead guitarist, the band musically was as creative as ever. Recorded during a very problematic time, Tweaked is a very emotional and organic sounding CD. It was released under the Mayhem label.
With such a huge pileup of backlog material, the band found it necessary to get some of their older, unreleased music out to the public. So, in 1996 Peach Fuzz was released in Japan, and was brought out to the states shortly after. In this year, the band almost got a huge break while submitting songs to movie soundtracks. Bring It On Home, from 1993's Animals... was accepted for the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire, but was later cut out due to time constraints (ed. note: look in the credits, the band is mentioned!!!) They also performed a Cheap Trick cover song, one of their biggest influences, for an upcoming Epic tribute CD called "Cheap Shots." However, this CD was never released. On the positive side, the band found a great new guitarist by the name of John Monaco.
1997 was a busy year for Enuff Z'Nuff. The went on another tour and two albums were put out. Brothers finally got to see the light of day in the states and Europe, released as Enuff Z'Nuff: Seven in February. Recorded for just under $12,000, Seven's recording sessions were described by Chip as "marathon work". In late December, a collection of older Live material was brought out in Japan.
A US release followed in July of '98, along with the Japanese release of the critically acclaimed Paraphernalia. Although fully capable themselves, they enlisted some big Chicago musicians by the names of Rick "Cheap Trick" Nielsen and James "Styx" Young to contribute to the disc. 1998 also marked their first Japanese Tour which was a big success. The band also re-emerged on network TV in November by playing on the Jenny Jones Show.
1999 is looking like the year for Enuff Z'Nuff. They're getting noticed more by the press and are highly anticipating the U.S. release of Paraphernalia this May through a new label, Spitfire Records. The U.S. version of this disc will also feature the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, and two new tracks, so fans who already own the import have something to look forward to. Expect to see the band on an upcoming VH-1 Where Are They Now episode, yet another T.V. appearance. This band is on the rise and has a bright future ahead!
