Oliver Bendt (born Jörg Knoch on 29 October 1946 in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

) is a German singer and actor. Knoch grew up the son of an actress in Munich, where he played children's roles in several films, including '' Königswalzer'' (1955) and ''Weil du arm bist, musst du früher sterben'' (1956). He received his first violin, piano and guitar lessons and became a member of the Regensburg Cathedral Boys Choir, where he received vocal training, and completed his vocal studies at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany. It was founded 1950 as ''Staatliche Hochschule für Musik'' (Public college of music) on the base of the former private acting school of Annem ...

. In 1967, he competed at the Ralf Arnie Musikverlag as a junior and came into a career as a singer under the name "George" in 1967 and 1968 with four single records. At the same time he sang with the German production of the musical ''Hair''. Later, he renamed himself Oliver Bendt and had more success with cover versions of English hits, including '' What I did, I did for Maria'', '' I'll come back to Amarillo'', ''My Song for Mary'' and ''Oh, Marie''. Towards the end of the 1970s, he lived for some time on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. Here he had the idea for the

Goombay Dance Band Goombay Dance Band is a German band created in 1979 by Oliver Bendt, named after a small bay on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. Their music has a distinctive sound (somewhat similar to Boney M.), which is a mixture of soca, calypso and wes ...

, which brought him his greatest successes in 1979/1980. The greatest success in Germany was the song ''

Sun of Jamaica "Sun of Jamaica" is a song performed by German group Goombay Dance Band, written by Ekkehard Stein and Wolfgang Jass. The song was released at the end of 1979, and subsequently included on their debut album, '' Sun of Jamaica''. The lyrics recount ...

''. Internationally it was ''

Seven Tears ''Seven Tears'' is an album by Dutch rock band Golden Earring, released in 1971. The album was not issued in the U.S. Track listing All songs written by Kooymans except where noted. #"Silver Ships" - 5:40 #"The Road Swallowed Her Name" - 4:0 ...

''. This single sold 11 million copies, and was in the chart for 12 weeks in the UK including three weeks at number one. Bendt lives with his family in Norderstedt near Hamburg; he met his wife in St. Lucia.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendt, Oliver German pop singers 20th-century German male singers 1946 births Living people People from Potsdam Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg alumni