Bles Bridges

Bles Bridges (22 July 1947 – 24 March 2000), born Lawrence John Gabriel Bridges, was a much loved South African singer. He became known as Bles Bridges, as his Irish granddad called him Bles (i.e. bald), due to his very thin hair from an early age.

He released his first album in 1982, Onbekende Weermagman (Unknown Soldier). His professional career began in 1984, with the release of his second album, BLES which went gold in under a month (25,000 copies) and included Maggie, one of his better-known songs. It sold twice that by the time his third album was released. At the time of his death, he had sold more than two and a half million albums (records and CDs).

Soon Bles Bridges began alternating between Afrikaans and English language albums, to great acclaim. He also began working with Eurovision South Africa. In 2000, he began recording an album with his friends in the music industry. The first song - a duet with Patricia Lewis (and last song as it turned out, as he died within a week of finishing the song) was The First Kiss Goodnight by Dennis East; it was recorded on March 21, 2000.

In the 1980s he held a concert in support of the AWB Volkshulpskema (People's Help Scheme) which raised 10,000 Rand (he was there as an artist, not by personal belief).

He had cancer during the eighties and gave generously to charity after his recovery, for cancer research etc.

His wife, Leonie was his sound engineer and the composer and/or songwriter of most of his songs, including most of his biggest hits, including Maggie and "I am the Eagle, you're the Wind", among others.

His biggest hit was Ruiter van die Windjie (Rider of the Wind) which was released in 1986.

He loved life and roses, and it was his custom to hand out roses to some of the female audience members in the front row at his concerts.

His career highlight was when he performed to a soldout "Superbowl" at Sun City, 5 times on 1 weekend, becoming the first and only artist to do so, as feature artist on 14 and 15 May 1987. He actually managed to draw a bigger crowd than Frank Sinatra did when he opened the "Superbowl" in 1982.

Bles died in a motorcar accident on 24 March 2000. He left his wife, Leonie and children Sunette and Victor behind. More than 15,000 mourners turned up for his funeral.

Albums Released (Records and CDs)

• "ONBEKENDE WEERMAGMAN" - 1982
• "BLES" - 1984
• "UIT DIE BOONSTE RAKKE" - 1985
• "VIR EEN EN ALMAL" - 1986
• "I AM THE EAGLE, YOU'RE THE WIND" - 1986
• "REIK NA DIE STERRE" - 1987
• "FIGHT FOR LOVE" - 1987
• "LAAT MY LEWE, LAAT MY LIEFHê" - 1988
• "ONS EERSTE ONTMOETING" - 1989
• "NOG 'N NUWE DAG" - 1989
• "THE DEVIL AND THE SONG" - 1989
• "LET ME LOVE YOU" - 1990
• "BACK ON MY FEET AGAIN" - 1991
• "SOOS NOOIT TEVORE" - 1992
• "AM I THAT EASY TO FORGET" - 1993
• "ONE DANCE WITH YOU" - 1994
• "GROOTSTE TREFFERS" - 1994
• "SPROETJIES KOM TERUG" - 1995
• "LOVE AND ROSES - MY GREATEST HITS" - 1996
• "DIE HART VAN MY MOEDER" - 1997
• "SWEEF SOOS 'N AREND" - 1998
• "CLASSICS MY WAY" - 1998
• "COUNTRY MY WAY" - 1999
• "GOUE & PLATINUM TREFFERS DEUR DIE JARE HEEN - 2000"
• "MôRE BRING 'N NUWE DAG - 2000"
• "GOUE & PLATINUM TREFFERS DEUR DIE JARE HEEN (Vol II) - 2000" (released on September 26, 2000)

Released videos

• "IN SEARCH OF LOVE"
• "OP TOER MET BLES" (ON TOUR WITH BLES)

Movie

He starred in a 1989 movie called "THE DEVIL AND THE SONG".