Farewell to Gabriel “The Gun” Gonzalez, Trumpeter of No Doubt

Gabriel “The Gun” Gonzaleztrumpeter originally from No Doubtdied on September 12 in a fatal motorcycle accident in Hermosa Beach, Ca. He was 57 and leaves behind three children.

In addition to No Doubt, Gonzalez also played in ska bands such as Save Ferris, Untouchables, Skeletones and Kingston A Go Go.

Gonzalez recalled his late No Doubt co-founder John Spence (who committed suicide in 1987) and the group’s pre-No Doubt era as Apple Core in an interview with SPIN in January. “We were all into Madness, Prince Buster, and Eric Stefani[also a founding member and Gwen’s brother]started putting out some off-the-beat ska stuff and we started writing music and were like, ‘Let’s start a band.’ That’s how it happened,” he said of No Doubt’s origins.

Gonzalez is credited as co-author of “Total Hate ’95” And “Paulina” of No Doubt. He said he helped write many of the band’s early original songs, although most of them were never officially released. “We all knew we were doing something different, and being part of the mod-ska scene in the early to mid-’80s was pretty spectacular,” the trumpeter said.

Born July 11, 1967, Gonzalez is a first-generation Cuban American. He played trumpet in the Loara High School band before joining Gwen Stefani and her brother Eric, who also attended the school. After playing with No Doubt in the 1980s, Gonzalez attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston.