The group initially consisted of singer and guitarist
Ish "Angel" Ledesma, guitarist Richard "Richie" Puente, keyboardist Charlie Murciano, bass guitarist Arnold Paseiro, and drummer Joe Galdo, and (for the first album) co-lead vocalist Gary Ortiz. Shortly after the first album was issued, Ortiz was replaced by Carlo Driggs, who contributed vocals/percussion and shared songwriting credits on Foxy's second album,
Get Off. Foxy's biggest hit was "
Get Off" in 1978 (written by Ledesma and Driggs), which peaked at #9 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the
Soul chart for two weeks. The song was a Dutch #1 smash hit single. It was their only release from the 1978 album
Get Off, which was released in 1978. In early 1979, the band (and session musician
George Terry) were in
Criteria Studios, Miami, where they played on the backing track of
ABBA's song "
Voulez-Vous", the only time ABBA recorded outside of Sweden. Driggs left shortly before Foxy's third album was recorded and was not replaced. The group's third album
Hot Numbers was released in 1979. The first single, "Hot Number" peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #4 on the Soul chart in 1979. Keyboardist Charlie Murciano departed the band later in 1979, and the group, now a quartet (with session musicians on keyboards), issued one final studio album
Party Boys in early 1979 and one live album
Foxy Live (1980) before breaking up mid 1980.
Ish "Angel" Ledesma also had issued a solo album
Ish in late 1979 on the T.K. distributed Clouds label. Ish Ledesma later formed the groups
Oxo in 1983 and
Company B in 1986, the latter with his wife Lori L., her sister Lezlee Livrano, and Susan Johnson and also issued his second solo album
On This Corner on Geffen Records in 1986. In addition to his involvement and writing credits with Foxy, was the son of bandleader
Tito Puente. A news report on the website allaboutjazz.com said Richard Puente "was hospitalized after suffering from viral encephalopathy, which was the result of a brain injury during a mugging more than 10 years prior. Since his release from the hospital, Richie had been nonverbal, confined to a bed and using a wheelchair, and relegated to tube feeding. He resided at home with his 95-year-old grandmother and his mother, Ida Carlini." ==Discography==