
Born: 6 August 1945
Real name: John Theodore Kongos
Kongos was born in Johannesburg and began working in the music world in his teens, joining a band called The Dukes. He then formed The G-Men, a beat group that proved very popular, producing hits such as ‘Johnny & The Mermaid’ and ‘Tulips For Toinette’ in the days before the charts started. In 1966 he moved to England where he released a single called ‘Flim Flam Pharisee’ before joining the band Floribunda Rose whose members included future Bats member Pete Clifford and Chris Demetriou who would work with John E. Sharpe & The Squires. From there he moved onto the band Scrugg. In 1970 Israeli born actress Daliah Lavi scored a number 9 hit in Germany with a German language cover of a song Kongos had written called ‘Won’t You Join Me’ (the German version as called ‘Willst Du Mit Mir Geh’n’). This helped Kongos finance a recording studio in his basement and it was here that he recorded the demo of ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ which came to the attention of Gus Dudgeon. Dundgeonhad produced David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ and was just starting on what would be a successful working relationship with Elton John. ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ would reach number 4 in the UK and 70 in the US. His follow up, ‘Tokoloshe Man’ would again hit number 4 in the UK. Both songs would later be covered by the Happy Mondays (‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ going under the title ‘Step On’). His 4 sons would form the band Kongos and would have a number 31 hit in the US with ‘Come With Me Now’.
Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
23-Jul-1971 | He’s Gonna Step On You Again | 2 | 11 |
24-Dec-1971 | Tokoloshe Man | 13 | 9 |
Total hits | 2 | ||
Total weeks | 20 |
Biggest climber awards | 1 |
Star rater climbs | 3 |
Biggest fallers | 4 |
Weeks with oldest in the charts | 0 |
Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 11 |
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 11 |
Top 30 points ranking | =483 |
Top 20 points ranking | =555 |
Top 30 points | 355 |
Top 20 points | 155 |