Gary U.S. Bonds

Gary U.S. Bonds
Gary U.S. Bonds performing in 1981
Background information
Birth name	Gary Levone Anderson
Born	(1939-06-06) June 6, 1939 Jacksonville, Florida United States
Genres	R&B, rock and roll, pop rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1956 – present
Labels	Razor & Tie EMI Sue Legrand Records Top Rank Stateside
Associated acts	Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
Website	Official website

Gary U.S. Bonds (born Gary Levone Anderson, June 6, 1939, Jacksonville, Florida)^[1] is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer. He is also a prolific songwriter.

Career

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Bonds' first hit was the song "New Orleans" (US No.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.^[1] 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 featured solos by the saxophonist Gene Barge.^[3]

"Quarter to Three" appears on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.^[4]

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 in Billboard and #5 on the mainstream rock chart), "Jolé Blon" and "Out of Work".^[3] Bonds continues to release albums sporadically, and today is a mainstay of the nostalgia concert circuit.^{[citation needed]}

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 (Freddie North also charted his only pop hit with a soul cover of the same song). He is also a 1997 honoree of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Bonds is an accomplished golfer and often plays celebrity PGA Tour events.^[3]

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.^[3] 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.^[5] Most recently, in 2010, Bonds contributed duet vocals on the song "Umbrella In My Drink" on Southside Johnny's album Pills and Ammo.^[6]

Discography

Studio albums

• Dance 'til Quarter to Three (1961)
• Twist Up Calypso (1962)
• Dedication (1981)
• On the Line (1982)
• Standing in the Line of Fire (1984)
• Nothing Left to Lose (1996)
• Back in 20 (2004)
• Let Them Talk (2009)

Live albums

• King Biscuit Flower Hour (Live) (2001)
• Live! (2002)
• From the Front Row... Live! (2003)
• In Concert (2005)

Compilation albums

• The Best of Gary U.S. Bonds (1960s material) (1990)
• Take Me Back to New Orleans (1960s singles compilation) (1994)
• The Best of Gary U.S. Bonds (1980s material) (1996)
• The Very Best of Gary U.S. Bonds: The Original Legrand Masters (1960s material) (1998)
• Certified Soul (Singles from 1968–1970) (2008)

Singles

^* Produced by Frank Guida^[7]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gary U.S. Bonds.

• Official website