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Biography
Infobox musical artist | | name = Mungo Jerry| image =| caption =| image_size =| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Ashford, Surrey|Ashford , England | genre = Pop rock , Album-oriented rock|AOR , folk music|folk , blues , psychedelic rock , soft rock , Country music|country , jug band | years_active = 1970–present| label = Dawn Records | associated_acts =| website =| current_members = Ray Dorset Steve Contostavlos| past_members = Colin Earl Bob Daisley Byron Contostavlos Mike Cole John Godfrey (disambiguation)|John Godfrey Joe Rush Bizz Paul King Dick Middleton Tim Reeves Paul Raymond Paul Hancox Eric Dillon James Matthews Dave Bidwell BorisWilliams Sev Lewkowicz Steve Jones Ian Milne Jon Pope Mick Frampton Mungo Jerry is a United Kingdom|British rock music|rock band (music)|group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s , though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset . They are remembered above all for their chart hit|hit " In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry song)|In the Summertime ". It remains their most successful and most instantly recognisable song. Their name was inspired by the poem Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer|Rumpelteazer , from T. S. Eliot 's '' Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats ''. According to Joseph Murrell's The Book of Golden Discs (1978), 'Mungomania' was possibly the most startling and unpredicted pop music|pop phenomenon to hit United Kingdom|Britain since The Beatles .
Career
Dorset and Colin Earl had previously been members of The Good Earth. Soon after recruiting Paul King and Mike Cole, they made their national debut at the Hollywood music festival|Hollywood Festival at Newcastle-under-Lyme , Staffordshire in May 1970, the week their first single (music)|single , "In the Summertime" was released. They stole the showcite book | first= Jo | last= Rice | year= 1982 | title= The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits | edition= 1st | publisher= Guinness Superlatives Ltd | location= Enfield, Middlesex | pages= 133 | isbn= 0-85112-250-7 and the record topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks, made Chart-topper|number one in 26 countries around the world , and to date has sold around 30 million copies.cite web|title=Ray Dorset|url= http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dorset-p17111|publisher=www.allmusic.com|accessdate=10 March 2012 Mungo Jerry made their first trip to the United States in September 1970. After John Godfrey (disambiguation)|John Godfrey replaced Cole, their second single " BabyJump " also topped the United Kingdom|UK music chart|chart in March 1971. A third hit, " Lady Rose (Mungo Jerry song)|Lady Rose " (also in 1971), gave the group the image as a band for producing summertime based hits.
Mungo Jerry was awarded from Melody Maker the 'best new band' title in 1970, and as one of the five best live bands in the world in 1971. Dorset was granted three Ivor Novello Awards as a composer.
In time Dorset found the group's good-time blues and jug band repertoire a little restricting, and in 1972 he released a solo (music)|solo album Cold Blue Excursion , with his song s backed by String instrument|strings and brass instrument|brass and, in one instance, a jazz band . His intention to broaden the group's appeal by recruiting a drummer led to King and Earl trying to sack him, but the management , regarding Dorset as inseparable in the public eye from Mungo Jerry, fired them both instead. Dorset and Godfrey, the bassist, recruited new members and presented a new sound, heard on the fourth album Boot Power . King and Earl went on to form the King Earl Boogie Band.
Mungo Jerry's hits continued through to 1976 with "Open Up" (Top Twenty in Europe); "Alright Alright Alright" (a rewrite of an old France|French hit for Jacques Dutronc , and again a major hit worldwide reaching the Top 3 in the UK); "Wild Love"; "Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black"; "Hello Nadine" (European hit and Top Five in Canada ); and "It's a Secret" (European hit). No record chart|chart hit has had more than 13 words in the titlecn|date=May 2012, so " You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War " gave Mungo Jerry another hit.
In 1975 Earl, who had played piano with Foghat in between, returned to play keyboard instrument|keyboards , and percussion player Joe Rush, part-time member of the band in earlier days, also came back for a while.
Colin Earl and Paul King formed The King Earl Band and recorded an album at Richard Branson's 'Manor Studios called 'Trouble at Mill' They played together on and off for the years following and ended up with a band called Skeleton Crew.
The group's line-up has changed constantly over the years. Among those who have played with them are bassist Bob Daisley , drummers Dave Bidwell, Paul Hancox and BorisWilliams , guitarist Dick Middleton, keyboard player Sev Lewkowicz , and keyboard/accordion player Steve Jones. They have remained particularly popular throughout Europe . Mungo Jerry was the first western band who had live television gigs in all countries behind the Iron Curtain .
In 1980 another Dorset song, " Feels Like I'm in Love ", originally written for Elvis Presley , and recorded by the band as a A-side and B-side|B side of a single, became a British number one hit for Kelly Marie . They remained successful with overseas hits like "On A Night Like This", " Knockin' on Heaven's Door (song)|Knockin' on Heaven's Door " (a reggae version of the Bob Dylan song) and "Sunshine Reggae" (British version by Mungo Jerry & Horizon). But Dorset had to wait until 1995 for a real comeback, when "In the Summertime" was recorded by reggae vocalist Shaggy (artist)|Shaggy , who topped the charts worldwide. The last UK chart entry for Mungo Jerry was "Toon Army" a song for Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United in 1999.
In 1983 Dorset was part of the blues super-group Katmandu, which recorded A Case For The Blues , with guitarist Peter Green (musician)|Peter Green , formerly of Fleetwood Mac , and keyboard player Vincent Crane , formerly of Atomic Rooster and The Crazy World of ArthurBrown .
In 2003, with Germany|German musician s, Dorset recorded Adults Only album under the name Mungo Jerry Blues Band, widely acclaimed as one of the best of his career. 2005 saw him performing with three Mungo Jerry line-ups: The British Mungo Jerry Band (pop/rock), the German Mungo Jerry Blues Band (blues/rock), and Mungo Jerry & the Goodtime Gamblers (jug/ blues / skiffle ).
Also in June 2005, Ray Dorset had a concert|gig again as a duo with Mike Cole - the original double bass player from the early Mungo days - as a highlight of the "35 Years Of Mungo Jerry" event in both Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent|Stoke .
In March 2006 Mungo Jerry released the single "Mr Midnight" from Phantom of the Opera on Ice ; http://www.plazarecords.co.uk Plaza Records website notes produced by Roberto Danova - who had mixed in the past the old continental Mungo Jerry hits "Lana" and "It's a Secret" - and is well known for his work with rock and pop music, in combination with big orchestra s.
2007 saw the release of two albums. Naked — From The Heart was recorded in an analog recording|analogue recording studio|studio to recreate the sound of the early Mungo years. Dorset recorded the songs together with original bass player Mike Cole, with Bruce Brand playing percussion and piano. The second release in the end of the same year was the second LP from the Mungo Jerry Bluesband, called When She Comes, She Runs All Over Me . http://www.mungomania.com/ Band website notes - accessed December 2007
Band members
Singing|Vocalist / guitarist / songwriter - Ray Dorset - born Raymond Edward Dorset, 21 March 1946, Ashford, Surrey|Ashford , Middlesex .cite book
| first= Joseph | last= Murrells | year= 1978 | title= The Book of Golden Discs | edition= 2nd | publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd | location= London | pages= 283 | isbn= 0-214-20512-6
Pianist - Colin Earl - born 6 May 1942, at Bearsted Memorial Hospital, Hampton Court , Middlesex.
Keyboard instrument|Keyboards / guitar - Paul Raymond (musician)|Paul Raymond - born Paul Martin Raymond, 18 November 1945, St Albans , Hertfordshire .
Keyboards - Jon Pope - born 22 November 1949, Birkdale , Southport , Lancashire .
Keyboards / guitar - Chris Garrett, 1949, Greenwich , South East (London sub region)|South East London .
Piano|Pianist - Ian Milne - born 17 August, Lagos , Nigeria .
Keyboards - Sev Lewkowicz - born 15 February 1951, London .
Bassist - Byron Contostavlos - died 11 April 2007 (father of the rapper Dappy ). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7045841.stm News.bbc.co.uk In 2008 N-Dubz released album Uncle B dedicated to him.
Bassist - Mike Cole - born Michael Maurice Cole, 19 March 1943, at Perivale Maternity Hospital, Perivale , Middlesex.
Bassist - John Godfrey - born 24 October 1945, Islington , North London .
Bassist - Bob Daisley - born Robert John Daisley, 13 February 1950, Sydney , New South Wales , Australia .
Bassist Chrissie Stewart - born Eric Christopher Stewart, 1946? Belfast , Co Antrim , Northern Ireland .
"Prospects" - 1985 - No. 35 (as 'Made in England')
"In the Summertime '87" - 1987 - Number 1 (Indie Charts/ as 'Mungo Jerry & Brothers Grimm')
"Support the Toon - It's Your Duty" (EP incl. 'Toon Army') - 1999 - No. 57
"In the Summertime" - 2010 - No. 16 (Dance Charts/ as Mungo Jerry & Bluestone feat. Skibadee)
cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | pages= 383 | isbn= 1-904994-10-5
Single hits in other countries
" In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry song)|In the Summertime " - United States 1970 - No. 3
" Knockin' on Heaven's Door " - South Africa 1981 - No. 1
"On a Night Like This" - South Africa 1981 - No. 1
"Staying at home" - Germany /German Radio Charts (MDR) 2006 - No. 6
References
reflist
Further reading
John Van der Kiste and Derek Wadeson: Beyond the Summertime: Mungo Jerry Story - 1990 ISBN 0-9510922-2-7
External links
official website| http://www.mungojerry.com/
discogs artist
UK best-selling singles (by year) 1970–1989 Category:British rock music groups Category:British pop music groups Category:Pye Records artists Category:Dawn Records artists
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Copyright Citations
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