Graham Bonney (born Graham Arthur Ernest George Bradly, 2 June 1943) Graham Bonney homepage
Accessed 12 November 2012 is a British

pop singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and songwriter who has mainly lived and worked in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Although he only had one UK chart hit, "Super Girl" in 1966, his success has continued in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Life and career

He was born in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Biography at TeddyMusic.eu
. Accessed 12 November 2012 and worked as a child actor before forming his first group when at school. In 1961, he joined the Espresso Five, followed in 1962 by The Ambers, with whom he performed at the

Star-Club The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1964 he became lead singer with

The Riot Squad The Riot Squad were a pop group from London, initially managed and produced by Larry Page and later, for their reunion, by Joe Meek. The band was formed in late 1964 by Ron Ryan (guitar), Graham Bonney (vocals), Bob Evans (saxophone), Mark Ste ...

, a band put together by manager

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist and internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was the chief executive officer of Google from 1997 unt ...

. After three unsuccessful singles for

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

in 1965, Bonney left the band for a solo career. He started writing songs with

Barry Mason John Barry Mason (12 July 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awar ...

, and his second solo single "Super Girl", issued on the Columbia label, reached no. 19 on 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 ...

in 1966. It proved more popular in Europe, reaching number 1 on some German charts and remaining in the top 10 there for several months, reportedly selling over 1 million copies. Biography by Rovi at Allmusic.com
Accessed 12 November 2012 Follow-up records in Britain were less successful, but Bonney established a lasting career in Germany, where 14 of his singles reached the top fifty between 1966 and 1973. His German hits included "Das Girl mit dem La-La-La", "Wähle 333", "Du bist viel zu schön", and "

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

". He won

Bravo Otto The Bravo Otto is a German accolade honoring excellence of performers in film, television and music. Established in 1957, the award is presented annually, with winners selected by the readers of ''Bravo'' magazine. The award is presented in ...

awards as top singer in 1967 and 1968. He appeared on German television as a regular of the TV programme ''

Beat Club ''Beat-Club'' is a West Germany, West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen (city), Bremen, West Germany on Das Erste, ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of ...

'', toured with

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

and others, and had his own TV show, ''Hits a Go Go''. He returned to Britain in 1969 to co-host early editions of the TV show '' Lift Off'' with

Ayshea Ayshea (born Ayshea Hague, 12 November 1948) is a British singer, actor and television presenter. Biography Born in Highgate, London, and educated at Arts Educational School, London, Ayshea was trained in ballet, music, drama and dance. She mad ...

. Television Heaven: Lift Off
. Accessed 12 November 2012 He continued to be a popular entertainer in Germany through the 1970s and 1980s, his British citizenship allowing him to perform in

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

as well as

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He also made TV appearances in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and has continued to perform and release records in Germany. He married a

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

stewardess in 1984 and lives near

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonney, Graham 1943 births Living people English male singers English pop singers English songwriters People from Basildon Pye Records artists British male songwriters