Los Bravos were a Spanish beat group, formed in 1965 and based in Madrid. They are most well known for their debut single "Black Is Black" which reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom in July 1966 and No. 4 in the United States, selling over a million records worldwide.
Biography
The band was an amalgamation of two pop groups, Los Sonor from Madrid and The Runaways from Mallorca. Los Bravos' lead singer, Mike Kogel, is from Germany. His vocal styling was sometimes likened to Gene Pitney's. "Black is Black" reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1966, No. 4 in the USBillboardHot 100chart, and has sold over one million copies worldwide. "Black is Black" was written by Tony Hayes and Steve Wadey, in their recording studio for cutting demo discs in Hoo St Werburgh, near Rochester, Kent, England. The song was later covered by Johnny Hallyday and then by French-based outfit Belle Epoque, whose disco 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 San Remo Music Festival, failing to qualify for the final with the song "Uno come noi" in Italian. The band were the subjects of two Spanish comedic movies: in 1967 Los chicos con las chicas, directed by Javier Aguirre and in 1968, ¡Dame un poco de amooor...!, directed by José María Forqué 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 series, . One of Los Bravos' founding members, Manuel Fernández, committed suicide on 20 May 1968, at the age of 23, after the death of his bride, 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 Anderson. Anderson sang with The Warriors, with his brother Jon Anderson, before joining Los Bravos. In 1975 and 1976, Kogel rejoined the group.
Reunions
In 2004, the group reformed with Pablo Sanllehí, Miguel Vicens 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 "Black Is Black." The new recording was officially released on iTunes and edited to create a music video.
