The Silver Convention Story

           

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER ARTICLE (in German)

The article says the following:

"Save Me" was recorded with 30 musicians, including a choir. After the hit single success, there was demand for an album. On that first album Roberta Kelly, Gitta Walther and Betsy Allen were paid 1200 German Marks for the singing session.

In a television interview Penny McLean stated that there were more than 3 female singers, which explains Lucy Neale's part in the original recording. Only Roberta Kelly, Gitta Walther and Betsy Allen came forward and wanted to be recognized for the hit success of "Fly, Robin, Fly." Michael Kunze admits that they sang the vocals. He explains that they were asked to represent Silver Convention on television and stage, but the 3 girls were not available because of contracts and other engagements. Therefore 3 new girls were found to represent Silver Convention: Jackie Carter, Ramona Wulf (real name Ramona Kraft) and Linda G. Thompson (real name Linda Ubelherr.) Jackie Carter promoted Silver Convention's song "Save Me" and appreared in the original photos of the group before Penny McLean (real name Gertrude Wirshinger) was hired to replace her. Jackie Carter sang the lead vocal on the song "Please Don't Change the Chords of this Song" on the first Silver Convention album.

Michel Kunze said that he let Penny, Ramona and Linda sing the vocals for all the songs on the first album (except the song "Save Me") and mixed their vocals with the already recorded vocals by the others. But he admits that their part is minimal, but in actuality Penny, Ramona and Linda never sang any of the vocals on the first album.

Lady Bump

It is interesting to note that Gitta Walther recorded the scream and backing vocals in the song "Lady Bump."

Penny McLean said: "Concerning the scream, if I had known in 1975 what kind of fuss people made out of this scream, which every good singer can do without thinking twice, I would have insisted on doing the whole tape again when we recorded "Lady Bump" with my own scream. But time was (and still is) money at the studio and Michael Kunze just used me for the parts of the song needed to bring "Lady Bump" out as a solo record. "In more than 1000 live performances, I sang the screams myself. I had to do this scream at least 16 times every evening because people wanted to hear it over and over again."

Originally "Lady Bump" was meant to be an album track for the first Silver Convention LP. The instrumental version "The Lady Bumps On" had only the "Look At Me" chorus and Gitta's scream. The original song, "The Lady Bumps On" was sung by Gitta Walther, Lucy Neale, Betsy Allen, Jackie Carter and Roberta Kelly.

Michael Kunze decided to make "Lady Bump" a solo record for Penny McLean, and Penny recorded her vocals on the master tape. Penny was never asked to do the scream on the master tape. Gitta Walther's now famous scream is on the master tape of "Lady Bump."

Penny has practiced the scream ever since and has performed the scream herself in "live" performances. Also, it is interesting to note that Lucy Neale did the talking introduction on the song "Lady Bump" not Penny McLean.

The second Silver Convention album was recorded with the vocals of Penny, Ramona and Linda. Ramona did the solo on "Thank You, Mr. D.J." and Linda was featured in "No, No, Joe."

Another Article about Silver Convention with Jackie Carter

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