James Robert Bilsbury (2 November 1942 – 10 March 2003) was an English singer and songwriter from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, known as lead vocalist for the pop groups the Magic Lanterns and the Les Humphries Singers. After appearing with the Ray Johnson Skiffle Group, the Nightboppers, the Beat Boys, the Sabres and the Hammers, and singing and writing for the Magic Lanterns, Bilsbury co-founded the Les Humphries Singers in 1969 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, with fellow Briton Humphries. He was a member when they represented Germany in the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Sing Sang Song". Bilsbury also performed with Megaton. Bilsbury also co-wrote "

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

" in 1971 with singer songwriter

Drafi Deutscher Drafi Franz Richard Deutscher (9 May 1946 – 9 June 2006) was a German singer and songwriter of Sinti origin. Biography Early life and career Deutscher was born in Charlottenburg, in the western zone of Berlin, Germany. Between 1964 and 1966 ...

and Joe Menke for

Marcia Barrett Marcia Barrett (born 14 October 1948) is a British singer and one of the original singers with the vocal group Boney M. Early years Barrett was born in Saint Catherine Parish, British Jamaica; her parents brought her to Croydon, England in ...

, later a part of

Frank Farian Franz Reuther (18 July 1941 – 23 January 2024), known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequent ...

's disco formation,

Boney M. Boney M. is a German reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974. It achieved popularity during the disco era in the second half of the 1970s. The band was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary song ...

. Farian also recorded a German version of "Belfast" with Gilla in 1976 before the Boney M. version in 1977 that became a hit. Bilsbury, who according to '' Neue Revue'' had been living on social welfare, was found dead in his apartment in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

on 13 March 2003, and the post mortem established that he had died three days earlier from heart failure. He was cremated and his ashes were buried in

Gauting Gauting is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg, in Bavaria, Germany with a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Würm (Amper), Würm, southwest of Munich ...

Waldfriedhof near Munich, at a ceremony attended by his 16-year-old son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilsbury, Jimmy 1942 births 2003 deaths Singers from Liverpool Les Humphries Singers members English pop singers English male songwriters 20th-century English singers English expatriates in Germany British expatriates in Germany Musicians from Liverpool German people of English descent Musicians from Munich