1945-
John Kongos
1945-
John Kongos
John Theodore Kongos is a South African-born singer and songwriter, sound engineer, and composer, of Greek ancestry, best known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single "He's Gonna Step on You Again". He was born on August 6, 1945, in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the early 1960s, John Kongos was the leader behind Johnny Kongos & the G-Men, a successful beat group from Johannesburg, that frequently charted in South Africa. In 1966, Kongos relocated to London, and his first UK-based group, Floribunda Rose, formed in April 1967, comprised of musicians, Pete Clifford, Jack Russell, Nick 'Doc' Dokter, and Chris Demetriou. After one single, "Linda Loves Linda", Clifford left the group, and drummer Henry Spinetti joined, the remaining members formed a new group under the name Scrugg. Scruggs was a psychedelic pop band that released a trio of singles prior to their 1969 breakup. The group’s 1968 release "I Wish I Was Five," earned the most traction.
Kongos gigged with Floribunda Rose and Scrugg across Britain and Europe for an accumulation of 18 months. Upon Scruggs's split, he went solo and concentrated on his songwriting. Kongos released his first solo album, Confusions About a Goldfish in 1969 and began to have major success in Germany and other European countries. Kongos moved to Fly Records in 1971 and had two hit singles including "He's Gonna Step on You Again", which entered the UK Singles Chart in May 1971 and spent 14 weeks there, peaking at No. 4., the song also reached No. 70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Later that year John released the single "Tokoloshe Man" which reached No. 4 on the UK charts. John’s second album released in 1972 Kongos made the top 30 of the UK Albums Chart. Though Kongos’ subsequent singles including “Great White Lady” (1972), “Ride the Lightning” (1975), and “Higher than God’s Hat” (1975), did not chart, “Ride The Lightning” was covered by Sylvie Vartan in France as “Qu’est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes?” and was No. 1 on the French charts for several weeks in 1976.
JohnKongos
Kongos gained much attention with his single "He's Gonna Step on You Again,” also known as "Step On", it was cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the first song to ever use a sample, though according to the sleeve note of the CD reissue of the Kongos album, it is actually a tape loop of African drumming. Though the song was originally performed by John Kongos, and co-written by Kongos and Christos Demetriou, covers of the song have been successful on the charts several times. In 1987 three Australian bands including The Party Boys, Chantoozies, and Exploding White Mice each released their own cover version of "He's Gonna Step on You Again". The Party Boys' single was issued in May, and peaked at No. 1, for two weeks on the Australian Music Report chart, and the Chantoozies cover reached No. 36. It was in 1990 however that John Kongos gained notice with a new musical generation when English rock group Happy Mondays reworked "He's Gonna Step On You Again" into their hit "Step On", which reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. Their version was also featured on the TV show Life On Mars, and Happy Mondays also covered Kongos’ hit "Tokoloshe Man" later that year, for the compilation album, Rubáiyát.
In 1971 Kongos constructed a recording studio in London, owned by John Kongos, titled John Kongos Studio, later renamed Tapestry Studios. Kongos continued his work in his London studio as a record producer, sound engineer, TV jingle and theme music composer, and songwriter. His home-produced demo of "He's Gonna Step on You Again" opened the door to working with Gus Dudgeon, Elton John’s long-term producer, and producer of David Bowie's 1969 hit "Space Oddity." Kongos also handled the programming of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer on Def Leppard's 1983 album, Pyromania. In 1988 See For Miles Record released Tokoloshe Man Plus, a compilation album of John’s previously released album Kongos and singles. His 1966–1969 work including his recordings with Floribunda Rose and Scrugg and his solo album Confusions About a Goldfish was released on a compilation album, Lavender Popcorn (2001). John Kongos ran his home studios in London from 1971 to 1988 before relocating to Phoenix, Arizona, where he started tokoloshe Records with his four sons Johnny, Jesse, Dylan, and Daniel, who formed their own rock group Kongos.
Since the 1970s John Kongos has sold over 25 million copies as a songwriter and artist with several No. 1 and Top Ten hits in England, France, Germany, Australia, South Africa, and other countries. He wrote numerous jingles, TV, and film themes (including The Greek Tycoon, Cat's Eyes, Fraggle Rock (Traveling Matt), London Program, Sunday Sunday, etc.).
