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Biography

Scrugg released three British singles on Pye in the late 1960s, highlighted by their first 45, "Everyone Can See"/"I Wish I Was Five." These were nicely melodic psychedelic pop with penetrating organ work not unlike that used by Pink Floyd on their early records, particularly on "I Wish I Was Five," which, decades later, was included on the Nuggets, Vol 2: Original Artyfacts box set of '60s non-U.S. garage rock and psychedelia. The final two Scrugg singles were more in the florid storybook sing-song pop-style prevalent in Britain in the late 1960s, and less distinctive. Before changing their name to Scrugg, the group had been known as Floribunda Rose, who did a single for Pye in 1967. Both groups were centered around singer/songwriter John Kongos, who had a long career as a recording artist in South Africa in the 1960s before moving to England to record a single for Piccadilly in 1966, prior to forming Floribunda Rose. After Scrugg broke up, Kongos went solo, getting two British Top Five hits in the early 1970s, with "He's Gonna Step on You Again" and "Tokoloshe Man." All six songs from the Scrugg singles, as well as the Scrugg outtake "Patriotic," are on the John Kongos anthology Lavender Popcorn. That CD also includes both sides of Kongos' 1966 Piccadilly single, both sides of the Floribunda Rose single, the entirety of Kongos' 1969 LP Confusions About a Goldfish, and a few unreleased Kongos solo songs from the same era. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi