Gary U.S. Bonds
| Gary U.S. Bonds | |
|---|---|
Gary U.S. Bonds performing in 1981
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gary Levone Anderson |
| Born | June 6, 1939 Jacksonville, Florida United States |
| Genres | R&B, rock and roll, pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1956–present |
| Labels | Legrand Top Rank Stateside Razor & Tie EMI Sue[citation needed] |
| Associated acts | Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt |
| Website | garyusbonds |
Gary U.S. Bonds (born Gary Levone Anderson, June 6, 1939, in Jacksonville, Florida)[1] is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, known for his classic hits "New Orleans" and "Quarter to Three". His career spans several decades and he is also a prolific songwriter.
Contents
Career
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Bonds lived in Norfolk, Virginia, in the 1950s when he began singing publicly in church and with a group called the Turks.[1] He joined record producer Frank Guida's small Legrand Records label where Guida chose Anderson's stage name, U.S. Bonds, in hopes that it would be confused with a public service announcement advertising the sale of government bonds and thereby garner more radio airplay.[2] His first three singles and first album, Dance 'Til Quarter to Three, were released under the U.S. Bonds name, but people assumed it was the name of a group. To avoid confusion, subsequent releases, including his second album Twist Up Calypso, were made under the name Gary (U.S.) Bonds. The parentheses were discarded in the 1970s.[3][4]
Bonds' first hit was the song "New Orleans" (US No.6)[citation needed], which was followed by "Not Me", a flop for Bonds but later a hit for the Orlons, and then by his only number one hit, "Quarter to Three" in June 1961. "Quarter To Three" sold one million records, earning a gold disc.[1] Subsequent hits, under his modified name, included "School Is Out" (#5), "Dear Lady Twist" (#9), "School Is In" (#28) and "Twist, Twist, Señora" (#10) in the early 1960s. In a 1963 tour of Europe, he headlined above the Beatles. His hits featured solos by the saxophonist Gene Barge.[3]
"Quarter to Three" appears on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.[5]
In the early 1980s, Bonds had a career resurgence with two albums Dedication and On the Line, collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, and the E Street Band, and had hits including "This Little Girl" (his comeback hit in 1981, which reached #11 on the pop chart in Billboard and #5 on the mainstream rock chart), "Jolé Blon" and "Out of Work".[3] Bonds continues to release albums sporadically, and today is a mainstay of the nostalgia concert circuit.[citation needed]
While Bonds is mostly known for achievements within rhythm and blues and rock and roll, he often transcends these genres, e.g., his song "She's All I Got", co-written by Jerry Williams, Jr. (better known as Swamp Dogg), was nominated for the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" in 1972 when it was a big hit for Johnny Paycheck (Freddie North also charted his only pop hit with a soul cover of the same song). He is also a 1997 honoree of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Bonds is an accomplished golfer and often plays celebrity PGA Tour events.[3] Bonds guested in Blues Brothers 2000 in 1998 as part of a rival blues supergroup the Louisiana Gator Boys.
Bonds released an album in 2004 called Back in 20, the title referencing his repeated sporadic pop-ups of popularity (his first hits were in the 1960s, then again in the 1980s, and now another significant album in the early 2000s, each 20-odd years apart). The album features guest appearances by Springsteen and Southside Johnny.[3] Bonds was also inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.
In 2009 he released a new album Let Them Talk and toured the UK as a special guest of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.[6] Most recently, in 2010, Bonds contributed duet vocals on the song "Umbrella in My Drink" on Southside Johnny's album Pills and Ammo.[7] He also made a guest appearance in the 3rd series of Lillyhammer which stars and is produced by Steven van Zandt.
Discography
Studio albums
- Dance 'til Quarter to Three with U.S. Bonds (1961)
- Twist Up Calypso (1962)
- Dedication (1981)
- On the Line (1982)
- Standing in the Line of Fire (1984)
- Nothing Left to Lose (1996)
- Back in 20 (2004)
- Let Them Talk (2009)
Live albums
- King Biscuit Flower Hour (Live) (2001)
- Live! (2002)
- From the Front Row... Live! (2003)
- In Concert (2005)
Compilation albums
- The Best of Gary U.S. Bonds (1960s material) (1990)
- Take Me Back to New Orleans (1960s singles compilation) (1994)
- The Best of Gary U.S. Bonds (1980s material) (1996)
- The Very Best of Gary U.S. Bonds: The Original Legrand Masters (1960s material) (1998)
- Certified Soul (Singles from 1968 to 1970) (2008)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1960* | "New Orleans" | 6 | 5 | — | 16 | Dance 'Til Quarter To Three with U.S. Bonds |
| 1961* | "Not Me" | 116 | — | — | — | |
| "Quarter to Three" | 1 | 3 | — | 7 | ||
| "School Is Out" | 5 | 12 | — | — | ||
| "School Is In" | 28 | — | — | — | Greatest Hits | |
| "Dear Lady Twist" | 9 | 5 | — | — | Twist Up Calypso | |
| 1962* | "Twist Twist Señora" | 9 | — | — | — | |
| "Seven Day Weekend" | 27 | — | — | — | Singles only | |
| "Copy Cat" | 92 | — | — | — | ||
| "I Dig This Station" | 101 | — | — | — | Greatest Hits | |
| 1966* | "Take Me Back to New Orleans" | 121 | — | — | — | |
| 1981 | "This Little Girl" | 11 | — | 5 | 43 | Dedication |
| "Jolé Blon" | 65 | — | 29 | 51 | ||
| "It's Only Love" | — | — | — | 43 | ||
| 1982 | "Out of Work" | 21 | 82 | 10 | — | On the Line |
| "Soul Deep" | — | — | — | 59 | ||
- * Produced by Frank Guida[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Back in 20. Gary US Bonds – 2004 – MC
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gary U.S. Bonds. |
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
- Pages with reference errors
- Use mdy dates from January 2015
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2014
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015
- Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- 1939 births
- Living people
- African-American singers
- American rock singers
- American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters
- American singer-songwriters
- American rock songwriters
- American male songwriters
- Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida
- Sue Records artists
- Razor & Tie artists
- American session musicians
- Laurie Records artists
