Gabriel “The Gun” Gonzalez, a founding member of the band No Doubt, has passed away aged 57.
Gonzalez, the original trumpet player for the iconic ska band No Doubt, died following a motorcycle accident in Hermosa Beach, California, on September 12.
The news was confirmed to SPIN by a family representative.
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Born on July 11, 1967, Gonzalez was a first-generation Cuban American.
He honed his trumpet skills while playing in the band at Loara High School, where he first connected with future No Doubt members Gwen Stefani and her brother Eric.
After performing with No Doubt intermittently in the 1980s, Gonzalez went on to attend the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston.
During No Doubt’s early days, when the band was still known as Apple Core, Gonzalez co-wrote several of their early tracks, though many of these songs were never officially released.
However, some of his contributions made it onto the band’s second album, The Beacon Street Collection.
He is credited as a co-writer on the album’s third track, ‘Total Hate 95,’ and also holds a co-writing credit on ‘Paulina’ from the band’s self-titled debut album.
In one of his final Instagram posts, shared on July 12, 2024, Gonzalez posted footage from one of No Doubt’s earliest televised performances, a reflection on his time with the band and its origins.
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Fans have paid tribute under his finals posts, with one person writing: “I met him a few years ago when he worked at joes. Such a great guy. So easy to talk to and i enjoyed his stories.”
A second person said: “RIP Gabriel. Met you only once and knew you were a genuine and good human. Thanks for all the good vibes and good tunes brother.”
A third wrote: “I’m so sad. I’ve known this guy since 1989. My heart aches for his family. My prayers go up to you. Gabe was SO SPECIAL to me. I will never forget him. He gave me my first CD ever, a Fishbone album and I still have it. He also gave me one of his first mouth pieces he used with No Doubt. He will live on in my heart forever.”
Gonzalez’s passing marks another tragedy for the band, as they previously lost co-vocalist John Spence, who died by suicide at the age of 18 during the group’s formative years.
Gonzalez sat down with SPIN in January to talk about Spence, as well as how the band found their name.
“Everywhere John went, everything John said, it was always ‘no doubt, man,’ ‘no doubt,’ ‘no doubt,'” he said.
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“He’s like, ‘Let’s just call the band No Doubt,’ and we’re like ‘Nah dude that’s stupid,’ but he was so convincing.”
Discussing Spence’s death, Gonzalez said: “It blew everyone away because you didn’t see problems, back then we weren’t thinking about things like that, nobody was talking about mental issues and depression.”
