Billy Fury, A reminiscence

Billy Fury was an underrated but inspiring singer,and a wonderful person. Unfortunately he passed away in 2003, having suffered from a heart problem for most of his life after suffering from rheumatic fever at the age of 7. He was one of the first and greatest British rockers - only the Beatles, Elvis and Cliff scored more hits in the Sixties - yet he never had a No 1. He would have been 70 this year if he had lived, as I was reminded by a posting from Rockabillyville.

Billy's place in rock history was ensured by The Sound of Fury, a ten-inch vinyl album recorded in 1960. It's an extraordinary record, not least because it is entirely self-written - pre-Beatles this was unheard of. The producer Jack Good captured what he called "the soul of Billy Fury". It was pure rockabilly. Sparse yet tough, it documents one broken love affair after another, with Joe Brown's stinging guitar in counterpoint to Billy's echo-laden vocals.

This is the cover of an extended play 45rpm record featuring music from the film, "Play It Cool" in which he starred. My first Album by him was, "Halfway To Paradise" but By far the better side of his work was an earlier album I bought, simply called, Billy Fury". Always one of my favourites.

This featured songs from "The Sound Of Fury" Which has been released on CD in Stereo with extra tracks; read about it here. from "The Rocking Gypsy".

I have just written a Squidoo lens (a single page website), featuring several videos available on You tube from Billy's career. If you are not old enough to remember him, why not take a look and be amazed!