Les Humphries Singers

German band

The Les Humphries Singers was a pop vocal group formed in Hamburg, West Germany by English singer Les Humphries. Active from 1969 until 1980, the group had several chart hits in Germany and in other European countries. The group, whose music drew heavily from gospel, country, folk, R&B and psychedelic influences, was notable for its large number of members, which at times numbered over a dozen to 30. Several of its members, including John Lawton, Jürgen Drews and Liz Mitchell, went on to have notable careers of their own.

Les Humphries was born John Leslie Humphreys on 10 August 1940 in Croydon, Surrey, England. After a stint in the Royal Navy, where he was a member of the naval band and attained the rank of Band sergeant major. In 1969, inspired by the success of the Edwin Hawkins Singers gospel group, he formed Les Humphries Singers in Hamburg, where he had relocated. The original line up included Humphries, Jimmy Bilsbury, and Malcolm Magaron as lead vocals, supported by Jürgen Drews, Judy Archer, En David, Myrna David, Peggy Evers, Dornee Edwards, Henner Hoier, Heike Kloen, Liz Mitchell, Victor Scott and Tina Werner. 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" 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 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 Mitchell, later front woman with Boney M., and Lawton, who also sang for the German progressive/hard rock band Lucifer's Friend and would go on to be the frontman for Uriah Heep. In 1974 Les Humphries Singers starred in the German movie Es knallt und die Engel singen directed by Roberto Leoni (as Butch Lion) and produced by Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion. Humphries died on 26 December 2007 in Basingstoke, England from a heart attack after a severe bout of pneumonia.

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

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", 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 with the Ralph Siegel title "Sing Sang Song", 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. 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.