Bobby Bloom

Bobby Bloom (1946 - February 28, 1974) was an American singer-songwriter. He is known best for being a one-hit wonder with the 1970 song "Montego Bay," which was co-written and produced by Jeff Barry. In the early 1960s, Bloom had been a member of the doo-wop group, The Imaginations. He received a big break in 1969 when he was awarded a contract to write and record a jingle for Pepsi, paving the way for his later success with "Montego Bay." He also played a role as a songwriter for the Kama Sutra/Buddah group of labels, co-writing "Mony Mony" for Tommy James and the Shondells and, with Jeff Barry, "Sunshine" for The Archies. Bloom worked as a sound engineer for musicians such as Louis Jordan and Shuggie Otis. Bloom often recorded demos of his songs at the recording studio of MAP City Records, owned by friends Peter Anders and Vincent “Vini” Poncia Jr., with chief engineer Peter H. Rosen at the controls. Early solo projects included "Love Don't Let Me Down" and "Count on Me." The recordings that followed his success with "Montego Bay" in 1970, "Heavy Makes You Happy," which became a hit for the Staple Singers in 1971, "Where Are We Going" and The Bobby Bloom Album all used the same combination of pop, calypso, and rock Bloom was killed on February 28, 1974, in an accidental shooting after suffering from depression at age 28. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.