Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Today, Monday 28 January 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Liverpool born BILLY FURY at the age of 42.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7207459.stm

Arguably, the most comprehensive Billy Fury fan site on the web can be found at

http://www.billyfury.com/

Lots of examples on YouTube of Billy Fury performing – my particular favourite being

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pysnLa-1hvQ

Hard to believe but he was just six months older than John Lennon

Thanks for those links.
Billy was another one who for whatever reason never got the level of success he deserved...

Billy meant nothing in US of course but he was really Mersey beat before the term had been coined, he was born and bred in Liverpool.

Story goes he went to a Marty Wilde concert in hope of getting him to listen to a couple of songs he had written.

Wilde's manger asked to play one of the songs and liked his voice etc so much he put on the bill that night.

Billy Fury really thought of himself as a rocker but it was the pop ballads that in my view he was best at.

The Beatles I believe did audtion to be his backing band at one point but were given the job of backing a lesser known act managed by Larry Parnes, Fury's Manger.

That act was Johnny Gentle who never made it big.