John Kongos

Prior to earning several modest chart entries across the U.K. during the closing years of the 1960s and the opening years of the 1970s, John Kongos fronted Johnny Kongos & the G-Men, the Johannesburg, South Africa beat ensemble whose frequent domestic-chart presence marked the first half of that decade. Relocating to London with several bandmates in 1966, he issued a 1967 Piccadilly single under the name Floribunda Rose; the project later evolved into Scrugg, the psychedelic pop outfit that delivered three Pye singles before dissolving in 1969, the most noticed of them being the 1968 B-side “I Wish I Was Five.” After Scrugg disbanded, Kongos pursued a solo career that yielded multiple releases, among them the albums Confusions About a Goldfish, John Kongos, and Tokoloshe Man. His 1971 single “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” reached the charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. Occasional reissues of his catalog surfaced throughout the 1990s, culminating in Castle’s 2002 compilation Lavender Popcorn: 1966-1969, which gathered both previously issued and unreleased Scrugg and Floribunda Rose tracks alongside Confusions About a Goldfish.