Jinni Fontana

This is big news: Jinni Fontana, a shining CLE artist in the 1980s and most recently a member of local faves Vanity Crash, is back with a 7-song EP of new CLE-centric originals, "Oh, Cleveland!" Here's the official Banana Records release:

Native Clevelander Jinni Fontana (her REAL name, even though it seems like a dream stage name for a female rock and roller!) first made a name in music as a member of the quirky new wave Cleveland band The Rubburheads, with whom she wrote, sang, played keyboards and percussion, in the heady days of Cleveland’s original club music scene. During this time Fontana had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a number of Cleveland’s leading musicians like her favorite bass player Stutz Bearcat (The Generators, Armstrong/Bearcat Band).

Riding on the momentum of her Cleveland experience, Fontana headed to Los Angeles, where she wrote and released her first album, “The Game of Love,” produced by Gary Mraz for the fledgling Cleveland label Banana Records. The album was very successful—Billboard magazine proclaimed her to be a “strong vocalist with a penchant for writing unusual but still commercial dance tracks.” The title track was an unexpected hit, especially in Europe, where it became (and remains) a fixture in dance clubs.

 Jinni Fontana with the Rubburheads, circa 1983...
After living in various western locations, Fontana returned to Cleveland from Reno, Nevada in 2018. She hooked up with Cleveland’s beloved punk/glam band Vanity Crash (under the pseudonym Virginia Plain Crash) from 2019 until 2023, playing percussion and providing backing vocals. While enjoying the gig, she found herself increasingly interested in rekindling her passion for writing and recording her own material. During her time in Reno, Nevada, she hooked up with Stutz Bearcat again, where they spent a week of twelve-hour days laying down demo tracks. After concluding her run with Vanity Crash, Fontana refined the tracks that eventually became “Oh, Cleveland!”: a seven-song EP of “unusual” but catchy pop songs that echo her experiences growing up in Cleveland.

“It was a bout with homesickness that fueled my writing,” Jinni recalls. “I was lucky to have some very interesting experiences living in different places, but I never forgot my roots in Cleveland.”

Not only did Fontana return to her hometown, but she also returned to Banana Records, the Cleveland-based label that had issued her highly successful debut album, as an homage to her roots. She collaborated with Banana CEO Jim Butterfield and Handsome Productions studio head Paul Nickels to finish up the tracks that comprise “Oh, Cleveland!”

“I’ve always felt that Cleveland had a sound, a feel, and a rich history of music that’s unique,” she commented. “My true love is writing songs that bubble up the subconscious mind and meld with the real world. And many songs tend to be inspired by my life in Cleveland.”

“It’s been a real pleasure having Jinni back in the Banana fold and I can’t say enough about the quality of these new songs,” said Butterfield, who lent some guitar tracks to the project. “Now that she’s got ‘Oh, Cleveland!’ under her belt, I anticipate even more great music to come.”

“Oh, Cleveland!” is available on most streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, and is available for purchase as a physical CD. Pre-order here!

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