Johnny Rodrigues

Johnny Rodrigues (born João Rodrigues; 12 November 1951 – 2001) was a Capeverdean singer who had a number one single in the Netherlands and Belgium in 1975 with Hey mal yo. The single was released as Johnny & Orquesta Rodrigues, although there was no real 'orquesta'.

Biography[]

João Rodrigues was born in Cape Verde, then a Portuguese colony. In the early 1970s he and his family moved to the US as they wanted to dodge the draft by the Portuguese army which was involved in an independence war with separatists in Angola, another Portuguese colony.

In 1974, Rodrigues went on a holiday to the Netherlands, where he met singer Peter Tetteroo of pop band Tee Set, who had had an American hit with Ma Belle Amie in 1970. They made a few recordings, one of which was Hey mal yo, which was released as Johnny's first single. It quickly shot to the top of the charts.

Rodrigues proved to be a one hit wonder, as his other singles never reached the same heights as Hey mal yo. He had his final hit in 1977, after which he faded into obscurity. He died in 2001 in Cape Verde.

Copy?[]

During its chart run, doubts were raised about the origin of Rodrigues's song and whether he actually sang on it. Dutch newspaper Het Vrije Volk wrote in April, 1975 that Johnny's rendition was an note-by-note copy of an earlier version of the song, performed by Brazilian singler Roberto Leal, originally released in 1973 as Hey Malhao. The newspaper even wondered whether it was actually Leal's recording which was issued in the Netherlands with Rodrigues simply miming to that song. According to his manager Theo Cuppens, Johnny's version was very faithful to Leal's original recording, but it was definitely Johnny's voice on the record. "Those Portuguese all use a falsetto, that's why both voices sound alike," he stated in Het Vrije Volk.

Years later, Dutch journalist Jimmy Tigges used this story in his newspaper column Delftse Toeren where he quoted Hans van Vuuren, self-proclaimed archivist of Tee Set. He stated that Tee Set had re-recorded Roberto Leal's original recording. "You can clearly hear that it's the Tee Set playing those instruments," Mr Van Vuuren said. "Literally copying the original recording would have been almost impossible, given the technical limitations of the day". According to Mr Van Vuuren, the backing vocalists were easily recognisable as two major Dutch artists, Patricia Paay and Anita Meyer.

Dutch music journalist Leo Blokhuis brought back the story in 2019 in the TV show Top 2000 A Gogo, by stating as fact that it was Roberto Leal's original recording that had been used for Johnny Rodrigues's single. Music publisher Willem van Kooten, who had published Johnny's version, apparently admitted that he had (illegally) used Leal's version. Leal himself had already mentioned the case in his 2012 biography As Minhas Montanas. He got hold of a copy of Johnny's single and he was certain it was his voice he was listening to.

To add to the confusion, Hans van Vuuren said there could be another "real" singer of the single. "I have a demo of Johnny's version and to be honest: it sounds terribly out of tune. There was no way you could tweak this back then." Ferry Lever, former Tee Set guitarist, had played bouzouki and guitar in Johnny's version. "No, it wasn't entirely kosher," he remembers. "It may have been Roberto, it may have been Johnny, it may have been someone else. Johnny wasn't a good singer anyway".

So who the real singer on Hey mal yo was, remains shrouded in mystery.

Discography[]

Singles[]

Radio 2 Top 2000 annual charts[]

References[]