Greyhound (band)

Greyhound was a reggae band from Great Britain, which in the early 1970s was one of the first reggae interpreters with hit parades outside Jamaica with their light pop songs .

history

Greyhound emerged from a band called "The Rudies" (also Sonny Binns & the Rudies and Freddie Notes & the Rudies), to which u. a. Freddie Notes and Danny Smith belonged to. They also recorded records in the 1960s under the names “The Tillermen” and “Des All Stars”. As The Rudies, they released covers of popular hits such as Patches by Clarence Carter and Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom . After Notes left the formation and was replaced by Glenroy Oakley, they changed their name to Greyhound.

The first single on the Trojan label under the new name was Black & White in the summer of 1971 , also a cover version, originally by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1956 and written by David Arkin and Earl Robinson . Greyhound, however, interpreted the song in reggae rhythm and landed a top ten hit in Great Britain with their version. The title, which addresses the equality of people like in a school lesson (“The ink is black, the page is white, together we learn to read and write”) and teaches how to overcome racism , remained the biggest hit for Greyhound. About a year later, the group Three Dog Night also adapted the song based on Greyhound's reggae version and thus made it to number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 .

Greyhound had two smaller hits in Great Britain in 1972, Moon River , a song by Henry Mancini from Breakfast at Tiffany’s , and I Am What I Am . In 2003 the "Best of" compilation Black & White was released on Trojan Records by Rough Trade Distribution , which also contains titles by Sonny Binns & the Rudies , Freddie Notes & the Rudies , The Tillermen and Des All Stars .

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Black & White   UK 6th 06/26/1971 (13 weeks)   DE 29 09/06/1971 (3 weeks) Moon river   UK 12 01/08/1972 (11 weeks) I Am What I Am   UK 20th 03/25/1972 (9 weeks)

Albums

• Black & White - Trojan 1972
• Mango Rock - Transatlantic 1976
• Black & White - The Best of Greyhound - Trojan / Rough Trade 2003

Singles

• Black & White - Trojan 1971
• Follow the Leader - Trojan 1971
• Moon River - Trojan 1971
• I Am What I Am - Trojan 1972
• Dream Lover - Trojan 1972
• Wily - Trojan 1973

Web links

• Greyhound biography in the All Music Guide

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Roberts (Ed.): Guinness World Records - British Hit Singles and Albums . 19th ed. 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 .
2. ↑ https://www.offiziellecharts.de/suche