The duo is internationally known for songs such as Let Your Love Flow, Crazy from the Heart and If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body.
South African country singer Jason Bradley, who recently participated in the Texas International Country Music Awards, USA, will be the opening act for the Bellamy Brothers.
The Bellamy Brothers, Howard and David, have been in the music industry for 40 years, proving their style to be a winning recipe for success.
Their rise to fame began on the pop music charts in the ’70s and took a winding turn into country music in the ’80s.
They paved the way for duos to come, including Brooks & Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Big & Rich, and The Judds.
The duo initially tasted success in their home state of Florida, before exploding nationally amid the ’70s pop music culture of LA.
The brothers first official gig was in 1968, playing a free show with their father at the Rattlesnake Roundup in San Antonio, Florida. They honed their early skills playing clubs throughout the south, and singing backup for artists such as Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd, and Little Anthony and The Imperials.
Within a few months, the brothers moved north, immersing themselves and their rock/country sound in the Atlanta market, where the Allman Brothers were the emerging kings of the music world.
With the dawning of the Age of Aquarius on the horizon – in an America embroiled in a haze of drugs, civil unrest and an unpopular war – the Bellamy’s music picked up the hard-driving edge that characterised the times.
Songwriting had become David’s drug of choice during the long road gigs.
This soon led to the band’s national breakout.
The break came in the form of the hit Spiders & Snakes, written by David and recorded by Jim Stafford.
The song became a smash, eventually selling more than three million units worldwide.
It became the catapult that rocketed the brother onto the LA music scene.
Young and impressionable, Howard and David fell into the musical circle of the greats of the day: Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Van Morrison, as well as West Coast-based country rockers like Poco and the Byrds.
The Bellamys officially lifted off the launch pad in 1976 when their single Let Your Love Flow became an instant smash in both the USA and Europe.
It stayed on the international charts long enough to build a huge international fan base for the hip young brothers that endures to this day.
In Germany alone it perched at number one for more than two months.
By the late ’70s the Bellamys were emerging on the country charts with another bona fide smash.
If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me), originally scrawled on a dinner napkin by David, rocketed them to the top of the country charts the way Let Your Love Flow had done in the pop market just a few years earlier.
It proved to be the first of a string of 14 number-one singles in the USA alone.
In the 2000s, they hold the record in both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association Awards (CMA) for the most duo nominations.
Numerous Grammy nods have also been directed toward the brothers.
The Bellamys have released more than two dozen hit songs outside the USA that were never released here.
With a sharp eye on the songwriting skills that have been the bedrock of their success, Howard and David concur that their career is unique in their international finesse for matching their songs to the market.
“For the international releases, you have to have a strong melody,” notes David.
“The lyric is very important, but internationally the melody is something fans can lock into, even if they can’t understand the lyrics.”
The Bellamy Brothers’ latest project is their new album, titled 40 Years, an ambitious project that celebrates their career with 20 of their biggest hits and 20 brand-new songs in this two CD anniversary collection.
The 40 Years double album will be available exclusively at the concerts in SA and Namibia.
