"Black Is Black" is a song by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Los Bravos Los Bravos were a Spanish beat group, formed in 1965 and based in Madrid. They are most well known for their debut single "Black Is Black" which reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom in July 1966 and No. 4 in the United States (the first Spanish g ...

, released in 1966 as the group's debut single for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. Produced by

Ivor Raymonde Ivor Raymonde (born Ivor Pomerance; 22 October 1926 – 4 June 1990) was a British musician, songwriter, arranger and actor, best known for his distinctive rock-orchestral arrangements for Dusty Springfield and others in the 1960s. Life and care ...

, it reached number two in the UK, number four in the US, and number one in Canada. With the recording's success, Los Bravos became the first Spanish rock band to have an international

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

. A dance

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

was released as a single in 1986.

Background

Four members of Los Bravos — bassist Miguel Vicens Danus, guitarist Tony Martinez, organist Manuel Fernandez, and drummer Pablo Sanllehi — had previously worked together in the Spanish band Los Sonors. Together with German-born singer Michael Kogel, the group set out to achieve success in the European market making English-language

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

. After signing with the Spanish division of

, the band went to England to work with

, a British producer,

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, who had been involved in making UK hit songs with such artists as

Marty Wilde Marty Wilde, (born Reginald Leonard Smith; 15 April 1939) is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s hit singles including " Endless Sl ...

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 we ...

, and Dave Berry. "Black Is Black" was released in 1966 as the band's first Decca single.

Reception

lead singer The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Kogel was not a native English speaker (he had to have the lyrics written out phonetically), his vocals had unusual intonations. By coincidence, they sounded similar to that of

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

, so much so that many listeners assumed that "Black Is Black" was actually a Pitney single. In August 1966, the song debuted at number 100 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. It peaked at number four in October, and spent 12 weeks on the chart. It reached number one on the

Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart was a chart compiled by the American-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan, which began publication in November 1996. It was published every Wednesday and also published on Thursday by '' Jam!''/Canoe. I ...

, and peaked at number two in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The single also sold two million copies in Spain. Shortly after the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, American

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conglomerate company Clear Channel Communications distributed the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum to program directors at the more than 1000

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the company owned. The memo contained a list of 162 songs with "questionable lyrics" that the stations should avoid playing. "Black Is Black" was among the songs on the list.

Other versions

A French version of the song, entitled " Noir c'est noir", was recorded by

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

and held the number one spot on France's singles chart for seven weeks in the fall of 1966. It was also covered by French vocal trio La Belle Epoque as a disco song, and released as a 1976 single. It peaked at number two in the UK, and reached number one in Australia in October 1978. In 1975 it was sampled in

I'm on Fire "I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album '' Born in the U.S.A.'' History "I'm on Fire" was first recorded in January 1982 during the f ...

by the band 5000 Volts. In 1976,

Cerrone Marc Cerrone Daryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (, ; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concert shows. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 198 ...

released his version as a single from his 3-track LP, ''Love in C Minor''. The track is often mixed into club sets or sampled.

Track listing

#"Black Is Black" (Grainger, Hayes, Wadey) – 2:59 #"I Want a Name" (Diaz, Raymonde) – 2:38

Chart performance

Weekly charts

;Los Bravos

Year-end charts

La Belle Epoque version

References

{{authority control 1966 songs 1966 debut singles 1977 singles 1987 singles Los Bravos songs Joy (Austrian band) songs Decca Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Ivor Raymonde