Subject: Obit: Les Humphries
From:
Leadbelly
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 01:49 PM
Last week, german newspapers reported about Les Humphries who has died on 26th of December, 2007.
Is it really true, that Les was (almost) completely unknown in the UK?
For all not knowing this "group leader", here comes a short article taken from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Humphries_Singers).
"The Les Humphries Singers was a musical group formed in Hamburg, Germany by Englishman Les Humphries (born 10 August 1940 - died 26 December 2007) in the year 1970. 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 had a 1976 solo hit in Germany, "Ein Bett im Kornfeld", a cover version of "Let your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers. The Les Humphries Singers at the time brought something from the flair of the hippie movement into the hit world.
In 1976 they represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest with the Ralph Siegel title "Sing Sang Song." Les Humphries performed a mix of popular music and gospel covers and had some success in Europe with this approach. Two of their earliest and best known hits were "Mama Loo" (1973), and "Mexico" (1972) which was based on the 1957 Jimmy Driftwood country hit "The Battle of New Orleans".
Additional members included Liz Mitchell, later front woman with Boney M, and John 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. The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end of the 1970s, after Humphries had left due to tax liabilities to his English homeland.
In his later years, Les lead a quiet life in London. In February 2008, German newspaper Bild reported his death on 26 December 2007 in a London hospital."
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