DESCRIPTION:
South African guitar combo The G-Men was the first band from singer, songwriter and guitarist John Kongos and have recorded some great instrumentals. "Raunchy Twist" has a spectacular biting echo sound.
John Kongos was born in Johannesburg in 1946 and grew up in Brakpan where his mother owned a nightclub called The Fireplace. When he was 12 he attended one of Tommy Steele's South African shows and was inspired to go into the Rock 'n Roll business. At age 15 he fronted The Dukes taking further inspiration from Hank Marvin of the Shadows. They performed at The Fireplace and were eventually signed to a small local label and had a few local hits with covers of familiar pop songs.

The group changed their name to the G-Men and and in 1963 were banned from appearing at the Rand Show as were deemed to attract "too large a crowd". In the same year Kongos made his first trip to the UK. Although trying out for a couple of major labels he did not have much sucess and returned to South Africa.

Line-up: Johnny Kongos (lead gt.), Henry Frandsen (rhythm gt.), Ian Sinclair (bass gt.) and Erroll Saunders (drums).