The original band was formed in 1970 by Godfrey McLean and
Bobby Tench who were members of
Gass and included other members of that band. It had the line-up of Tench as vocalist and guitarist, drummer Godfrey McLean, bassist Delisle Harper, and percussionist Lennox Langton. At the end of May 1970, Tench left Gonzalez to become a member of
The Jeff Beck Group and the band formed a new core membership, with saxophonists Michael "Mick" Eve, Chris Mercer,
Steve Gregory, Geoffrey "Bud" Beadle, keyboardist Roy Davies, and guitarist Gordon Hunte. Later
George Chandler, Glen LeFleur, Cliff Lake, and Delisle Harper were included whilst simultaneously members of
Olympic Runners. Vocalist
Lenny Zakatek joined in 1974 and they released their first album
Gonzalez (1974), which featured a heavy funk sound.
Our Only Weapon Is Our Music (1975) followed, released on
EMI's sister label,
Capitol. The band's third and fourth albums,
Shipwrecked and
Move It to the Music, were produced by Jones. Waller joined
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, while Eve, Lake, and Hunte left before their single "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" (1979) was released. Roy Davies died in 1986 and Gonzalez disbanded. Guitarist Cliff Lake appeared with other artists such as
Doris Troy,
Edwin Starr, and
Chris Rea. More recently Mick Eve, Kuma Harada, Bud Beadle, Cliff Lake,
Preston Heyman, and Bobby Stignac have appeared on the London music circuit. ==Former members==