Gabriel Gonzalez, the original trumpet player in No Doubt, passed away in a motorcycle accident. He was 57 years old.
A representative of Gonzalez’s family confirmed to SPIN that the musician died on Sept. 12 in the fatal accident in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Gabriel Gonzalez was with No Doubt from 1986 to 1992. He is considered one of the band’s founding members. Back then, the band’s name was Apple Core. He is also credited as a co-writer on the group’s songs “Total Hate ‘95” and “Paulina.
He previously opened up to SPIN about the band’s origin as well as the late former No Doubt bandmate, John Spence.
“We were all into Madness and Prince Buster and all the Trojan s–,” Gonzalez said. “So Eric started banging out some upbeat ska shit and we were just goofing off writing music and we’re like, ‘let’s form a group.’ Bing bang boom, that’s how it happened,”
The musician also stated that he helped compose many of the group’s early songs. However, most have not officially been released.
“We all kind of knew that we were creating something different,” he explained. “And being in the mod-ska scene in the early mid-’80s was a pretty spectacular thing.”
Months before his death, Gabriel Gonzalez took to Instagram to share a clip of No Doubt’s first TV performance.
Along with Gonzalez, other founding No Doubt founding members were siblings Eric and Gwen Stefani, John Spence, Jerry McMahon, Alan Meade, and Tony Meade. Tony Kamal joined the group following its first few gigs.
Following his time with No Doubt, Gonzalez performed with other ska bands, including Save Ferris, the Untouchables, the Skeletones, and Kingston A Go Go.
Gonzalez is survived by his three children.
No Doubt Fans React to the Sudden Death of Gabriel Gonzalez
Following the news that former No Doubt bandmate Gabriel Gonzalez tragically died in a motorcycle accident, fans of the longtime rock band took to Reddit to share their condolences.
“Gabriel ‘The Gun’ Gonzalez was a legend and a huge part of No Doubt’s early days,” one No Doubt fan wrote. “His trumpet playing was fire and he had such a cool stage presence. RIP to a true OG.”
Another fan stated that the reason they started playing trumpet was because of No Doubt’s trumpet parts.
Other fans took to Gonzalez’s Instagram to share memories of the musicians. “I met him a few years ago when he worked at Joe’s,” one admirer stated in Gonzalez’s final Instagram post. “Such a great guy. So easy to talk to and I enjoyed his stories. Wow. can’t believe this.”