Los bravos
Los Bravos is a Spanish rock group that brought out a million-seller with the summer hit Black Is Black in 1966 and went down in rock music annals as a one-hit wonder .
Band history
This group was formed in 1965 from the merger of the groups "Los Sonor" and "Mike Rat & The Runaways". The driving force was Michael Kogel, who was born in Berlin on April 25, 1944. He had already recorded the solo record She was a girl of 17 years / A girl made to measure (Polydor # 24841) in 1962. In 1964 he appeared with his band The Fireballs or Michael & The Firebirds in Cologne in the Glaspalast , a beat club in the Ehrenfeld district. There he was discovered by the Cologne music producer Nils Nobach . Nobach produced the band's first single, Der Knüller Mausi Müller / We're a Dancing Band (Ariola # 10 690), which was released in mono in 1964. The A-side was a German-language cover version of Freddie Cannon's title Abigail Beecher . This is followed in 1965 by My Secret / Fair Play (Ariola # 18438) and Let them go / Make Me Happy (Star Club # 148 515). In the same year he appeared in the formation Mike Rat & The Runaways (with Spanish group members) on the single Um Um Um Um Um / Ja Da (EMI SCDL # 69040), which played live at the Cascade Beat Club in Cologne .
In 1966, the former Electrola producer Nils Nobach brought Michael Kogel together with the Spanish band "Los Sonor", which was then looking for a singer. With the French music producer Alain Milhaud, the "Wild" (so the German translation), renamed "Los Bravos", traveled to London in April 1966 in search of suitable song material and a record label. The first ever composition by the Tony Hayes / Steve Wadey / Michelle Grainger team was found under the title Black Is Black . Co-composers Hayes and Wadey owned a recording studio in the village of Hoo near Rochester (Kent) , where a demonstration recording of the title was made. It was their first song that all British bands had rejected. The song was produced in April 1966 by Ivor Raymonde in London together with Alain Milhaud. For union reasons, only Kogel was allowed to sing; British session musicians played, including Jimmy Page . Since Kogel's voice was very similar to Gene Pitney 's, rumors later arose that Pitney had sung instead of Kogel. Characteristic is the bass driving the song, which gives the title the sound of blue-eyed soul . The single Black Is Black / I Want a Name was released in Great Britain on June 17, 1966 (Decca F # 22419) and sold over a million times, also thanks to the intense airplay by the pirate station Radio Caroline .
This organ-heavy party song became a world hit. It reached number two in the British charts and number four in Germany and the United States. They had a second hit with the similarly produced title I Don't Care , which came in at number 16 in the German and 15 in the British charts. In 1967 the organist Manuel Fernandez's suicide overshadowed the further development of the band. In 1968 Michael Kogel got out because of a solo career under the pseudonym Mike Kennedy. Bob Wright and Anthony Anderson came in for him. In 1975 Mike Kennedy returned to Los Bravos.
Los Bravos still play at vintage festivals today.
Band members
- Antonio Matinez (born October 3, 1945 in Madrid ) - guitar
- Manuel Fernandez (born September 29, 1943 in Seville - † May 20, 1967) - electronic organ
- Miguel Vicens Danus (born June 21, 1944 in Ferrol ) - bass
- Pablo Gomez Sanllehi (born November 5, 1943 in Barcelona ) - drums
- Michael Kogel (born April 25, 1944 in Berlin ) - vocals
Discography
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Albums
- Los Bravos (1966)
- Los chicos con las chicas (1967)
- Dame un poco de amor (1968)
- Ilustrísimos Bravos (1969)
- Los Bravos Forever (1986)
Web links
- Los Bravos fan website (Spanish / partly English)
- Biography at Allmusic (English)