
Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast
Two baby boomers, Bill Price and Jumpin' John McDermott, bringing you podcasts highlighting the early history & evolution of Rock & Roll.
Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast
One Hit Wonders: Los Bravos & Jimmy Soul
Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback! I'm Bill Price, and in this episode of One Hit Wonders on Rock and Roll Flashback, I will highlight the Spanish band known as Los Bravos and the vocalist Jimmy Soul.
All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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In this episode of One Hit Wonders on Rock and Roll Flashback, I will highlight the
Spanish band known as Los Bravos and vocalist Jimmy Soul.
Los Bravos was a band made up of two pop groups in Spain. One group called Los Sonar was from Madrid, and the second was a group called The Runaways from Mallorca. The band’s members included Mike Kogel, Antonio Martinez, Manuel Fernandez, Miguel Danus and Pablo Gomez. Interestingly the lead singer Mike Kogel, who also used the names Mike Kennedy and Mike Keller, was from Germany. Mike’s vocals were often compared to that of US singer Gene Pitney, since they sounded similar.
In 1966, Los Bravos recorded a song written by Michelle Grainger, Tony Hayes and
Steve Wadey who, lived in England. The song’s title was “Black is Black” and became a number one hit in Canada and Spain. In the UK it climbed to number two and in the US, it reached the number four position on the Billboard Hot 100. The single went on to sell over one million copies worldwide. The song was later covered by Johnny Hallyday and by a French group, who released a Disco version that also reached the number two position in the UK in 1977.
The next release by Los Bravos was a single titled “I Don’t Care”, that reached the
number 16 position in the UK, but failed to chart in the US and Spain. Although the band released several singles, none were able duplicate the success of “Black is Black”. Several releases in Spanish did become, hits but only in Spain. A song written by Harry Vanda and George Young titled “Bring A Little Lovin’” did manage to climb to number 22 in Canada.
On May 20th, 1968, Manuel Fernandez committed suicide following the death of his bride due to an auto accident. Also in 1968, Mike Kogel left the band to pursue a solo career. Then in 1975 and 1976 he returned to rejoin the band. Between 2004 and 2015 there were a few reunions with new members. In 2019 Bruce Game was introduced as the new lead singer prior to recording an album. In 2020 the band released two singles, followed by four additional releases in 2021. Original member Miguel Danus passed away on February 12th, 2022. The Los Bravos’ discography includes six studio albums, nine compilation albums and 28 singles.
Here is the number four hit from 1966 by Los Bravos - “Black is Black”.
Jimmy Soul whose birth name was James Louis McCleese was born in Weldon, North Carolina on August 24th, 1942. At the age of seven he became a preacher and as a teenager performed gospel music. The name Soul was acquired from his church congregation. As a member of several gospel groups, Jimmy toured and performed in the southern US, becoming quite popular in the Norfolk, Virginia area, where he was asked by music producer Frank Guida to sing some songs for Gary US Bonds who was one of Frank’s artists.
Jimmy recorded two top 40 singles that that been rejected by Bonds. The first release was titled “Twisting Matilda” that reached the number 22 position on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1962. The second release in May 1963 titled “If You Wanna Be Happy” became Soul’s only number one hit. The composition was influenced by the 1933 Calypso song titled “Ugly Woman”, by Roaring Lion. “If You Wanna Be Happy” sold more than one million copies, enabling it to earn gold disc status. Interestingly, in the UK Singles Chart it reached number 39 in 1963 and in a later release in 1991, it peaked at number 68.
Jimmy’s next release in 1963 titled “Treat’ Em Tough” failed to make it onto Billboard’s Hot 100. Follow up releases were unsuccessful, prompting Jimmy to give up his music career and join the US Army. In 1988 Jimmy Soul passed away at the age of 45.
I’ll conclude this episode of One Hit Wonders with Jimmy Soul’s number one hit from 1963 “If You Wanna Be Happy”.
This has been a look back at the first Spanish band to chart in the UK, Canada and the US, Los Bravos and American vocalist Jimmy Soul. Until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.