4 Non Blondes

Career

Bassist Christa Hillhouse and guitarist Shaunna Hall had been roommates and met drummer Wanda Day when they joined a band she was playing in. When the three left that band, they started playing as a trio. But after seeing Perry sing at a solo performance, Hillhouse and Hall asked her to join as vocalist. According to Perry, she and Hall were at Nightbreak, a San Francisco club, and when it was mentioned the trio was looking for a vocalist, Perry announced she was a singer to which Hall replied "I know". Their first rehearsal was supposed to be at 6 PM on October 17, 1989, but shortly after 5 PM the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco area.

The band was signed to Interscope in July 1991 following a performance at the Gavin Convention where the band opened for Primus on Valentine's Day of the same year. As they began pre-production for their debut album, Day was fired from 4 Non Blondes and was replaced by Richardson. In 1992 while recording Bigger, Better, Faster, More! the album's producer, David Tickle, felt that Hall's guitar playing was "not happening" so she was let go from the band as well. Guitarist Louis Metoyer finished the record. Roger Rocha joined after completion of the album and stayed with the band until 1994. After leaving the Blondes in 1991, Day continued drumming with Malibu Barbi, and then Bad Dog Play Dead. In late 1992, she had an accident and crushed her legs and broke her back, which made drumming very painful. She moved out of San Francisco in 1995, spent some time in Arizona and eventually went back to Salt Lake City.

Day died on July 10, 1997, according to Christa Hillhouse and is buried in Tropic, Utah.

Later work

4 Non Blondes contributed the song "Mary's House" to the film Wayne's World 2 in 1993. They also covered Van Halen's "I'm the One" on the soundtrack for the film Airheads. They contributed "Bless the Beasts and Children" to a 1994 The Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter, and "Misty Mountain Hop" to the 1995 Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin.

The group disbanded in late 1994 during the recording of their second album. Lead vocalist Linda Perry went solo in 1995. Perry has since released solo work, produced and written songs on hit albums by Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Courtney Love and Kelly Osbourne. Hall has recorded, produced, composed for and performed with various artists, including vocalist Storm Large (1999-2001), guitarist Eric McFadden (1995-2001), and funk pioneer George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic (2002- ), and released "Electrofunkadelica: e3+FUNKnth = music for the body, mind & soul", a self-produced project in 2006 on Make Music, Not War! Records.

On 11 May 2014, the group reunited to perform a small concert at a fundraiser entitled "An Evening For Women" which was held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The six songs on the track list were "Train", "Spaceman", "The Ladder", "Mighty Lady", "Superfly" and "What's Up?". The fundraiser was organized by the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Members

Live album