Missing Persons is an American rock band founded in 1980 in Los Angeles by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, vocalist Dale Bozzio (née Consalvi), and drummer Terry Bozzio. They later added bassist Patrick O’Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale and Terry Bozzio met while working with Frank Zappa, and they married in 1979. Cuccurullo encountered the pair while contributing to the Zappa album Joe’s Garage (1979). O’Hearn was also a former member of Zappa’s touring band, and Wild had played with a variety of bands before joining.
In 1980 the band was a trio consisting of Bozzio, Bozzio and Cuccurullo. Augmented by session musicians, the group made its first record, a 4-song EP entitled Missing Persons, in Zappa’s brand-new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen studios; the recording was financed by Cuccurullo’s father. The band toured, promoted the EP, appeared in the movie Lunch Wagon (1981), and became a must-see band among the Los Angeles live music crowd. “Mental Hopscotch” was a No. 1 record on local radio station KROQ-FM, and the self-promoted EP sold 7,000 copies. Dale’s quirky voice and heavy makeup made the band a favourite on MTV in the early 1980s.
Two years of hard work led up to a signing with Capitol Records in 1982. With label support, the re-released 4-song EP — with the song “Words” replacing the Doors cover “Hello, I Love You” — sold another 250,000 units. By this time, the band had added Wild (a session player on the debut EP) and O’Hearn (Terry Bozzio’s former Frank Zappa bandmate) to the line-up, and they recorded a new full-length album Spring Session M (1982), the title of which is an anagram of ‘Missing Persons’. The album included both “Words” and “Destination Unknown” from the initial EP, and went gold.
Spring Session M spun off four singles: “Destination Unknown”, “Words”, “Walking in L.A. and “Windows”, all of which made the Billboard Hot 100, although none charted higher than No.42. The band did experience considerable success in the local markets of Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. As well, the visual effects used in the music video for “Words” were unusual for the time, making it popular on the fledgling cable TV channel MTV.
In late 2000, Cuccurullo and Dale Bozzio again began discussing a Missing Persons reunion. In May 2001, after Warren’s split with Duran Duran, the new Missing Persons appeared, consisting of original members Warren, Dale and Terry. Joining them were Ron Poster (jazz pianist and organist for the Boston Bruins home hockey arena) and Warren’s bassist, Wes Wehmiller. The short-lived, official reunion consisted of promotional activities and three live performances in July 2001. The studio tracks “Dark and Dangerous Guy” and “Throw Money” that appear on Lost Tracks (2002) were recorded at this time, as well as the live performances of “Face to Face” and “Give” on the same album. Late 2002 early 2003 brought ‘Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo’. They were joined again by Poster and Wehmiller and new drummer Joe Travers . This version of Missing Persons was featured on Access Hollywood and did three live performances in February 2003, but disbanded shortly after.
