Los Bravos were a Spanish

beat group Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...

, formed in 1965 and based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. They are most well known for their debut single "

Black Is Black "Black Is Black" is a song by the Spanish rock band Los Bravos, released in 1966 as the group's debut single for Decca Records. Produced by Ivor Raymonde, it reached number two in the UK, number four in the US, and number one in Canada. With th ...

" which reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom in July 1966 and No. 4 in the United States (the first Spanish group to do so), selling over a million records worldwide.

Biography

The band was an amalgamation of two pop

groups 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 ...

, Los Sonor from

and The Runaways from

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

. Los Bravos' lead singer, Mike Kogel (aliases: Mike Kennedy, Mike Keller), is from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His vocal styling was sometimes likened to

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

's. "

" reached No. 1 on the

Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian music charts are a collection of record charts reflecting the music consumption of people in Canada. '' RPM'' and '' Billboard'' are the biggest publications to have published Canada's official charts for decades. However, the first ...

, No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1966, No. 4 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

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 ...

, and has sold over one million copies worldwide. "Black Is Black" was written by Michelle Grainger, Tony Hayes, and Steve Wadey in their recording studio for cutting demo discs in

Hoo St Werburgh Hoo St Werburgh, commonly known as Hoo, is a large village and civil parish in the Medway, Medway district of Kent, England. It is one of several villages on the Hoo Peninsula to bear the name ''Hoo'', a Saxon word believed to mean "spur of l ...

, near Rochester, Kent, England. The song was later

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and Pop music, pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France. During a career ...

and then by French-based outfit

Belle Epoque Belle may refer to: People and fictional characters * Belle (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Belle (surname), a list of people * Southern belle, a stock character representing a young woman of the American South's upp ...

, whose

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

version coincidentally also reached No. 2 in the UK in 1977. Los Bravos' follow-up single, "I Don't Care", reached No. 16 in the UK in October 1966. In 1967, the band participated in the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

, failing to qualify for the final with the song "Uno come noi" in Italian. The band was the subject of two Spanish comedic movies: in 1967 ''Los chicos con las chicas'' (''The Boys With the Girls''),

directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

Javier Aguirre Javier Aguirre Onaindía (; born 1 December 1958), nicknamed ''El Vasco'' (The Basque), is a Mexican football Manager (association football), manager and former Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently manag ...

and in 1968, ''¡Dame un poco de amooor...!'' (''Give Me a Little Looove!''), directed by

José María Forqué José María Forqué Galindo (8 March 1923 – 17 March 1995) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director. Biography He was the father of the actress Verónica Forqué and the director Álvaro Forqué. He died on 17 March 1995 in Madrid ...

and Francisco Macián. Their song "Going Nowhere" from the soundtrack to ''Los chicos con las chicas'' was re-issued as a part of the

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

series, '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969''. The song had reached No. 55 in Canada. Their single release of the

Harry Vanda Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as Harry Vanda, is a Dutch-Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easybeats who wi ...

George Young George Young may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Young (filmmaker), Australian stage manager and film director in the silent era * George Young (rock musician) (1946–2017), Australian musician, songwriter, and record producer * G ...

penned song, "

Bring a Little Lovin' "Bring a Little Lovin'" is a song written by Harry Vanda and George Young of the Australian rock group The Easybeats. The song was written for the Spanish band Los Bravos. Their version was released as a single in April 1968 and reached number ...

", reached No. 22 in Canada on 13 July 1968. One of Los Bravos' founding members, Manuel Fernández, committed suicide on 20 May 1968, at the age of 23, after the death of his wife, Lottie Rey, in an auto accident. Also that year, Kogel left the group to develop a solo career under the name Mike Kennedy. He was replaced as singer by Bob Wright and then Anthony (Tony) Anderson. Anderson sang with The Warriors, with his brother

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

, before joining Los Bravos. In 1975 and 1976, Kogel rejoined the group. In 1990, guitarist Antonio Martínez died in a motorcycle accident en route to his recording studio. Miguel Vicens died of pneumonia in Palma on 12 February 2022, at age 78.

Reunions

In 2004, the group reformed with Pablo Sanllehí, Miguel Vicens Danus and Mike Kogel/Kennedy. In 2015, Mike Kennedy reunited with Miguel Vicens Danus under the name Los Bravos, to record a new studio version of "

." The new recording was officially released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and edited to create a music video. In 2019, Miguel Vicens Danus and Pablo Sanllehí inducted Bruce Game as the new lead singer to record a new album. They released two singles in 2020 followed by four more singles in 2021 on

and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

under the name Los Bravos. These include "Gotta Be Strong" and "Chariot".

Legacy

On 20 March 2019, the Los Bravos song "Bring a Little Lovin'" was featured on the soundtrack and first teaser trailer for the film ''

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica, and distributed by Sony Pict ...

'' written and directed by

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

Band members

*Michael 'Mike' Kennedy (born Michael Volker Kogel, 25 April 1944,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany) — vocals *Anthony 'Tony' Anderson (born 1941,

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

, Lancashire, United Kingdom) — vocals, harmonica *Antonio Martínez Salas (3 October 1945,

– 19 June 1990,

Colmenar Viejo Colmenar Viejo () is a town and municipality of about 48,614 inhabitants, located in the Community of Madrid, Spain, 30 kilometers north of Madrid on the M-607 motorway. It belongs to the comarca of Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Main sights In t ...

, Spain) — guitar. *Manuel Fernández Aparicio (29 September 1943,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain – 20 May 1968) — organ *Miguel Vicens Danus (21 June 1943,

Ferrol Ferrol may refer to: Places * Ferrol (comarca), a coastal region in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain * Ferrol, Spain, industrial city and naval station in Galicia, Spain ** Racing de Ferrol, an association football club * Ferrol, Romblon, municipality in ...

, Galicia – 12 February 2022) — bass guitar *Pablo Sanllehí Gomez (born 5 November 1943,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain) — drums *Jesús Glück (born Jesús Glück Sarasibar, 1941,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Spain – 24 January 2018, Madrid) — organ (from 1967) *Ari Leeonx (born, Paris, France) — (1974-75) — vocals *Bruce Game (born Behrouz Ghaemi, 9 March 1980,

Qazvin Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...

, Iran) — vocals

Filmography

* Los Chicos con las Chicas (1967) *Dame un Poco de Amooor! (1968)

Discography

Notes

References

External links

*
Video for "Black is Black"Video for "Going Nowhere"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bravos, Los 1965 establishments in Spain 1971 disestablishments in Spain Spanish pop rock music groups Beat groups Freakbeat groups Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups disestablished in 1971 Decca Records artists Parrot Records artists Musical groups from Madrid English-language musical groups from Spain