Humpy Bong
Encyclopedia
Humpy Bong was an early 1970s band.
Singer and guitarist Jonathan Kelly (born Jonathan Ledingham, 1947 in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland) was playing in a restaurant in London one night in 1969 when in walked Colin Petersen
, a former child actor in Australia and drummer with the Bee Gees
. Petersen said, "I knew when I saw and heard him that this was a talent which should be encouraged and developed". Colin became his record producer and Colin's wife Joanne became his personal manager. Kelly released a single in 1969 called "Denver", and another single in February 1970 called "Make A Stranger Your Friend", an anti-war song. This song had a catchy chorus and Jonathan's talents were recognised by many people in show business if not yet by the record buying public at large. A choir was formed to sing the chorus, amongst those who turned up to join in were Mick Taylor
from the Rolling Stones, Klaus Voorman, Madeline Bell
, Carl Wayne
, Peter Sellers
and Spike Milligan
. Robin Gibb
also attended the session but was contractually prevented from singing. Jonathan Kelly's next single in 1970 was "Don't You Believe It", a very sought after single because Eric Clapton
was invited to play slide guitar on the track.
In the summer of 1970 Petersen and Kelly decided to form a band together. They called their band Humpy Bong, a two-word variation of the name of one of the schools that Petersen and the Gibb brothers attended in Australia. As they needed additional band members, they placed an advertisement in search of musicians. Tim Staffell
, previously bassist/frontman for Smile
(which following Staffell's departure replaced him with his college friend Freddie Mercury
and evolved into Queen
), answered and got the job as singer, bassist and harmonica player. (In fact, as a result of meeting Freddie Mercury through the market stall that Freddie ran in London, Jonathan had previously met Staffell and Smile and invited them to the studio (in 1970?) where they performed a song together called "Fork In The Road" and at least three others, one being "Babylon".) The trio of Kelly, Staffell and Petersen quickly recorded and released "Don't You Be Too Long" backed with "We're All Right Till Then". Jonathan Kelly was the writer of both tracks and played guitar, but the vocal duties were taken by Tim Staffell, and within a month or so of leaving Smile, Staffell appeared on Top Of The Pops
to mime to Humpy Bong's one and only single. The A side would appear on Jonathan's first album, simply titled Jonathan Kelly (November 1970), which included many of his singles as well as other unreleased songs, but there would be a wait of two years for the B side to finally reappear on the Twice Around The Houses LP (1972), but both of these tracks were completely different versions to the ones that appeared on this single.
According to an interview with Colin Petersen at the time, the group was unable to play any live gigs until they added two new members. The spectre of Colin's Bee Gees' past was making the task of recruitment even harder. "I've just auditioned my 200th applicant" he groaned. "People are assuming the new group will be a carbon copy of the Bee Gees. I must have heard "Massachusetts" 50 times. I am still looking for a good lead guitarist and a pianist to finish the line-up", Colin said. "We can record with the three of us by double-tracking, but we can't appear on stage. Live radio shows are also a problem..."
For a second "Top Of The Pops" appearance, the band played a song called "Don't You Believe It". This was actually a Jonathan Kelly solo single released shortly before Humpy Bong got together. The single had featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar - but Clapton was unavailable for the Top Of The Pops appearance so Staffell played the lead guitar parts. Remembers Staffell: "I struggled to duplicate a guitar part that Eric Clapton had played, because we had to re-record it for Top Of The Pops, you weren't allowed to mime, and Eric Clapton couldn't make the session. I was in a bit of a shambles, I can tell you". Humpy Bong, going nowhere, went downhill. Before the end of 1970 the group broke up without having played any real concerts. Staffell remembers: "As I recall, it went like this - Colin Petersen played drums, I played bass at first, but was crap, so we used, I think, Rick Kemp
from Steeleye Span
a couple of times. Jonathan Kelly played guitar and wrote the songs, and I have an idea that Tim Renwick
from Quiver might have played lead once or twice, and we had Peter Wood on keyboards (Quiver, Sutherland Brothers
). Actually, there was never really a firm band. Humpy Bong never did a single gig, anyway, so I guess they weren't really a proper band." Humpy Bong was basically a front for the management and production aspirations of Petersen and his wife. They hand-picked the group and attempted to shape it into a bubbly hit machine, but their lively but superficial honkytonk pop was indistinct and the band fell apart within a few months.
Tim Staffell remained associated with Jonathan Kelly and later became a member of Jonathan's band Outside. Staffell moved on to Morgan
, a quartet led by former Mott The Hoople
organist Morgan Fisher
, which recorded for RCA in the mid-seventies. He finally left music in the late seventies to concentrate on a flourishing business as a freelance animator and model maker - his work includes Thomas the Tank Engine
.
Colin and Joanne Petersen continued to manage Jonathan Kelly as a solo artist through to his third LP release,Til They Change The Backdrop (1973), but Colin had no musical involvement in Kelly's solo albums. Kelly became unhappy with attempts to market him as a pop star and tired of the "totally ruthless and callous" music industry. He parted company with the Petersens in 1974, recorded two further albums, found religion, and retired from performing for many, many years. In 1991 Jonathan Kelly performed at a Bee Gees tribute concert and formed a cover band for the occasion which included his son Greg on lead guitar, Jonathan played drums.
Colin and Joanne Petersen returned to Australia in 1974 where Colin, having lost his rights to royalties after his court case against the Bee Gees, eventually became a painter residing in Sydney.
Top Of The Pops
performances were recorded for both "Don't You Be Too Long" and "Don't You Believe It" - which was in fact a Jonathan Kelly solo single released shortly before Humpy Bong formed.
Singer and guitarist Jonathan Kelly (born Jonathan Ledingham, 1947 in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland) was playing in a restaurant in London one night in 1969 when in walked Colin Petersen
Colin Petersen
Colin Petersen is a former child actor and rock drummer. He played as a member of the Bee Gees on their first five albums.-Biography:Petersen began his acting career at the age of seven...
, a former child actor in Australia and drummer with the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
. Petersen said, "I knew when I saw and heard him that this was a talent which should be encouraged and developed". Colin became his record producer and Colin's wife Joanne became his personal manager. Kelly released a single in 1969 called "Denver", and another single in February 1970 called "Make A Stranger Your Friend", an anti-war song. This song had a catchy chorus and Jonathan's talents were recognised by many people in show business if not yet by the record buying public at large. A choir was formed to sing the chorus, amongst those who turned up to join in were Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
from the Rolling Stones, Klaus Voorman, Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, having arrived from the US in the gospel show Black Nativity in 1962, with vocal group The Bradford Singers.-Career:She worked as a session singer, most notably backing for Dusty...
, Carl Wayne
Carl Wayne
Carl Wayne was a British singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead vocalist of Birmingham rock group The Move during the 1960s.-Early days:...
, Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
. Robin Gibb
Robin Gibb
Robin Hugh Gibb, CBE is a British singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the Bee Gees, co-founded with his twin brother Maurice , and elder brother Barry....
also attended the session but was contractually prevented from singing. Jonathan Kelly's next single in 1970 was "Don't You Believe It", a very sought after single because Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
was invited to play slide guitar on the track.
In the summer of 1970 Petersen and Kelly decided to form a band together. They called their band Humpy Bong, a two-word variation of the name of one of the schools that Petersen and the Gibb brothers attended in Australia. As they needed additional band members, they placed an advertisement in search of musicians. Tim Staffell
Tim Staffell
Timothy "Tim" Staffell is an English rock musician and visual artist. He was a member of blues-rock outfit 1984 and later Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen...
, previously bassist/frontman for Smile
Smile (band)
Smile were a London-based blues rock band best known as the predecessor to renowned rock band Queen. The band was formed in 1968 by Brian May, who was to become Queen's guitarist. The group included Tim Staffell as singer and bassist, and, later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for...
(which following Staffell's departure replaced him with his college friend Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
and evolved into Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
), answered and got the job as singer, bassist and harmonica player. (In fact, as a result of meeting Freddie Mercury through the market stall that Freddie ran in London, Jonathan had previously met Staffell and Smile and invited them to the studio (in 1970?) where they performed a song together called "Fork In The Road" and at least three others, one being "Babylon".) The trio of Kelly, Staffell and Petersen quickly recorded and released "Don't You Be Too Long" backed with "We're All Right Till Then". Jonathan Kelly was the writer of both tracks and played guitar, but the vocal duties were taken by Tim Staffell, and within a month or so of leaving Smile, Staffell appeared on Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
to mime to Humpy Bong's one and only single. The A side would appear on Jonathan's first album, simply titled Jonathan Kelly (November 1970), which included many of his singles as well as other unreleased songs, but there would be a wait of two years for the B side to finally reappear on the Twice Around The Houses LP (1972), but both of these tracks were completely different versions to the ones that appeared on this single.
According to an interview with Colin Petersen at the time, the group was unable to play any live gigs until they added two new members. The spectre of Colin's Bee Gees' past was making the task of recruitment even harder. "I've just auditioned my 200th applicant" he groaned. "People are assuming the new group will be a carbon copy of the Bee Gees. I must have heard "Massachusetts" 50 times. I am still looking for a good lead guitarist and a pianist to finish the line-up", Colin said. "We can record with the three of us by double-tracking, but we can't appear on stage. Live radio shows are also a problem..."
For a second "Top Of The Pops" appearance, the band played a song called "Don't You Believe It". This was actually a Jonathan Kelly solo single released shortly before Humpy Bong got together. The single had featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar - but Clapton was unavailable for the Top Of The Pops appearance so Staffell played the lead guitar parts. Remembers Staffell: "I struggled to duplicate a guitar part that Eric Clapton had played, because we had to re-record it for Top Of The Pops, you weren't allowed to mime, and Eric Clapton couldn't make the session. I was in a bit of a shambles, I can tell you". Humpy Bong, going nowhere, went downhill. Before the end of 1970 the group broke up without having played any real concerts. Staffell remembers: "As I recall, it went like this - Colin Petersen played drums, I played bass at first, but was crap, so we used, I think, Rick Kemp
Rick Kemp
Rick Kemp is an English bass player, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the pioneering electric folk band, Steeleye Span.-Projects:...
from Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
a couple of times. Jonathan Kelly played guitar and wrote the songs, and I have an idea that Tim Renwick
Tim Renwick
Timothy John Pearson 'Tim' Renwick is an English guitarist.-Career:Renwick started playing guitar in the 1960s. He performed with many bands, including Little Women, Wages of Sin, Junior's Eyes, The Hype, Quiver and Lazy Racer...
from Quiver might have played lead once or twice, and we had Peter Wood on keyboards (Quiver, Sutherland Brothers
Sutherland Brothers
The Sutherland Brothers originally performed as a folk / rock duo in the field of British music in the early 1970s, and then from 1973 to 1978 joined with rock band Quiver to record and tour as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver...
). Actually, there was never really a firm band. Humpy Bong never did a single gig, anyway, so I guess they weren't really a proper band." Humpy Bong was basically a front for the management and production aspirations of Petersen and his wife. They hand-picked the group and attempted to shape it into a bubbly hit machine, but their lively but superficial honkytonk pop was indistinct and the band fell apart within a few months.
Tim Staffell remained associated with Jonathan Kelly and later became a member of Jonathan's band Outside. Staffell moved on to Morgan
Morgan (band)
Morgan was an English progressive rock band, formed and disbanded in the early 1970s.-History:Featuring former Smile member Tim Staffell on vocals and guitar, Bob Sapsed of Springfield Park on bass, Maurice Bacon on drums and Morgan Fisher on keyboards, Morgan formed in 1971...
, a quartet led by former Mott The Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
organist Morgan Fisher
Morgan Fisher
Morgan Fisher is an English keyboard player / composer, and is most known for being a member of Mott the Hoople in the early 1970s. However, his career has covered a wide range of musical activities, and he is still highly active in the music industry...
, which recorded for RCA in the mid-seventies. He finally left music in the late seventies to concentrate on a flourishing business as a freelance animator and model maker - his work includes Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
.
Colin and Joanne Petersen continued to manage Jonathan Kelly as a solo artist through to his third LP release,Til They Change The Backdrop (1973), but Colin had no musical involvement in Kelly's solo albums. Kelly became unhappy with attempts to market him as a pop star and tired of the "totally ruthless and callous" music industry. He parted company with the Petersens in 1974, recorded two further albums, found religion, and retired from performing for many, many years. In 1991 Jonathan Kelly performed at a Bee Gees tribute concert and formed a cover band for the occasion which included his son Greg on lead guitar, Jonathan played drums.
Colin and Joanne Petersen returned to Australia in 1974 where Colin, having lost his rights to royalties after his court case against the Bee Gees, eventually became a painter residing in Sydney.
Members
- Jonathan Kelly: guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals and songwriterSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer... - Tim StaffellTim StaffellTimothy "Tim" Staffell is an English rock musician and visual artist. He was a member of blues-rock outfit 1984 and later Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen...
: bass, harmonica and lead vocals - Colin PetersenColin PetersenColin Petersen is a former child actor and rock drummer. He played as a member of the Bee Gees on their first five albums.-Biography:Petersen began his acting career at the age of seven...
: drums, percussion and producer/manager
Recordings
- 7" "Don't You Be Too Long" (Kelly) b/w "We're All Right Till Then" (Kelly) (ParlophoneParlophoneParlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
R 5859, 21 Aug 1970). Produced by Colin Peterson.
Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
performances were recorded for both "Don't You Be Too Long" and "Don't You Believe It" - which was in fact a Jonathan Kelly solo single released shortly before Humpy Bong formed.