Les Humphries

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Les Humphries (right), 1974

Les Humphries , actually John Leslie Humphreys (born August 10, 1940 in Croydon , London , † December 26, 2007 in Basingstoke ), was an English pop musician who became known in Germany with his group Les Humphries Singers . From the beginning of the 1970s until the breakup of his group in 1976, Humphries sold around 48 million records . Les Humphries is the composer of the theme song for Derrick .

life and career

Les Humphries grew up in simple circumstances. His father was killed in World War II in 1942 . After the end of the war, the family moved to Alton into a row house where Humphries lived until his death. Humphries took piano lessons at an early age, and at the age of 13 he moved to the Naval School in Deal, Kent. He later joined the Royal Navy Music Corps . In 1958 he was voted “Best Young Musician of the Year” from 5000 musicians in the Royal Navy, whereupon he was allowed to play Queen Mum on the piano at Buckingham Palace . He left the Navy in 1964 with the rank of "Master Band Sergeant".

In 1966, Humphries formed The Summer Set . In addition to many appearances in England, guest appearances in Hamburg also followed . From then on, Humphries' contacts with the German music market were established. In 1968 he joined Achim Reichel's band Wonderland as organist . He left it in 1969 to start his own group. Inspired by the Edwin Hawkins Singers , he founded the group The Les Humphries Singers together with Jimmy Bilsbury in mid-1969 , which became very successful and produced many hits such as B. Mama Loo , Mexico and Kansas City .

One of his best-known compositions is the theme song for the crime series Derrick . Co-author, most important partner for many songs as well as the most important solo singer of the group was Jimmy Bilsbury; Humphries had a rather difficult and tense relationship with him, up to and including severe fights after drinking alcohol.

In 1972 he married the pop singer Dunja Rajter in the village church of the small Lower Saxon town of Undeloh in the Lüneburg Heath . The marriage was divorced in 1976. Their son Danny Leslie Humphries (* 1974) later appeared in the band Glow - also as a singer and guitarist. Due to tax debts, Les Humphries settled in his English homeland at the end of the 1970s and only returned to Germany after the statute of limitations.

In 1991 Les Humphries invited his group to Hamburg for the NDR talk show . After this show, the Les Humphries Singers got a record deal and went on tour in 1992 as the opening act for Howard Carpendale . TV shows like Goldene Schlagerparade and Wetten, dass ..? . Humphries was most recently with Dagmar Frederic in the MDR telecast My Show to see. "Unfortunately, the master is ill, but the troop is standing," was the announcement of the moderator; Humphries had bruised his spine in a fall .

Several attempts to make a comeback were unsuccessful. He spent the last years of his life very withdrawn and no longer even had contact with his former wife Dunja Rajter and his three children. He made the headlines again in 1998 when he had his own death report published: over the phone he posed as his own twin brother and reported the alleged death of his brother. Then fell Jürgen Drews , singer and former member of the choir of Les Humphries Singers, enter: Unaware of the true facts Drews spoke to a request of the Bavarian Radio live an obituary for Humphries in Bayern 3 .

Les Humphries died at the age of 67 on December 26, 2007 of a heart attack following pneumonia in the hospital in Basingstoke , England. His death was only known to the public in February 2008. After an argument of those left behind on the place of burial his urn was secretly in his hometown 18 August 2008 Alton in the county of Hampshire , buried next to his mother Kathleen Humphreys, who had died 1986th

Discography

solo

  • 1970: Painting Pictures / Younger Days Have Gone (as Napoleon Smith)
  • 1970: Walking Down Broadway (LP, Les Humphries and His Friends)
  • 1970: Pop Party (LP, Les Humphries and His Friends)
  • 1971: Super-Star-Sound - Piano Concerto (LP)
  • 1971: Megaton (LP, as Megaton: John Lesley Humphreys, Jimmy Bilsbury)
  • 1972: Just My Way of Life (LP, Les Humphries and Friends)
  • 1974: Derrick Pt. 1 + Pt. 2 (Les Humphries Orchestra)
  • 1975: It Must Be You / Semolina
  • 1976: Che Gama / I Am
  • 1977: Disco Boogie / Rapp's Boogie ( Gottfried & Les)
  • 1978: Sing, Sang, Song Singalong (LP, Les Humphries feat.Skye Blue)

The Les Humphries Singers

→ see The Les Humphries Singers / discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview statements by former choir members, in: The Les Humphries Singers - The rise and fall of a pop legend. 110-minute NDR television documentary by Andreas Fischer, 2007.
  2. ↑ a b Text information in the credits of The Les Humphries Singers - Rise and Fall of a Pop Legend. 110-minute NDR television documentary by Andreas Fischer, 2007.
  3. ^ Statement by Jürgen Drews, in: The Les Humphries Singers - The rise and fall of a pop legend. 110-minute NDR television documentary by Andreas Fischer, 2007.
  4. ↑ See Focus online Les Humphries is dead , March 2, 2008
  5. ↑ Photo online: Les Humphries secretly buried , August 26, 2008
  6. ↑ knerger.de :: The grave of Les Humphries
personal data
SURNAME Humphries, Les
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Humphreys, John Leslie (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English pop musician
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH London Borough of Croydon
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 2007
Place of death Basingstoke