Gary U.S. Bonds

All Music Guide:

After moving to the Norfolk, VA, area in the mid-'50s, young Gary Anderson began plying his vocal wares, first in church, later with a local group called the Turks. When he was not yet 21, he was approached by local record producer Frank Guida to join his tiny Legrand label. Guida changed Anderson's name to U.S. Bonds, hoping the first release would get extra airplay by disc jockeys mistaking it for a public-service announcement. The result was the classic "New Orleans," combining rock-combo raunch with impassioned, scorched soul-singing that set the stage for all that would follow. Guida double- and triple-tracked Bonds' voice and the resulting murky production gave all the hits (including "Quarter to Three," "School Is Out," and "Dear Lady Twist") a party-in-outer-space quality all their own. Though he kept recording, making a couple of excellent solo albums in the early '80s with the help of Bruce Springsteen, Bonds is best seen today dotting the landscape of oldies shows the world over, singing the songs that made him famous.

Wikipedia:

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

Career [edit]

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Bonds lived 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 where Guida chose Anderson's stage name, U.S. Bonds, in hopes that it would be confused with a public service announcement advertising the sale of government bonds and thereby garner more radio airplay. His first three singles and first album, Dance 'Til Quarter to Three, were released under the "U.S. Bonds" name, but people mistook it for the name of a group. To avoid confusion, subsequent releases, including his second album Twist Up Calypso, were made under the name Gary (U.S.) Bonds. The parentheses were discarded in the 1980s.

Bonds' first hit was the song "New Orleans" (reached #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. "Quarter To Three" sold one million records, earning a gold disc. Subsequent hits, under his modified name, 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 often featured solos by the saxophonist Gene Barge.

"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 with two albums Dedication and On the Line, collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, and the E Street Band, and had hits including "This Little Girl" (his comeback hit in 1981, which reached #11 on the pop chart and #5 on the mainstream rock chart), "Jolé Blon" and "Out of Work". Bonds continues to release albums sporadically, and today is a mainstay of the nostalgia concert circuit.

While 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.

Bonds released an album in 2004 called Back in 20, the title referencing his repeated sporadic pop-ups of popularity (his first hits were in the 1960s, then again in the 1980s, and now another significant album in the early 2000s, each 20-odd years apart). The album features guest appearances by Springsteen and Southside Johnny. Bonds was also inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

In 2009 he released a new album Let Them Talk and toured the UK as a special guest of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Most recently, in 2010, Bonds contributed duet vocals on the song "Umbrella In My Drink" on Southside Johnny's album Pills and Ammo.

Philanthropy and humanitarianism [edit]

Bonds is a member of Global Village Champions Foundation. Global Village Champions has provided over 417 million meals over the past 17 years. He was presented with the Global Village Champion of the Decade award in 2009.