At the height of its fame in the early- to mid-1980s, an American rock band grew to become iconic thanks to a string of songs that became radio staples. They became so respected that their singer/guitarist has been inducted into several Halls of Fame.
Now, more than four decades after Zebra’s first full record was released, the iconic rock band has announced that its first new album in 23 years is only weeks away. The group has also revealed that the release features a long-lost track co-written by KISS’ Paul Stanley decades ago.
Zebra’s New Album Release Date Revealed
Zebra became famous in the 1980s after releasing memorable songs like “Who’s Behind the Door?” and “Tell Me What You Want.” During that era, the band’s members, Randy Jackson, Felix Hanemann, and Guy Gelso, recorded three albums: 1983’s Zebra, 1984’s No Tellin’ Lies, and 1986’s 3.V. After being so prolific during those years, the band waited until 2003 to release their fourth album, Zebra IV. Fans would then have to wait even longer for the group’s next full album.
Now that it has been more than 23 years since Zebra IV was released on July 8, 2003, a new Ultimate Classic Rock article has just revealed that their follow-up is less than a month away. Zebra V is set to be issued on November 13, 2026. While speaking to the outlet about the upcoming release, Zebra’s Randy Jackson joked, “We’ve been promising it for 20 years.”
Jackson also told Ultimate Classic Rock that it was the band’s current manager, Dave Rotstein, who pushed them to complete the record and reconnected them with producer Jack Douglas. He went on to praise the producer for his work on the new album. “Jack did a fabulous job, and it was just great working with him again. Once we got going, there wasn’t any end until we finished. It was very cool.”
How KISS’ Paul Stanley Contributed to Zebra’s New Album
Ahead of the release of Zebra V, the band has already released its lead single, a song titled “Walk With You.” On YouTube, the track’s writing is credited to Zebra’s singer/guitarist Randy Jackson and the legendary KISS singer/guitarist Paul Stanley.
While it would have been exciting to hear a modern Jackson/Stanley collaboration, it turns out that the new track was actually written in 1989 and had been lost to history until now. Getting the chance to hear a song that both men worked on in the heyday of their careers is captivating. During his discussion with Ultimate Classic Rock, Jackson described the writing session behind the song that fans had no idea about until recently. One of the most fascinating details was that he revealed it was originally written while he was working on his 1991 solo album, Randy Jackson’s China Rain: Bed of Nails.
“I was [working on] China Rain, my solo record for Atlantic, way back in 1989. My manager at the time, Scott Ross, he had a connection with Paul and introduced us. You know, I went to Paul’s place and we wrote this song. He was gracious and it was a really great experience. It happened quickly. I think we had the whole song done in about two hours.”
