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Gary U.S. Bonds (born Gary Anderson, June 6, 1939) is an African-American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer. He is also a prolific songwriter.

Career

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Bonds was living in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1950s when he began singing publicly in church, and with a group called The Turks. He joined record producer Frank Guida's small Legrand Records label, and Guida changed Anderson's name to "U.S. Bonds" in hope that it would be confused with a public service announcement advertising the sale of government bonds and thus get more airplay.

His first album was released under the name U.S. Bonds, but people mistook it for the name of a group. His second album was released under Gary "U.S." Bonds to avoid the confusion.

Bonds's first hit was the song "New Orleans" (reacheding #6), which was followed by "Not Me", a flop for Bonds but later a hit for The Orlons, and then by his only number one hit, "Quarter to Three" in June 1961. Subsequent hits, under the name Gary U.S. Bonds, included "School Is Out" (#5), "Dear Lady Twist" (#9), "School Is In" (#28) and "Twist, Twist, Señora" (#10) in the early 1960s. In a 1963 tour of Europe, he headlined above The Beatles. His hits had an infectious joyfulness and a unique sound: some have described them as seeming to have been recorded under water.

"Quarter to Three" appears on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

In the early 1980s, Bonds had a career resurgence, working off collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, and the E Street Band. Later hits included "This Little Girl" (his comeback hit in 1981, which reached #11), "Jolé Blon" and "Out of Work". Bonds continues to release albums sporadically, and today is a mainstay of the nostalgia concert circuit.

While Gary U.S. Bonds is mostly known for achievements within rhythm and blues and rock and roll, he often transcends these genres, e.g. his song "She's All I Got", co-written by Jerry Williams, Jr. (better known as Swamp Dogg), was nominated for the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" in 1972 when it was a big hit for Johnny Paycheck. He is also an honoree of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Bonds is an accomplished golfer and often plays celebrity PGA Tour events.

He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

Billboard's Top 100

• "New Orleans" #6, 1960^*
• "Quarter To Three" #1, 1961^*
• "School Is Out" #5, 1961^*
• "School Is In" #28, 1961^*
• "Dear Lady Twist" #9, 1961^*
• "Twist Twist Señora" #10, 1962^*
• "Seven Day Weekend" #27, 1962^*
• "Copy Cat" #92, 1962^*
• "This Little Girl" #11,¹⁹⁸¹
• "Jole Blon" #65,¹⁹⁸¹
• "Out of Work" #21,¹⁹⁸²

^* Produced by Frank Guida.

References

{{Unreferenced|date=January 2009

External links

• Official Website

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 9 January 2009, at 07:49.

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