Los Bravos

Los Bravos
Los Bravos in 1966
Background information
Origin	Madrid, Spain
Genres	Rock, beat, pop, freakbeat
Years active	1965–1968
Labels	Decca (UK), Press and Parrot (US and Canada)
Past members	Mike Kogel Antonio Martinez Manuel Fernández Miguel Vicens Danus Pablo Gomez

Los Bravos were a Spanish beat group, formed in 1965 and based in Madrid. Their single "Black Is Black" reached no. 2 in the United Kingdom in July 1966 and no. 4 in the United States (the first Spanish group to do so), selling over a million records.

The band was an amalgamation of two pop groups, Los Sonor from Madrid and The Runaways from Mallorca. Los Bravos' lead singer, Mike Kogel, was from Germany. His vocal styling was sometimes likened to Gene Pitney's. "Black is Black" reached no. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1966, no. 4 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over one million copies worldwide. The track was written by Tony Hayes and Steve Wadey, in their recording studio for cutting demo discs in Hoo St Werburgh, near Rochester, Kent, England. The song was later covered by Johnny Hallyday and the French-based outfit Belle Epoque, and in 1977 their disco version of the song coincidentally also reached No. 2 in the UK.