GRAHAM BONNET Rainbow changed my life ![]() Around 74-75 I made a few more singles together with Maurice Gibb, but unfortunately that didn't work out. I also made an LP that was never released, plus played the lead role in a movie. But anyway, about three years ago things went pretty bad for me; my wife had thrown me out, I had no money at all and I went to my parents because I had hardly eaten anything for a long time. Those lovely people were frightened and immediately called for the doctor. Afterwards I heard that he had told my parents that I could no longer be saved; if I ate something, I immediately vomited it out again. But miraculously I kept on living and when I was a bit on top, I even got a phone call asking if I wanted to make a record. That resulted in two solo albums, "Graham Bonnet" and "No Bad Habits", which were very successful in Australia. Later, one day I got a call from Roger Glover, who found out through a studio engineer where I was. He asked if I would like to audition for Rainbow in the studio in France. Now I didn't know Rainbow, but I had heard good stories about the boys and so I said okay. I had to rehearse the song 'Mistreated' and come straight to France. No sooner said than done and so after a few days in the studio I was singing 'Mistreated', I was very nervous, especially when those guys suddenly stopped playing in the middle of the song. I thought I could leave again, but Ritchie and Cozy started laughing and then Ritchie said he never had someone had heard the song sing so well. So I was hired and to this day I like it very much. Rainbow has changed my life dramatically. I still have to think back to the first performance now and then, as support act for Blue Oyster Cult in America. I had not performed in years and never in such a large hall. I had drunk a little too much from the nerves and I was going to tell Ritchie that at one point, I thought he would be angry, but then it turned out that the nerves made him just as drunk as I was, hahaha ... . © Kees Baars, Muziekkrant Oor no 4 - February 27, 1980 Photo: © Kees Tabak |