BIO:
The German female quartet The Hornettes was formed by Gitta Walther in 1980 (aka Simone, Jackie Robinson and later Gitta MacKay) and American Lucy Neale (aka Lucy O'Neale) 2 years after their group Love Generation split up.
They asked Christina Harrison (aka Christina May and later Christina Voormann, also former Love Generation member, in fact Lucy replaced Christina in 1976) and Dagmar Hellberg, a German session singer to join. The association with Dagmar didn't work out. The Hornettes only record 1single with her "Stop / Not Too Young" on the Strand label under production of Reiner Pietsch. Dagmar left the group and was replaced by none other than Linda G. Thompson (born Übelherr), who was then the most known to the general public because of her work with Silver Convention (hits: "Save Me, Fly Robin Fly, Get Up And Boogie & No No Joe").
Now with Linda in The Hornettes it was now almost a Love Generation female reunion group, also Linda was a member of Love Generation in the early seventies. Prior to that both Gitta and Linda were part of Die Cornely Singers.
Obscure detail: both Lucy Neale and Gitta Walther were original the voices (together with Roberta Kelly and Betsy Allen) on the the debut album of Silver Convention which contained the hits "Save Me" & the Grammy Award winning song "Fly Robin Fly"!
The formation Gitta, Lucy, Christina & Linda released another 7" on the Strand label Paul Anka's "You Are My Destiny", with on the b-side The Chordettes' "Lollipop".
In 1981 came the big break for The Hornettes, they were signed to Ralph Siegel's record label Jupiter Records and entered the German Preselection for The Eurovision Song Contest with a Ralph Siegel & Bernd Meinunger German sung composition "Mannequin". The song reached second place during the competition. (Lena Valaitis won with "Johnny Blue", also a Siegel / Meinunger composition)
"Mannequin" which featured Linda on lead vocals came 27th in the German charts and got a lot of radio airplay. The B-Side is another Siegel/Meinunger-song called "Juke-Box".
In 1982 their debut album was released "We Are On The Way-O". Side one of the album permits The Hornettes to demonstrate their abilities employing the most sophisticated studio facilities. Side two reflects the breathaking of their performance on stage.
It featured an English version of "Mannequin" and the single release from that album was "Waikiki Tamouré / T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E". Another single was released the same year "Colombus ( R. Siegel / F. Jay ) / Do You Think I'm Foolin' ".
In 1983 they entered for Austria's Preselection for The Eurovision Song Contest with "Hello, Mr. Radio" but ended on the third place. "Hello Mr. Radio" was co-composed and co-produced by Christina Harrison and released as a single with b-side "Jimmy Dean". There were 2 other single releases that year: "You've Got A Right (To Love Somebody) (Bruce "Hey Baby" Channel / Kieran Kane) / Don't Let Go", the Motown sounding Len Barry cover "1, 2, 3 / Takin' The 5:05 To London" (which was the English version of "Jimmy Dean". And also a single release was "Entschuldigung Wo Geht's Hier Zur Hölle (Sieben Mal Sieben) / Hallo Promille" from Udo Jürgens feat. The Hornettes on backing vocals, taken from his album "Traumtänzer" (1983). In 1983 Gitta also changed her name officially to Gitta MacKay, MacKay being the name of her late husband Don MacKay (aka Don Adams).
In 1985, Freya Wippich and Jackie Carter replaced Lucy Neale and Christina Harrison.
Jackie and Freya were both solo recording artists (Hit Jackie: "Treat Me Like A Woman", Hit Freya: "Meine Party" ) and much asked studio singers for various Munich projects.
Lucy went back to America where she became a realtor but she also continued singing in another female band called Moxie, they released one album "It Takes Moxie" in 2003, which features 2 songs also recorded by The Hornettes: "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Devil With The Blue Dress". Christina married musician and graphic designer Klaus Voormann, they have 2 daughters, one is also named Christina. Christina Voormann started a business in Nature Cosmetics, published a book with Dr Med. Govin Dandekar 'Babymassage Berührung, Wärme, Zärtlichkeit' in 1998 and she supervises 'Klaus and Christina Voormann’s Environment & Health Charity Project' on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux, South Dakota. In 2009 she co-produced with her husband his latest release: Klaus Voormann & Friends: "A Sideman's Journey".
Allthough The Hornettes weren't a big record selling groups, they were very much in demand for Television (for example: 'Auf Los Geht's Los' mit Blacky Fuchberger, Montagsmaler, Showexpress, Pyramide, Hitparade, ARD Wunschkonzert', etc) and as a stage act for Gala's, Balls, Exclusive Company Entertaining and Cruises. They performed at 'Bundespresseball, Madameball, Ball des Sports, RTL Lowenverleihung, Burda-Bambi Verleihung, Filmbal', etc for a.o. Gunter Sachs, Christina Onassis, Boris Becker, Madame Rochas, Helmut Kohl, Walter Scheel, etc. Their live act contained a mixture of '40, '50 & '60 material with styles like Boogie Woogie, Swing, Acapela, Pop & Rock 'N' Roll.
In 1988 The Hornettes had a cameo appearance in the comedy musical movie 'Geierwally' from Walter Bockmayer singing "Der Almdudel-Twist" song with the late Elisabeth Volkmann als The Erbfürstin.
In 1993 Jackie Carter wanted resume her solo career and with the assitance of Frank Farian and Toby Gad she released 2 solo albums and a string of singles, she also developed herself as a composer for other international artists, which she is still today active doing. After 1993 Jackie Carter changed her artist name in Nemorin and as a composer Jacqueline Nemorin, her original Mauritian name. She has one daughter named Geneviève.
The Hornettes continued to work as a trio now and released two CD-albums on the Koch label "Holiday" and "Welterfolge" (later re-released as "Welthits" on MCP Records). The albums were produced by Jürgen Marcus.
After this The Hornettes disabanned. Freya and her husband musician Bernd Wippich moved to Austria, where Freya did more session work but also started to give vocal coaching to music students. They have one daughter.
Linda made a career as a fashion stylist but also kept on singing and performing. In 2009 she re-joined The Les Humphries Singers Reunion, a group she prior to Silver Convention was a member of, in 1973/74.
Gitta moved back to her hometown Annaberg-Buchholz, where she released 2 solo CD albums and in 2004 til 2010 she joined the rockband Blackfingers, now named Blackfingers feat. Gitta MacKay. Gitta also became a vocal coacher for music students.
The Hornettes members:
1980: Christina Harrison, Dagmar Hellberg, Lucy Neale & Gitta Walther.
1980-1985: Christina Harrison, Lucy Neale, Linda G. Thompson & Gitta Walther.
1985-1993: Jackie Carter, Gitta MacKay-Walther, Linda G. Thompson & Freya Wippich.
1994-1995: Gitta MacKay-Walther, Linda G. Thompson & Freya Wippich.
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