Expert: Bong Santos - 4/10/2007

Question
..hi Bong...i have 2 questions from the 80s...
1. I want to clarify if it is really SERGIO MENDES singing behind the songs TAKE THIS LOVE and WHAT DO WE MEAN TO EACH OTHER(duet with LANI HALL)...or was it some other male singer and was just credited to him?

2.Do you know the artist behind the song "THIS IS THE END OF FOREVER"...this song was played on the end credits of the 1989 soft-core porn movie "BYE BYE BABY" starring BRIDGIETTE NIELSEN and JASON CONNERY?

Answer
Dear Vincent,

Just like QUINCY JONES, SERGIO MENDES never sang his songs. From the onset of their careers, they recorded with different vocalists lending voices to their songs. We all remember QUINCY having JAMES INGRAM for the song JUST ONCE and ONE HUNDRED WAYS, they were credited as QUINCY JONES featuring James Ingram. In 1989, I'LL BE GOOD TO YOU was credited as QUINCY with Ray Charles and 1993's TOMORROW (A BETTER YOU, A BETTER ME) to QUINCY with TEVIN CAMPBELL. SERGIO for his part had regular singers which comprises his band (Brasil 65, 66, 77, 88, so forth...). WANDA SA, LANI HALL, JANIS HANSEN, LEZA MILLER, JOE PIZZULO and DAN SEMBELLO were among his vocalists. DAN SEMBELLO (brother of MICHAEL of MANIAC fame) was the vocalist for the hit song RAINBOW'S END. JOE PIZZULO did most of SERGIO's hits his duets with LEZA MILLER: WHAT DO WE MEAN TO EACH OTHER, NEVER GONNA LET YOU GO and LET'S GIVE A LITTLE MORE THIS TIME as well as solo performances with OLYMPIA and ALIBIS.

As for the BYE BYE BABY song THIS IS THE END OF FOREVER, nothing can be found about its original singer. I'll look for it further.

Maraming salamat po!!

BONG M. SANTOS
Manila, Philippines