Graham Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947 and had his first hit single with The Marbles in 1968, Only One Woman which reached Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart…..So runs Graham Bonnet’s wikipedia entry. Of The Skyliners, The Peter Tomlinson Band, The Jimmy Aldred Band, The Jan Ramsden Band, The Missing Links, The Blueset, The Bluesect and The Graham Bonnet Set not a word. This new biography of the much travelled rock singer more than fills the missing gaps.
After his work with The Marbles, Bonnet delivered a well-regarded solo album in 1977 which was the spring-board for his rock career, with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow the first to call.
After the chart album Down To Earth, Rainbow suddenly found themselves with well-crafted AOR hits in the shape of Since You Been Gone and All Night Long . The band headlined the first Donnington Monsters Of Rock festival in 1980, but Bonnet quit to record a star-studded solo album and top ten single Night Games. Bonnet was then quickly snapped up by ex-UFO guitarist Michael Schenker in the Michael Schenker Group (MSG) for the powerful Assault Attack album.
Bonnet’s most consistent rock project came in 1983 when he decided to put his own band together; Alcatrazz became a huge draw on the rock circuit for the next four years, with a number of albums to their name. They became particularly successful in Japan (where Bonnet remains very successful.)
Now based in LA, the ever adaptable Bonnet continues to record and tour on a regular basis, with a new album issued just a few months ago.
Watching Rainbow live in 1980, no lesser person than Ozzy Osbourne described Graham’s performance as the best by a rock vocalist he had ever witnessed.