He was raised in Otahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand. He played bass for [artist:2bbdc83c-3d4d-44f4-8e26-6bc748d358dd|Split Enz] from 1972-77. He then formed [artist:6425f5dd-2dc1-4367-a874-659204b0bc78|Citizen Band] with his brother [artist:11db69e0-3a79-4a2c-a3cf-b094ba6da504|Geoff Chunn]. Between March 1980 and early 1981, Chunn was a partner in [https://www.discogs.com/label/83238|Ripper] and was head of A&R at [label:c4f6dd11-3ead-4c4a-9518-01ad04e3ba66|CBS Records New Zealand] from early 1981 to September that year. creating the [label:b24fcd79-98fd-48cd-8dfd-7f2b82ba7054|XSF Records] label there (1981 to 1983). Then, from September of that year until early 1982, Chunn was employed by [https://www.discogs.com/artist/709675|Doug Rogers] as studio manager of [https://www.discogs.com/label/263782|Harlequin Studios]. He was the label manager of [label:1ece9791-0c30-49fe-9e0d-a4a0266b50a8|Mushroom N.Z.] December 1981 to 1984, manager of [label:cc7cb71c-d8da-45d7-b741-0360cdf5f0fe|Reaction] between 1985 and 1987, then after a spell in the UK, co-owner, with [artist:380221b2-54de-4801-b256-6a0f28e28d6f|Tim Finn] of [https://www.discogs.com/label/349218|Definitiv]. Chunn spent eleven years as Director of New Zealand operations for the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), retiring from the role at the end of October 2003. He is currently CEO of Play It Strange Trust which he founded in April 2004. He has published several books, including the Split Enz biography: Stranger Than Fiction. Sometimes credited as Jonathan Chunn on Split Enz releases.