Bonds, Gary “U.S.”
Gary U.S. Bonds
Born Gary Anderson in Jacksonville in 1939, son of a Florida State University professor. After his parents divorced, his mother married a Navy man; the family relocated to Norfolk, Va., while Anderson was a child. He was discovered in the early 1960s as a teenager, singing on a Norfolk street corner, by Frank Guida of Legrand Records. Guida re-named him “U.S. Bonds” without telling him. Apparently, Guida knew what he was doing: “Bonds” scored a string of top-10 hits, including “Quarter to Three” and “New Orleans.” In the early 1980s, after a long fallow period, Bonds recorded three albums for EMI-America with producer Bruce Springsteen. Currently lives on Long Island; still tours regularly.
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