Jo Jonathan

Jo Jonathan is the stage name of Alois Walter, born February 5, 1955, a blues rock electric guitar player, songwriter and composer.

Early life
Born into a family of musicians in southwest Germany he started to learn to play trumpet at the age of four years and became a member of an orchestra at the age of seven. At twelve, in 1967 some of his schoolmates founded a Beat Band and since they knew that his father owned a drum set he was hired as a drummer, even he never had played any drums before. His first Band ICARUS was founded in 1971 with him still as a drummer; the band gained regional popularity in southwest Germany. Do to his fluent English, learnt with US school kids in Germany and longer stays in San Rafael, California, he played almost all American military facilities over Germany which led to a tutorial job with the American school system USDESEA in EUROPE. With ICARUS he recorded an album in 1973 which was never released due to a serious accident shortly after the recordings in 1974. He learnt to play guitar in the hospital where he spent more than a year to recover from an accident resulted in multiple fractures at his right foot and leg and other injuries.

Professional Career in 1977
After a stay in San Rafael, California meeting and jamming with lots of local musicians all over the Bay Area he decided to become a professional musician. He founded Melophon, a typical German Rock Band and played mostly in hotels, beer tents, clubs and festivals. In 1978 he started a band in Heidelberg, Germany and went on tour with this band playing mainly blues rock. In 1978 he started to attend a German University to study classical music including music educational science, conducting, and music instrument teaching. During his studies he released an album called "Melophon" in 1980.

University
After successful finishing his university studies with a diploma in music,music education, English and art he began working for musicians such as Pierre Henry, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Ensemble 13, Frank Zappa, jazz bassist Günter Lenz, Stevie Wonder and many others.

The "Sound Center" Era
In the 1980 years he started a music shop that became one of the most successful music shops in Southwest Germany. During these years he worked with several bands and played numerous concerts all over Europe but was also on tour as a sound engineer for may rock bands.

Jo Jonathan & Band
In 1986 he started the Jo Jonathan band, named after his nickname from school. The New Jersey bassplayer and singer Andy Ross joined the band. Jo Jonathan released the first album "The Red Album" in 1990. The band was considered to be one of the best Blues Rock trios in Germany, the Album created a considerable attention. The band soon played concerts all over Europe, but an offer for a US tour was refused due to a teaching contract Jo had with a German school. The CD made it into several charts, especially in Eastern Europe and Northern Italy. In 1992 Jo Jonathan moved to Orlando, Florida; he still toured frequently in Europe but also worked again for the music industry promoting Sound Systems worldwide. During this period people started to call him Jo Jonathan, his music fans anyway thought that his real name is Jo Jonathan.

In 2002 back in Europe he lived part-time in France and Germany. In 2007 "Mojo Jo" was released and distributed on the net. In 2010 he signed a contract with the German yeotone label. "HomeStyleCooking" was released in December 2010. The Band is frequently on tour throughout Europe. The current line up is:
 * Jo Jonathan - guitars and vocals
 * Helga Walter - bass, vocals
 * Stefan Schoener - keys
 * Hicham El Quahdani - drums, percussion.

Discography

 * The Red Album
 * Jo Jonathan plays classics