Herbert (1972–75) (died 8 March 1980) Dave O'Brien (1973–76) Sheila McKinlay (1973–75, 1982, 1992) Enry David-Fascher (1970–72) Myrna David (1971–72) Malcolm Magaron (1970–72) Claudia Schwarz (1974–76) Emily Woods-Jensen (1974–76, 1992) Dornée Edwards (1970–71) Maddy Verhaar (1975–76) Lil Walker Don Adams (1974–75) Tina Kemp-Werner (1970–74) Barbara Johnson Gail Stevens (1974) Goldy Kloen-Evert (1970–71) Irene Bendorf (1971) Renate Andersen-Bilsbury (1974–76, 1982) Musical background and style The Les Humphries Singers performed a mix of popular music and gospel covers and had some success in Europe with this approach. Much like contemporary disco act Boney M., their music focused on Rhythm and blues, gospel, and disco, but often with psychedelic phasing or flanger effects on solos and bridges, and, much like James Last, much larger background choruses in the studio to emulate a live atmosphere. The Les Humphries Singers at the time brought something from the flair of the hippie movement into contemporary German-produced (but English-sung) pop music, especially due to their mixed ethnic background and peculiar fashion sense. Hits and later reunions Two of their earliest and best known hits were "Mexico" (1972) which was based on the 1957 Jimmy Driftwood country hit "The Battle of New Orleans", and "Mama Loo" (1973), based on "Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys. On later albums by the Les Humphries Singers "Mexico" was released with different lyrics, most likely due to copyright problems (plagiarism). In 1976 they represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest with the Ralph Siegel title "Sing Sang Song", reduced to only six singers (their usual line-ups consisted of 20 performers and up), and came in 15th place, which they regarded as their beginning of the end as a band. (They were initially the runner-up in the national final behind Tony Marshall who was later disqualified) At the same time, they were the resident vocal band on the internationally syndicated TV series "The International Pop Proms", working with James Last and other renowned artists. They disbanded shortly thereafter the same year, but enjoyed a short comeback as a pure live act from 1991 until 1993 performing their old hits. In 2006, the original band members formed "The Original Singers" without Humphries, but with new members Chris Dakota, David Tobin, Jay Jay van Hagen and Willi Meyer, re-recording their old hits and also releasing new material. This reincarnation totally lacked the hippie feel and look. The former members, Jürgen Drews, Tina Kemp-Werner, Judy Archer