John Theodore Kongos (born 6 August 1945) is a South African-born singer and songwriter of Greek ancestry, best known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single "

He's Gonna Step on You Again "He's Gonna Step on You Again" (also known as "Step On") is a song originally performed by John Kongos, co-written by Kongos and Christos Demetriou, and first released in 1971 by Fly Records. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 22 May 1971 and s ...

", on which

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...

based their hit " Step On". His other big hit was "

Tokoloshe Man "Tokoloshe Man" was a 1971 UK hit single by John Kongos, released on Fly Records. It stayed in the UK Singles Chart top 10 for five weeks, peaking at number 4. Kongos' previous single release was "He's Gonna Step on You Again", another number 4 U ...

", which was featured on the TV show ''

Life On Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

'' and the CD soundtrack. His second album, ''Kongos'', made the top 30 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

; but his subsequent singles, "Great White Lady" (1972), "

Ride the Lightning ''Ride the Lightning'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at S ...

" (1975) and "Higher than God's Hat" (1975) did not chart.

Career

Having had success in South Africa in the early 1960s with his band Johnny and the G-Men, as well as a solo artist, Kongos went to the UK in 1966, to pursue his musical career. His first UK based group, Floribunda Rose, formed in April 1967, comprised the British musicians, Pete Clifford (guitar) (born Peter William Frederick Clifford, 10 May 1943, Whetstone, North London) and Jack Russell (bass, vocals) (born 29 April 1944,

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

, South Wales), who had come to South Africa in June 1965 with The 004; drummer Nick 'Doc' Dokter (born 24 July 1945,

Kampen, Overijssel Kampen () is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. A member of the former Hanseatic League, it is located at the lower reaches of the river IJssel. The municipality of Kampen had a population of in and covers an a ...

, 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 ...

), a latter day member of 004; and the Cyprus-born keyboard player Chris Demetriou from John E Sharpe and the Squires. After one single, "Linda Loves Linda", Clifford returned to South Africa to join The Bats and Dokter moved to Canada and worked with Five Man Cargo. Drummer

Henry Spinetti Enrico Antonio Giorgio Spinetti (born 31 March 1951) is a Welsh session drummer whose playing has featured on many prominent rock and pop albums. Career Spinetti was born in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales. His first band, aged about ...

joined and the remaining members recorded three singles as Scrugg. After 18 months of gigging in Britain and Europe with his bands Floribunda Rose and Scrugg, and five singles later, he released his first solo album, ''Confusions About a Goldfish'' (1969), on the

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's ...

record label. He then concentrated on songwriting, and began to have major success in Germany and other European countries (No. 1 and top 10 hits). He then moved to

Fly Records Fly Records is a British independent record label, established in 1970 by the independent music publisher David Platz, and initially managed by Malcolm Jones from the offices of Essex Music in London. History Platz had been producing records i ...

with whom he had two

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

– "

" (UK No. 4, May 1971; U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 No. 70) and "

" (UK No. 4, November 1971). His second album ''Kongos'' made the top 30 of the

, but subsequent singles, "Great White Lady" (1972), "

" (1975) and "Higher than God's Hat" (1975), did not

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

. "Tomorrow I'll Go", which appeared on ''Kongos'', was covered by New Zealand band

The Human Instinct The Human Instinct are a New Zealand blues rock band that has been active since the late 1960s. The band currently consists of Maurice Greer (lead vocals and stand-up drummer), Phil Pritchard (guitar), Joel Haines (guitar) and Tony Baird (bass). ...

on their 1970 album ''

Stoned Guitar ''Stoned Guitar'' is the second album by New Zealand blues-rock band The Human Instinct. It was released in 1970. The cover features an adaptation of a painting by New Plymouth artist Michael Smither, "Two Rock Pools". "Black Sally" was a c ...

'', while "Ride The Lightning" (1975) was covered by

Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian; hy, Սիլվի Ժորժ Վարդանյան. on 15 August 1944) is an Armenian-Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. ...

as "

Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes? "Ride the Lightning" is a song written by John Kongos and Peter Leroy and originally released by John Kongos in 1975. Track listing 7" single Cube Records BUG 58 (1975, UK) : A. "Ride the Lightning" (4:04) : B. "I Won't Ask You Where You've Bee ...

" in France and was No. 1 on that chart for several weeks in 1976. "

" is cited in the ''

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing worl ...

'' as being the first song to ever use a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of ...

. However, according to the sleeve note of the CD reissue of the ''Kongos'' album, it is actually a tape loop of African drumming. Kongos continued to work in his own London studio as a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

, TV

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

and

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

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 Def ...

, and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, as well as handling the programming of the

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), ...

's 1983 album, ''

Pyromania Pyromania is an impulse control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, to relieve some tension or for instant gratification. The term ''pyromania'' comes from the Greek word (''pyr'', 'fi ...

''. He gained notice with a new musical generation in 1990, when

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music ...

pioneers

reworked "He's Gonna Step On You Again" into their baggy era defining hit "Step On", which reached No. 5 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 ...

. In the same year they also

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

his "Tokoloshe Man", for the

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

, '' Rubáiyát''.

Discography

His 1966–1969 work (including his recordings with Floribunda Rose and Scrugg, and his solo album ''Confusions About a Goldfish'') was released on a

, ''Lavender Popcorn'' (2001). The album ''Kongos'' (Elektra, 1972), plus his remaining singles first issued on Fly, appeared on the CD ''Tokoloshe Man Plus'', released by

See For Miles Records See for Miles Records (SFM) was a British record label which was one of the first British re-issue specialists predating the emergence of compact discs. See for Miles reissued most of the records of many labels including Dandelion Records on ...

in 1988.

Personal life

Kongos is married to Shelley and has four sons; Johnny, Jesse, Dylan, and Daniel, who are members of the rock group Kongos.

References

External links

Official website

Official MySpace page
* John Kongos biographyat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and W ...

John Kongos at Amazon.com

John Kongos on iTunes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kongos, John 1945 births Living people Singers from Johannesburg RCA Victor artists South African expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century South African male singers South African record producers Dawn Records artists Fly Records artists South African people of Greek descent South African people of Hispanic descent