Bimbo Jet was a French

euro disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

led by Claude Morgan (born 1947) and Laurent Rossi (22 May 1948 – 20 August 2015), that gained international fame during the summers of 1974 and 1975 with the

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

"El Bimbo" (Italian for "Baby", see

Bimbo ''Bimbo'' is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized naive woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appea ...

). The group had another hit in mid-1975, particularly in France, with "La Balanga." Laurent Rossi died of a heart attack on 20 August 2015, at age 67. He was the son of singer

Tino Rossi Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...

El bimbo in charts

"El Bimbo" was released in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in June 1974 on the Pathé-Marconi

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, and in the UK in August 1975. The track went to #1 in France and #12 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold 1.3 million copies in France alone, and throughout the world over three million discs. As well as in France, the tune topped charts in Spain, Italy, Denmark, Turkey. and Lebanon. In Argentina, it was No. 2, and was a

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

in Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The record reached No. 1 in the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Disco Singles, #5 on the Disco File Top 20 chart, and #43 in the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

charts in the U.S. In Canada, the song reached No. 77 in the Top Singles chart, and #31 in the Pop Music Playlist.

Cover versions

Paul Mauriat Paul Julien André Mauriat ( or ; 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his mill ...

released an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

in 1975. * An instrumental cover version was recorded by Mescherin's Orchestra's Orchestra in the 1970s. This version was often used on Soviet TV as an interlude and was released in compilation album ''easyUSSR'' (Лёгкие, LG-006-4), published also in Ukraine. * Greek singer

Yiannis Parios Yiannis Parios () is a Greek singer, with a career spanning five decades. Biography Yiannis Parios was born Ioannis Varthakouris (Ιωάννης Βαρθακούρης) on the island of Paros. He made his first appearance as a singer in 1969 ...

had a hit cover version, in the Greek language "Pote Den Se Xehno" in the mid-1970s. * The singer

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

released a single (

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, 6.11 574 (AC)) with lyrics by Gerd Thumser, published in Germany in 1974, the album titled ''El bimbo'' in 1975 was published in Finland (

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

, 5E 246-35080), which had the song "El bimbo" as its opening track, with lyrics translated by Pertti Reponen. The album was the best-selling album in Finland for five weeks. It has sold over 52 000 copies, reaching platinum status. ''El bimbo'' is Marion's best-selling album throughout her career. * Japanese singer

Akemi Ishii Akemi is a unisex Japanese name, Japanese given name. Written forms Akemi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "bright, beauty" *, "bright, fruit" *, "bright, sea" *, "bright, sign of the snake (Chinese zodiac)" *, ...

covered this song as "''An Olive Necklace''" ( ''オリーブの首飾り'' / ''Olive no Kubikazari'' ) in November 1989. * Indian Singer

Zubeen Garg Zubeen Garg (born Zubeen Borthakur ; 18 November 1972) is an Indian singer–songwriter, composer, lyricist, music director, music producer, actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, poet and philanthropist. He primarily works for and ...

released a cover version in the Assamese language song "I Love you Buli Kolu Moi" in 2004. * Ahmad Zahir, a famous musician in the 1960s and 1970s from Afghanistan, sampled El Bimbo when creating the Afghan hit "Tanha Shudam Tanha."

Use of El Bimbo in other media

The song, in a

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

arrangement, appeared in four of the seven ''

Police Academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or to o ...

'' films starting from the first film up until '' Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol'' as the tango song in the Blue Oyster Bar scenes. The song "El Bimbo" is used as a theme song for a 1977

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-made anti-war short film named "

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

" directed by Anatoly Petrov and written by Sever Gansovsky. The lyrics for "El Bimbo" were written by

Hal Shaper Harold David Shaper (18 July 1931 – 8 January 2004), known as Hal Shaper, was a South African songwriter. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1955, he travelled to London to begin his five-decade-long musical career during which he worked with and ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control French pop music groups Eurodisco groups