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Linda G. Thompson, Ramona Wulf, Penny McLean

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BIOGRAPHY OF SILVER CONVENTION

Linda G. Thompson, Ramona Wulf, Penny McLean

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1974:

Silver Convention was formed by two German producers Sylvester Levay (music) and Michael Kunze (lyrics.) The group was first called Silver Bird Convention or Silver Bird (which are on different 7" records of "Save Me"), named after Sylvester Levay's nickname "Silver." The vocalists on the first album "Save Me" were Gitta Walther (artist name: Jackie Robinson, ex-Love Generation, later The Hornettes,) Roberta Kelly ("Troublemaker," "Zodiac Lady," & "Gettin' the Spirit,") Betsy Allen, Lucy Neale (ex-Love Generation, later The Hornettes,) and Jackie Carter.

Of all the vocalists on the first album, Jackie Carter was the only one to appear in the first official lineup of Silver Convention! Click here to read the Silver Convention story in English and German.

1975:

When the song "Save Me" became a hit in Europe, Kunze & Levay formed a group to represent Silver Convention with singers:

-Ramona Wulf, born Ramona Kraft on October 18, 1954, formerly a German teen singer;
-Linda G. Thompson born Linda Übelherr on September 21, 1948, formerly with Cornely Singers (1968-1971), Love Generation, and Les Humphries Singers (1973-1974); Linda G. Thompson is not to be confused with American singer Linda Thompson, wife of guitarist Richard Thompson.
-Penny McLean born Gertrude Wirschinger on November 4, 1948 in Austria, who later became Gertrude Münzer by marriage;

* Jackie Carter was a member of Silver Convention for a short time before being replaced by Penny McLean. Her photo appeared on the covers of the singles "Always Another Girl" and "Fly Robin Fly" in Belgium and the Netherlands. She sang the lead vocal of the song "Please Don't Change The Chords Of This Song" on the first Silver Convention album.

Shortly afterwards, Kunze & Levay also recorded solo singles with each of the Silver Convention members, such as "Lady Bump" (Penny McLean,) "Ooh What A Night!" (Linda G. Thompson,) and "Save The Last Dance For Me" (Ramona Wulf.) The first album to be released by Silver Convention was "Save Me."

In the U.S.A., the LP title was "Save Me" (Midland International BKL1-1129.) The front cover had two hands and arms intertwined painted in silver. The models were a record executive from Midland International Records and his secretary. On the back cover of the U.S.A. LP was a photo of a group of models who never sang nor performed on the album.

In Canada, the LP title was "Silver Convention" (Columbia ES 90311.) The front cover had handcuffs with lettering that said "Including: Save Me." On the back cover of the Canadian LP was a photo of Linda G. Thompson, Ramona Wulf, and Penny McLean, but they did not sing at all on the first album.

Many countries had their own cover for this LP and other Silver Convention LPs. In one country the cover had a picture of a faceless nude woman in chains showing her breasts and covering her private parts. In Germany the cover had only the chains.

1976:

"Fly Robin Fly" reached number 1 in the charts and earned a Grammy Award in the USA. The next album, "Silver Convention," was released with the hit "Get Up and Boogie." In Europe, the album was titled "Get Up and Boogie." Michael Kunze actually wrote the lyrics on the two first albums under the pseudonym Stephan Prager.

Linda G. Thompson left Silver Convention and was replaced by an American singer named Rhonda Heath. Hot on the heels of "Get Up And Boogie", Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay recorded the third Silver Convention album as a psychedelic disco concept album called "Madhouse." In Europe, the song "Fancy Party" was released as a single before the B-side "Everybody's Talkin' Bout Love" was flipped over as the A-side. In the U.S.A., "Dancing In The Aisle (Of A 747)" - reminiscent of "Fly Robin Fly" - was favored as a single.

An explanation of the "Madhouse" album was written on the German liner-notes:

All of a sudden M. realized that he wasn't free. He was stuck inside four walls on which every morning the lastest news were written. The pople who came to see M. were made out of plastic. Obviously their voices came from a pre-recorded tape, repeating all the time just one word: Money. M. ran away. He wanted to see human beings. So he went to a party. But nobody there was what he seemed to be. It was all a masquerade. In his embarrassment M. started to pray. Somebody must have heard that he longed to be in heaven. They gave M. a ticket and put him on a 747. No one understood why M. was crying when he came down again. A radio and a tv-set were installed in M.'s lonely room to comfort him. M. destroyed everything in anger. That was when the devil tempted him, offering a ride to the magic mountain. But M. refursed to follow. Somebody had told him that there was no way back from that trip. 'I've got another remedy', the devil said. 'It's called Sex and it can make you happy'. But what the devil calls happiness, usually is a lie. M. had to learn that. In his greatest desperation a strange thing happened. M. fell asleep and dreamed that he was living in a wonderful land of peace and freedom. It was so easy. All M. had to do was to close his eyes and to forget that he was locked up in a madhouse. - M. (c) Michael Kunze 1976

1977:

Silver Convention represented Germany at The Eurovision Song Contest in England, with the song "Telegram," and they won 8th place. Silver Convention released their fourth album "Golden Girls" with Penny McLean, Ramona Wulf, and Rhonda Heath. In the US they released "Hollywood Movie" as a single. In Europe, the album was entitled "Summernights."

A Beatles-disco-medley entitled "The Boys From Liverpool" was released as a single but was not included on any album except in Spain where a new pressing of the LP "Summernights" was released, featuring "The Boys From Liverpool" as the last track on side 1, and "A Song About The Boys From Liverpool" instead of "Save Me '77" on side 2. Simultaneously, Ramona Wulf released her first solo album "Natural Woman" produced by Kunze & Levay, and Penny McLean released her second album "Penny" produced by Michael Kunze in collaboration with Munich arranger Stefan Klinkhammer. Penny McLean left Silver Convention and was replaced by UK-singer Zenda Jacks, (at the time known as Suzie McCloskey.) Penny McLean went into acting in her own Munich theater called "Theather am Einlass."

1978:

Silver Convention released their fifth album "Love In A Sleeper." It included the disco classic "Spend the Night With Me." Zenda Jacks (known as Suzie McClosky) left Silver Convention and married an American businessman in Acapulco, Mexico.

1979:

Penny McLean returned to Silver Convention to record their final songs "Rollermania" (Kaschu/M. Kunze) and "Cafe Au Lait" (H. Weindorf/M. Kunze.) Vocals on the record were by Penny McLean, Ramona Wulf & Rhonda Heath (additional vocal on "Café Au Lait": Jerry Rix,) and the record was produced by Michael Kunze. The songs were not included on any album. Linda G. Thompson & Jerry Rix entered the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with "Wochenende," which earned 11th place. (There were 12 entries.) Penny McLean entered the Luxembourg pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with Ralph Siegel’s composition "Tut-Ench-Amon." Rhonda Heath started a solo recording career with the single "It Hurts So Good," written & produced by Michael Kunze. Ramona Wulf released a cover version of U.S.A. disco star Celi Bee's "Boomerang" and began recording her second album "Shake What Yo'Mama Give Ya," released in early 1980.

1980:

Linda G. Thompson joined The Hornettes. Ramona Wulf married producer Horst Hornung on December 12, 1980.

1981:

Ramona gave birth to her daughter Nadine on April 14, 1981. Linda entered the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with The Hornettes with the song "Mannequin." The song ended in second place.

The single "Get It Up" (5:00) backed with "San Francisco Hustle" (2:57) was post-released on Jupiter Records (Teldec) 6.13 194. "Silver Stars World Hits Of Silver Convention Medley" on Jupiter Records (Teldec) 6.13 346 was also released. The songs on side A were: Fly Robin Fly / Darling, I Like It / Son Of A Gun / Get Up And Boogie / No, No, Joe / Spend The Night With Me / San Francisco Hustle / Take Me, Shake Me. The songs on side B were: Save Me / Telegram / Wolfchild / Rollermania / Breakfast In Bed / Mission To Venus.

1983:

A yellow-wax 12" was released on Jupiter Records (Teldec) 6.20 231 which included "Fly, Robin, Fly" (5:31) and "Get Up and Boogie" (3:54) backed with "Save Me" (4:18) and "No, No, Joe" (2:47.)

1984:

Penny McLean gave birth to her daughter Marie Christine in 1984.

1986:

Ramona formed a new group, Ramona & The Paris Girls, with 2 other singers, Christina and Biba. She released the album "Strip To The Heart" under the name Ramona.

SINCE 1987:

In 1983, 1987 and 2000, Silver Convention appeared on German television for special reunion performances. Remarkably, the reunions were with Ramona Wulf, Linda G. Thompson and Penny McLean.

In 1987, Pete Waterman and Malcolm Davies remixed "Save Me" (5:40) on Old Gold Records 12" (OG 4015.) In 1998, a double CD entitled "Silver Convention" was released in Mexico by Max Music #(85)981179-2 distributed by PolyGram: On disc 1: MegaSilver Convention (10:51) the full length version and on disc 2: MegaSilver Convention (4:05) the edited version.

Dr. Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay are still involved with music. In the late 1990s they wrote the score for several musicals, including "Elizabeth," a musical about the life of Austria's empress.

Join the discussion group for Silver Convention fans at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silverconvention

See more photos of Silver Convention at http://silverconvention.multiply.com

Send email to the webmaster of this site.

Penny McLean released three solo albums: 1) "Lady Bump" (1975) - including the songs "Lady Bump," "1-2-3-4 Fire," "The Wizard Bump," and "Devil Eyes," 2) "Penny" (1977) - including the songs "Dance, Bunny Honey, Dance" and "Mambo Mama," and 3) "Midnight Explosion" (1978) including the songs "Midnight Explosion" and "Circle of Flames." Before the final album there was an album called "THE BEST OF PENNY MCLEAN" released which included a new song "Wild One." Non-album singles included "Nobody's Child" (1976,) Ralph Siegel produced / Dschinghis Khan inspired "Tut Ench Amon," (1979,) "Love Is Love" (1980,) and her final single "Don't Ever Leave Me Now" (1985.) Penny McLean became a psychic and writes esoteric books.

Linda G. Thompson left Silver Convention in 1976 after completing Silver Convention's second album. She had recorded "Ooh What A Night" with Levay & Kunze (1975) and continued recording singles for Jupiter Records including "Come Softly," "Put A Little Love In Your Heart," and "Mocking Bird Hill."

In 1978 Linda G. Thompson and Jerry Rix released the single "Du bist schuld dass unsere Kinder so aussehen wie Du." In 1979 Linda G. Thompson and Jerry Rix also participated in the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with a song called "Wochenende." Linda recorded the singles "Flight To Fantasy" with b-side "Midnight Rendez-Vous" and "Never Get Over You" on Ariola Records. Linda G. Thompson became an interior-designer and a member of the Hornettes. The Hornettes is a singing group with two original members: Linda G. Thompson and Gitta Walther (also known as Jackie Robinson.)

Ramona Wulf, who was a German teen hit singer, released her first English single in 1976 while she was in the group Silver Convention. The song was a cover version of "Save The Last Dance For Me." At the same time as Silver Convention's Eurovision entry in 1977, she released her first solo album "Natural Woman" which included the single "Natural Man (I'm A Natural Woman.)" One of her songs, "Step By Step," was used in an American television program. She released a Ralph Siegel produced disco cover version of "Parlez-Moi D'Amour" in the summer of 1978. In 1980 she released her second album "Shake What Yo'Mama Give Ya" on Jupiter Records. In 1986 she returned with her third album "Strip To The Heart" which included the single "Body Beat." In 1988 she released her fourth album "Mood To Mood." Ramona Wulf is the mother of 3 children. She divorced Horst Hornung and married a doctor. She lives in Berlin, Germany.

Rhonda Heath released a song in 1979 which was on the U.S. dance charts+ called "It Hurts So Good," written and produced by Michael Kunze. In 1982 Rhonda released her first album "It's Rock 'n Roll, That's All." Her 1983 album for Global Records, "Neonlight Love Affair," included the singles "365 Nights" and "Pac-Man." In 1985 Rhonda was a backing singer for Gary Lux from Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Kinder dieser Welt." Rhonda Heath lives in Munich, Germany and is still active as a solo artist performing various styles of music including gospel, musicals & classical. She has worked as a backing vocalist and was represented by the Kuenstler-Conaction in Amerang, Germany. She also started an acting career and is married to a doctor.

Zenda Jacks is an English singer (born in 1955) who made three singles for the British label Magnet Records in the style of Suzi Quarto. They were "Rub My Tummy" (1974,) "Earthquake" (1975,) and "Do You Love Me" (1976.) From 1977 to 1978 she replaced Penny McLean in Silver Convention. She recorded Silver Convention's final album "Love In A Sleeper" and toured with Silver Convention in the U.S.A. promoting the album. During that concert tour she met an American businessman who she married in Acapulco, Mexico. Zenda left the group and Penny McLean returned (for one final single.) Later Zenda Jacks joined the United Kingdom hard rock band "Hard Rain."

In 1974 Jackie Carter was part of the the line-up of Silver Convention for a short time with Linda G. Thompson and Ramona Wulf promoting the single "Save Me." She sang the lead vocal on the album song "Please Don't Change The Chords Of This Song" included in the first Silver Convention album, "Save Me." She was replaced in the group by Penny McLean. Jackie released several singles as a solo artist including: "Treat Me Like A Woman" (1976,) "Paint It Black" (1978,) "Unser Welt Will Immer Gewinner Sehen" (from the musical "Tell,") "Stay For The Night" (1979,) and "Ooh, What A Way To Go" (1979.) She also released two albums: "Treat Me Like A Woman" (1976) and "Ruby Shoes" (1979.) She joined a group called Eric Burdon's "Fire Department" in 1980 and "China Blue" in 1987 as a backing vocalist. She was also a member of "The Hornettes" from 1985 to 1992 when Christina Harrison and Lucy Neale left the group. Throughout her singing career she has always worked with composer/producer Frank Dietz. Later she became a solo artist under the name Jacqueline Nemorin.