The Les Humphries Singers

The Les Humphries Singers
The Les Humphries Singers at the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson (1976)
General information
origin	Hamburg , Germany
Genre (s)	pop
founding	1969, 2010
resolution	1976
Founding members
Band leader	Les Humphries († 2007)
Lead vocals	Jimmy Bilsbury († 2003)
Lead vocals	Malcolm Magaron
singing	Judy Archer
singing	Enry David
singing	Myrna David
singing	Peggy Evers
singing	Dornée Edwards
singing	Henner Hoier
singing	Heike Kloen ("Goldie")
singing	Liz Mitchell
singing	Victor Scott († 2020)
singing	Tina Werner
Current occupation
Lead vocals	Malcolm Magaron
singing	Chele Aguilera
singing	Ivonne Ballinas
singing	Marvin Broadie
singing	Jürgen Drews
singing	Tina Kemp
singing	Sascha Kramer
singing	Antoinette Kruger
singing	Victor Scott
singing	Patrick Simons
former members
singing	Don Adams
singing	Linda Uebelherr
singing	Elvira Herbert ("Puppa")
singing	Barbara Johnson
singing	Earl Jordan
singing	John Lawton
singing	Sheila McKinlay
singing	Dave O'Brien
singing	Claudia Schwarz
singing	Barry St. John
singing	Gail Stevens
singing	Maddy Verhaar
singing	Lil Walker
singing	Emily Woods
singing	Christopher Yim
singing	Ricky Berger

Les Humphries Singers at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

The Les Humphries Singers were a singing group that was founded in 1969 by the Englishman Les Humphries, who was then living in Hamburg . She was noticed by the large number of her singers of different ethnic origins, who brought something of the flair of the hippie movement and of the then popular gospel based on the model of the Edwin Hawkins Singers into pop music .

Group career

The Les Humphries Singers had their first big hit parade in 1970 in the Netherlands with the gospel hit To My Father's House, which was in first place there for 6 weeks. The group achieved numerous other single hits, especially in German-speaking countries . The most successful and well-known titles include (We'll Fly You to the) Promised Land, We Are Goin 'Down Jordan, Old Man Moses , Mexico , Mama Loo and Kansas City .

Her repertoire consisted of songs written by Humphries himself from traditionals , spirituals and evergreens . The group also recorded a number of albums with medleys from then-current hits by other artists. The records were released on Decca Records . The abbreviation "MGH-Produktion" stands for Jack Martin, Günter Geyer and Les Humphries. The occasional co-author and arranger Jimmy Bilsbury (1942–2003) from England played a key role in the creation of the title and the development of the group sound . Bandleader Humphries accompanied his choir on the piano or occasionally acted as a singer, as with Jennifer Adam on the 1972 LP Mexico .

The lead vocals were taken over by various members of the group. This role was played particularly often by Jimmy Bilsbury and - until he left the group in mid-1972 - Malcolm Magaron from St. Lucia in the Caribbean : Bilsbury in particular on many titles of the early LPs and in Mexico, Magaron for example on Rock My Soul , Soolaimon , We Are Goin 'Down Jordan and Old Man Moses . The lead singers of other single hits were, for example, Enry David or only in the studio Barbara Johnson ( To My Father's House ), Dornée Edwards († September 15, 2006; Promised Land ), Barry St. John († July 24, 2020; Take Care of Me ), John Lawton ( Mama Loo ), Earl Jordan ( Carnival ), Dave O'Brien ( Kansas City together with Bilsbury and Lawton) and Sheila McKinlay († December 16, 2012; Amazing Grace ). During the eight-year existence of the group, Peggy Evers, Heike Kloen ("Goldie"; † February 19, 2004), Tina Werner, Victor Scott, Judy Archer, Liz Mitchell , Christopher Yim, Jürgen Drews , Elvira Herbert ("Puppa" ; † March 8, 1980), Linda Uebelherr , Claudia Schwarz, Don Adams and Emily Woods as well as briefly Myrna David , Henner Hoier , Maddy Verhaar, Gail Stevens and Lil Walker. Over time, the choir expanded from eight to sixteen members, some of whom did not sing along. Some of the new faces were also involved in earlier studio recordings.

When performing, the group always seemed relaxed and in a good mood. Behind the scenes, however, the rigorous leadership style of the bandleader and former member of the Royal Marines Les Humphries, often described as difficult and irascible, often created tension. Malcolm Magaron and Liz Mitchell as well as the sisters Enry and Myrna David left in mid-1972. The latter released as a duo under the name Big Secret and sang on Family Tree . Henner Hoier, Dornée Edwards and Heike Kloen had already left the choir a year earlier. When Tina Werner left in the summer of 1974, only Jimmy Bilsbury, Peggy Evers, Judy Archer and Victor Scott were there from the first line-ups in 1970.

Under the musical direction of Humphries and Hans Hammerschmid , the Singers accompanied Hildegard Knef on her 1971 album What is it all about? and appeared with the chanson singer on various TV programs. The single Mexico (1972) uses the melody of the song The Battle of New Orleans by Jimmy Driftwood from 1936, which thematizes the Battle of New Orleans of 1815 in the British-American War . Les Humphries rewrote the lyrics for Mexico so that he could claim royalties from the authors . Because his original text was too similar to The Battle of New Orleans , he rewrote the text to avoid allegations of plagiarism . The newly recorded version appeared on later albums.

In 1973 the group had a guest role in the ZDF crime series Der Kommissar (episode 60: The night in which Basseck died ). In 1974 they appeared in the slapstick gangster film It pops and the angels sing as Chicago gangsters. The soundtrack for the film consisted of well-known hits from the group; the song Do You Kill Me or Do I Kill You was released as a single at the same time. In 1975, the Les Humphries Singers played for a spot of the watch manufacturer Timex entitled It's Time Timex one ( "tick-tick-timex") . The choir members received waterproof and shock-proof watches as a small “thank you”, while Les Humphries collected the agreed advertising amount. In 1976, in The Hague, the Netherlands, they represented Germany as one of 18 participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest with the German-language song Sing Sang Song , written by Ralph Siegel and Kurt Hertha , which was voted 15th. Due to the competition rules, only six members of the group could go on stage.

Dissolution and comeback

After the failure at the European hit competition and since the audience's interest had decreased considerably for some time, the group disbanded at the end of 1976. Due to tax debts, Les Humphries settled in his English homeland and only returned to Germany after the statute of limitations for this offense . In October 1991 he invited his singers to Hamburg for the NDR Talk Show . They then got a record deal with the Pilz label , where the 1992 album Spirit of Freedom was created. This was followed by a tour of Germany as the opening act for Howard Carpendale and several TV programs. In February 1993, her last appearance was on the show Meine Show with Dagmar Frederic . On December 29, 2007, three days after the death of the band's founder Les Humphries, the NDR showed a detailed documentary by Andreas Fischer about the group entitled "The Les Humphries Singers - Rise and Fall of a Pop Legend" .

Other member activities

In the late 1960s, Les Humphries was the keyboardist for the Hamburg rock group Wonderland , which had a top 20 hit in Germany in 1968 with Moscow . Jimmy Bilsbury sang in the British rock group Magic Lanterns, whose single Shame, Shame reached the top 40 in the US in late 1968. Jürgen Drews was a member of the Les Humphries Singers until he made his breakthrough as a solo artist in 1976 with Ein Bett im Kornfeld, the German cover version of Let Your Love Flow by the Bellamy Brothers .

Dornée Edwards, Malcolm Magaron and Liz Mitchell played in the German production of the musical Hair and made their own recordings as Malcolm and Liz and in the formation of Malcolm's Locks from mid-1972. Mitchell rose to fame as a singer on Boney M after breaking up with Magaron . John Lawton was a member of the German progressive rock group Lucifer's Friend and from 1976 singer of Uriah Heep . Barry St. John had a hit in 1965 in the UK with Come Away Melinda and can be heard title Pop as a backing vocalist on numerous recordings of British rock and, for example, 20th Century Boy by T. Rex , The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll by Mott the Hoople or on the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon . Linda Uebelherr was also a member of the Silver Convention singing group . Christopher Yim, who had already contributed to the show on stage with two kung fu swords, was a kung fu teacher in Dortmund in the 1980s.

The Les Humphries Singers today

In May 2007, some former members of the Les Humphries Singers started a comeback with stage and TV appearances without the former bandleader, initially as The Original Singers . Her repertoire includes some of the old hits, new songs (Boy Try to Run) and gospels. In April 2009 the group, who u. a. Peggy Evers-Hartig, Tina Kemp (Werner), Judy Archer and Jürgen Drews belong to their new group name The Les Humphries Singers Reunion . The newly recorded music album Back in Time was released in early May 2009. In 2011 the group returned to its original name and in 2012 their album Forever Young was released with the single of the same name as The Les Humphries Singers . Former members Malcolm Magaron and Victor Scott also returned to the group.

Victor Scott died on May 10, 2020.

Members

Surname	Period of participation	Country of origin
Les Humphries	1969-1977 1991-1993	United Kingdom
Jimmy Bilsbury	1969-1977 1991-1993	United Kingdom
Henner Hoier	1969-1971	Germany
Barbara Johnson	1969 (only in the recording studio)	United States
Lil Walker	1969 (recording studio) 1975 (tour)	United States
Dornée Edwards	1970-1971	Jamaica
Enry David-Fascher	1970-1992 1991-1993	Philippines
Malcolm Magaron	1970–1972 2014-present	St. Lucia
Peggy Evers-Hartig	1970-1976 2007-2014	Germany
Heike Kloen-Evert ("Goldie")	1970-1971	Germany
Tina Kemp-Werner	1970–1974 2007 – today	Sweden
Liz Mitchell	1970-1972	Jamaica
Judy Archer	1970-1976 2007-2014	Trinidad and Tobago
Victor Scott	1970–1976 1991–1993 2014–2020	Trinidad and Tobago
Jürgen Drews	1971–1976 1991–1993 2007–2012	Germany
Christopher Yim	1971-1976 1991-1993	South Korea
John Lawton	1971-1976 1991-1993	United Kingdom
Myrna David	1971-1972	Philippines
Barry St. John	1972-1973	United Kingdom
Elvira Herbert ("Puppa")	1972-1975	Germany
Earl Jordan	1972-1976	United States
Maddy Verhaar	1973	Netherlands
Dave O'Brien	1973-1976	United Kingdom
Linda Uebelherr	1973–1974 2007–2010	Germany
Sheila McKinlay	1973-1975 1991-1993	United Kingdom
Claudia Schwarz	1974-1976	Austria
Don Adams	1974-1975	United Kingdom
Emily Woods-Jensen	1974-1976 1991-1993	United States
Gail Stevens	1974	United States
Barbara Sexton	1991-1993	United Kingdom
Gabi Stephanus	1991-1993	Germany
Milena Mitrovic	1991-1993	Serbia
Chris Dakota	2007-2010	Germany
David Tobin	2007-2009	United States
Jay Jay van Hagen	2007-2013	Germany
Willi Meyer	2007-2009	Germany
Ivonne Ballinas	2009 – today	Mexico
Chele Aguilera	2009 – today	Spain
Marvin Broadie	2010 – today	United States
Ricky Berger (Riko)	2012-2013	Austria
Antoinette Kruger	2013 – today	South Africa
Sascha Kramer	2013-2015	Germany
Patrick Simons	2014-2015	Germany
Monica Green	2015 – today	United States

Discography

→ Main article : The Les Humphries Singers / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
1970	I Believe / Rock My Soul	-	-	-	First published: 1970
1971	We'll Fly You to the Promised Land	DE9 (11 months) DE	-	-	First published: May 1, 1971
	We Are Goin 'Down Jordan	DE2 (10 months) DE	-	-	First published: October 1, 1971
	Old Man Moses / Take Care of Me	DE2 (9 months) DE	-	-	First published: April 1, 1972
1972	Mexico	DE2 (9 months) DE	AT1 (6 months) AT	-	First published: October 1, 1972
1973	Mama Loo	DE1 (8 months) DE	AT2 (4 months) AT	-	First published: April 1, 1973
	Carnival	DE23 (5 months) DE	-	-	First published: November 1, 1973
1974	Kansas City	DE3 (6 months) DE	AT7 (1 month) AT	-	First published: April 1, 1974
	One of these days	-	-	-	First published: 1974
1975	Live for Today	-	-	-	First published: 1975
	Family show	-	-	-	First published: 1975
1976	Sing Sang Song	-	-	-	First published: 1976
1992	Spirit of Freedom	-	-	-	First publication: 1992
2012	Forever Young	-	-	-	First published: 2012

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

documentation

• Good Luck, Les Humphries! (A film by Sigmar Börner ), first broadcast April 14, 1971
• Les Humphries Singers - An attempt at a group picture (A film by Günter Hassert), first broadcast January 10, 1972
• Les Humphries - The programmed success (A film by Ottokar Runze), 1973
• The Les Humphries Singers - the rise and fall of a pop legend (NDR, 2007. 110-minute documentary by Andreas Fischer)

Awards

• 1971 Golden Europe

Web links

Commons : The Les Humphries Singers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official homepage of the Les Humphries Singers ( Memento of July 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
• Extensive, German-language discography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of number one hits in the Netherlands (1970)
2. ↑ CD Booklet The Les Humphries Singers - Greatest Hits - Das Beste (2001, Telefunken)
3. ↑ Indirect statement by Christopher Yim, among others, in the documentary: The Les Humphries Singers - Rise and Fall of a Pop Legend (NDR, 2007. 110-minute documentary by Andreas Fischer)
4. ↑ Enyr and Myrna. ABC online (Spanish).
5. ^ Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit-Bilanz, Deutsche Chart Singles 1956-1980 . Taurus-Press, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 221.
6. ^ Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . 7th edition. Billboard Books, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8230-7690-3 , p. 394.
7. ↑ theleshumphriessingers.com: News
8. ↑ Victor Scott of the Les Humphries Singers has died
9. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH