The Les Humphries Singers was a 1970s pop group formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969 by the English-born Les Humphries. The group had several chart hits in Germany and in other European countries. The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end of the 1970s and Humphries moved back to England.

Members

Les Humphries was born John Leslie Humphreys on 10 August 1940 in Croydon, Surrey, England. In 1969 he formed the group in Hamburg, Germany. The group consisted of a large number of singers of diverse ethnic origin, some of whom such as John Lawton also performed with other groups. Another member was Jürgen Drews, who later started a long-running solo career, starting with his 1976 hit in Germany, "Ein Bett im Kornfeld", a cover version of "

Let Your Love Flow "Let Your Love Flow" is the debut single by country music duo the Bellamy Brothers, recorded in the autumn of 1975 and released in January 1976. The song was written by Larry E. Williams and produced by Phil Gernhard and Tony Scotti. It became an i ...

" by The Bellamy Brothers. Linda Thompson (born 21 September 1948 as Linda Übelherr), who had previously been a member of the Cornely Singers and Love Generation, was a member from 1973 to 1974, and later joined Silver Convention, and had a solo career as Linda G. Thompson, sang as a duo with Jerry Rix, and later joined The Hornettes. Henner Hoier (born 19 April 1945), who was a member from 1970 to 1971, had been a member of the Rivets from 1964 to 1968 and of

the Rattles The Rattles are a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1960, best known for their 1970 psychedelic hit single, "The Witch". Career The Rattles performed in Hamburg, and played at the same venues as The Beatles on several occasions in 1962. In ...

from 1968 to 1970. From 1972 onwards, he had a solo career, and from 1988 to 1993 he was a member of the Rattles and from 1994 of the Rivets. He has also composed and produced music, and appeared in the musical ''Only You''. Additional members included Liz Mitchell, later front woman with

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

, and John Lawton, who also sang for the German

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Lucifer's Friend Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy met ...

and would go on to be the

frontman 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 ...

for Uriah Heep. In 1974 Les Humphries Singers starred in the German movie
Es knallt - und die Engel singen
' directed by

Roberto Leoni Roberto Leoni is an Italian screenwriter and film director best known for such films as ''Santa Sangre'' signed on Empire magazine's 2008 list of th500 Greatest Movies Of All Time '' The Master Touch'' starring Kirk Douglas, '' Street People'' st ...

(as Butch Lion) and produced by
Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion
'. Humphries died on 26 December 2007 in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, England from a heart attack after a severe bout of pneumonia.

Former members

*Les Humphries (1969–80) (died 26 December 2007) *

Jimmy Bilsbury James Robert Bilsbury (2 November 1942 – 10 March 2003) was an English pop singer and songwriter, most famous for co-writing the Boney M hit, "Belfast", and as a member of the Magic Lanterns and the Les Humphries Singers. He was born in Li ...

(1969–77, 1982, 1992) * John Lawton (1971–76) (died 29 June 2021) *Earl Jordan (1972–76, 1982) *

Barry St. John Eliza Janet Thomson (November 1943 – 24 July 2020), who recorded as Barry St. John, was a Scottish female singer who had a No. 47 hit in the UK Singles Chart in December 1965 with "Come Away Melinda". It was her only solo chart success. Biog ...

(1972–73) * Jürgen Drews (1969–??) *Victor Scott (1970–76, 1982, 1992) (died 10 May 2020) *Christopher Yim (1971–76, 1992) *Peggy Evers (1970–76) *Judy Archer (1970–76) *Elvira Herbert (1972–75) (died 8 March 1980) *Dave O'Brien (1973–76) *Sheila McKinlay (1973–75, 1982, 1992) *Enry David-Fascher (1970–72) *Myrna David (1971–72)
*Malcolm Magaron (1970–72) *Claudia Schwarz (1974–76) *Emily Woods-Jensen (1974–76, 1992) *Dornée Edwards (1970–71) *Maddy Verhaar (1975–76) *Lil Walker * Don Adams (R&B singer), Don Adams (1974–75) *Tina Kemp-Werner (1970–74) *Barbara Johnson *Gail Stevens (1974) *Goldy Kloen-Evert (1970–71) *Irene Bendorf (1971) *Renate Andersen-Bilsbury (1974–76, 1982)

Musical background and style

The Les Humphries Singers performed a mix of popular music and gospel covers and had some success in Europe with this approach. Much like contemporary disco act Boney M., their music focused on Rhythm and blues, gospel, and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, but often with psychedelic phasing or flanger effects on solos and bridges, and, much like James Last, much larger background choruses in the studio to emulate a live atmosphere. The Les Humphries Singers at the time brought something from the flair of the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

movement into contemporary German-produced (but English-sung) pop music, especially due to their mixed ethnic background and peculiar fashion sense.

Hits and later reunions

Two of their earliest and best known hits were "Mexico" (1972) which was based on the 1957 Jimmy Driftwood country hit "

The Battle of New Orleans "The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical ver ...

", and "Mama Loo" (1973), based on " Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys. On later albums by the Les Humphries Singers "Mexico" was released with different lyrics, most likely due to copyright problems (plagiarism). In 1976 they represented Germany at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

with the Ralph Siegel title "

Sing Sang Song Germany was represented by the Les Humphries Singers, with the song "Sing Sang Song", at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in The Hague. "Sing Sang Song" originally placed runner-up in the German national final but bec ...

", reduced to only six singers (their usual line-ups consisted of 20 performers and up), and came in 15th place, which they regarded as their beginning of the end as a band. (They were initially the runner-up in the national final behind Tony Marshall who was later disqualified) At the same time, they were the resident vocal band on the internationally syndicated TV series "The International Pop Proms", working with James Last and other renowned artists. They disbanded shortly thereafter the same year, but enjoyed a short comeback as a pure live act from 1991 until 1993 performing their old hits. In 2006, the original band members formed "The Original Singers" without Humphries, but with new members Chris Dakota, David Tobin, Jay Jay van Hagen and Willi Meyer, re-recording their old hits and also releasing new material. This reincarnation totally lacked the hippie feel and look. The former members, Jürgen Drews, Tina Kemp-Werner, Judy Archer and Peggy Evers-Hartig, formed a group called the "Les Humphries Singers Reunion" in 2009.

Discography

Filmography

* 1974 -
Es knallt - und die Engel singen
' directed by

(as Butch Lion) * 2008 - ''Die Les Humphries Singers - Aufstieg Und Fall Einer Poplegende'' directed by Andreas Fischer

References

External links

Extensive Discography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphries Singers, Les 1969 establishments in West Germany 1980 disestablishments in West Germany Musical groups from Hamburg Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Germany Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1976 Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1980