Gary US Bonds

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Gary US Bonds in Paris in December 1981

Gary US Bonds ; actually Gary Anderson (born June 6, 1939 in Jacksonville , Florida ) is an American rock 'n' roll and R&B singer.

Life

The 1960s

The African American Gary Anderson was born the son of a university professor and a music teacher. When he was two years old, his parents divorced and he and his mother moved to Norfolk , Virginia , where he grew up. In the 1950s he was a church singer and with a band called The Turks . At the end of the 1950s he was signed by producer Frank Guida , whom he had met some time before and who had just started his career as a producer. Guida developed its own recording technique, known as the "Norfolk Sound". On the one hand, the recordings sounded simple and like outdoor recordings, on the other hand, the singing was particularly intense because two separately recorded vocal tracks were leveled up and overlaid.

The first recording was called New Orleans . In order to attract more attention to the single, Guida had “Buy US Bonds” printed on the cover, an advertising request for the purchase of US government bonds that was widespread at the time. However, this meant that the interpreter of the song was always called “U. S. Bonds, ”and that's how it became Gary Anderson's stage name. The title immediately made it into the top 10 of the US charts and the top 20 in the UK.

The follow-up single Not Me was a flop for the time being, even though the Orlons later had a hit with the same song. But the third single from U. S. Bonds was a huge hit : Originally written as an instrumental by Gene Barch alias Daddy G. for himself and his Church Street Five, also from Norfolk, he sang the title A Night with Daddy G. with self-made lyrics with the original artists. Under the title Quarter to Three , it reached number 1 in the United States in June 1961 , stayed there for another week and sold a total of over a million times. The song was also a hit internationally and was among the top 10 in Great Britain. The rock 'n' roll classic was named by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the list of the 500 songs that have shaped rock and roll the most, recorded.

Then US Bonds got a first name and was called Gary U. S. Bonds from now on , because many had taken his stage name for a band name. The album for the hit dance 'Til Quarter to Three came to number 6 on the US charts. And with singles like School Is Out and School Is In as well as the two twist songs Dear Lady Twist and Twist, Twist Señora , three of which made it into the US Top 10, he was able to continue his series of successes. This was followed at the end of 1962 by the songs Seven Day Weekend , a piece from the film It's Trad-Dad , and Copy Cat , which, however, did much worse.

In 1963, Gary US Bonds went on a European tour and was headlined before the Beatles. But finally the success of the Norfolk sound waned, further successes failed to materialize and the British Invasion changed the musical landscape. Nevertheless, with one number 1 and four top 10 hits, he was by far the most successful artist from the Guida stable, which included number 1 hit singer Jimmy Soul (If You Wanna Be Happy) .

In the following years it was rather quiet about Gary Anderson. After an unpleasant incident with the police, he moved to New York City , where he played in clubs. Only a nomination for a song written by him for a country award in 1972 stand out from this time. The song was called (Don't Take Her) She's All I've Got and was recorded by Johnny Paycheck. It was later another hit for Tracy Bird.

Comeback in the 1980s

In 1978 he met Bruce Springsteen while performing in New York and they became friends. When Springsteen offered him a song called Dedication two years later , it began a return to the spotlight. The song became an entire album and, in addition to cover versions, it also contained four pieces written by Springsteen or his guitarist Steven Van Zandt and Springsteen's E Street Band were his accompanying musicians. The record was mainly produced by van Zandt. This laid the foundation for a successful comeback, because the Springsteen sound was very successful at the time. With the single This Little Girl , he returned to the US and UK charts and was also featured in the German airplay charts.

Only 14 months later they added the album On the Line , which was produced by van Zandt and largely written and co-produced by Bruce Springsteen, again accompanied by the music of the E Street Band. Not only were both albums successful in the album charts, a total of five single releases made it into the US and British charts.

At the end of 1983 the album Standing in the Line of Fire followed , without Springsteen and without the E Street Band, but van Zandt was not only a producer, but also an author and an accompanying guitarist with a new band. But the success of the album lagged far behind previous successes, negotiations with the record company failed and so it became more quiet about Gary US Bonds .

From the 1990s to today

Since then he has been on the road as a musician and also played at oldie festivals. In 1998 he was featured in the film Blues Brothers 2000 with his debut song New Orleans . In the new millennium he has released several live albums so far and in 2004 released the studio album Back in 20 in a more traditional blues rock style, on which Bruce Springsteen is a guest. In 2014 he appeared in the first episode of the third season of the series Lilyhammer.

In 1997, Gary US Bonds was named to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation 's roll of honor .

Gary Anderson has been married since 1962 and has a daughter and is on tour with his wife and daughter. He wrote many of the songs on his last album together with his daughter.

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gary US Bonds in the nndb (English)
  2. ^ Everything2.com
  3. ↑ Julia Edenhofer: The great Oldielexikon . Bastei Lübbe, 1991, pp. 68/69
  4. ^ Gary US Bonds in the English language Wikipedia
  5. ↑ austinchronicle.com
  6. ↑ For the song see Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Billboard Publications, New York City 1992, p. 93
  7. ^ Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 . Record Research, Menomonee Falls WI 1996, p. 92
personal data
SURNAME Bonds, Gary US
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anderson, Gary (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American R&B and rock and roll singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacksonville (Florida) , United States