Black Is Black

Black Is Black by the Spanish rock group Los Bravos was the summer hit of 1966, which became a million-seller and is one of the evergreens of pop music. He is considered one of the first representatives of Europop.

Genesis

The former Electrola producer Nils Nobah brought Michael Kogel (aka Michael Kennedy) in 1966 with the Spanish band " Los Sonor " together, which at that time was looking for a singer. Kogel had already sung in Germany some unsuccessful, produced by Nobah Singles with beat groups that he led. With the French music producer Alain Milhaud traveled the renamed " Los Bravos " "savages" ( as the German translation ) in search of a suitable song material and a record label in April 1966 to London. They found the first ever composition of the team Tony Hayes / Steve Wadey / Michelle Grainger under the title Black Is Black. The fellow composer Hayes and Wadey had a recording studio in the village of Hoo near Rochester (Kent ), where a demo recording of the song was created. It was her first song, the other British bands had previously rejected.

The song was produced in April 1966 by Ivor Raymonde in London with Alain Milhaud. From union reasons only Kogel was asked to sing, it played British session musician, also allegedly Jimmy Page, but this does not confirm the session catalog of his work. Since Kogels voice were very similar by Gene Pitney, there were rumors later that Pitney had sung in place of Kogel. It is characteristic of the song driving bass, which gives the title to the sound of a Blue - Eyed Soul.

Publication, success and cover versions

The Single Black Is Black / I Want a Name was released in the UK ( Decca F # 22419 ) on 17 June 1966, sold over a million copies, thanks to the intensive airplay by the pirate station Radio Caroline. They stormed the international charts. Rank one she took for 6 weeks in Spain in October 1966 in the UK in second place in July 1966 ( for 13 weeks), the Netherlands finished third in August 1966, Australia ( GOSET ) finished third in October 1966 USA ( Billboard ) finished fourth in the August 1966, Germany ranked fourth in September 1966 and Canada in sixth place in August 1966.

The French pop idol Johnny Hallyday hastened c'est noir with his cover version under the title literally translated Noir, which was published on 19 October 1966, text by Georges But after Hallyday had survived a suicide attempt on 10 September 1966. Later versions are from 1977 in each of La Belle Epoque and baccarat. La Belle Epoque hereby occupied in October 1978 rank one in Australia. In May 1995, Rick Springfield brought out another version. The title received a BMI Award.