Humpy Bong
| Humpy Bong | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Rock, Folk-rock |
| Years active | 1970 |
| Labels | Parlophone |
| Associated acts | Bee Gees, Smile, Morgan |
| Past members |
Colin Petersen Jonathan Kelly Tim Staffell |
Humpy Bong were an English folk rock band formed in London in 1970 by former Bee Gees drummer Colin Petersen and Irish folk rock singer Jonathan Kelly.
Colin Petersen was a child actor in Australia and drummer with the Bee Gees. Jonathan Kelly was playing in a restaurant in London one night in 1969 when in walked Colin. 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.
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