Georgie Fame: Difference between revisions

| name = Georgie Fame

| image = Georgie Fame 2009.jpg

| birth_namebackground = Clive= Powellsolo_singer

| alias birth_name = GeorgieClive FortunePowell

| instrumentoccupation = Keyboards{{hlist|Musician|singer}}

'''Georgie Fame''' (born '''Clive Powell'''; 26 June 1943) is an English [[R&B]] and [[jazz]] musician.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |edition=concise |date=1997 |editionpage=Concise452 |isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=452}}</ref> Fame, who had a string of 1960s [[hit record|hits]], is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as [[Alan Price]],<ref>{{cite news |title=How We Met: 46. Georgie Fame and Alan Price |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-46-georgie-fame-and-alan-price-1539225.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=22 October 2011 |access-date=12 June 2021}}</ref> [[Van Morrison]] and [[Bill Wyman]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book |first=David |last=Roberts |yearfirst=2006David |title=British Hit Singles & Albums |edition=19th |publisher=Guinness World Records |location=London |edition=19th |year=2006 |page=194 |isbn=1-904994-10-5 |page=194}}</ref> Fame is the only British music act to have achieved three numberUK oneNo. 1 hits with his only Toptop 10 chart entries: "[[Yeh, Yeh]]" in 1964, "[[Get Away (Georgie Fame song)|Get Away]]", in 1966 and "[[The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde]]" in 19671968.

Powell was born at 1 Cotton Street, [[Leigh, Greater Manchester|Leigh]], [[Lancashire]], England.<ref name="Larkin"/> He took piano lessons from the age of seven. and onOn leaving Leigh Central County Secondary School at 15, he worked for a brief period in a cotton weaving mill, andspending his evenings playedplaying piano for a band called the Dominoes in the evenings. After taking part in a singing contest at the [[Butlins|Butlins Holiday Camp]] in [[Pwllheli]], [[North Wales]], he was offered a job there by the band leader, early British rock -and -roll star [[Rory Blackwell]].

Over the following year Fame toured the UK playing beside Wilde, [[Joe Brown (singer)|Joe Brown]], [[Dickie Pride]], [[Gene Vincent]], [[Eddie Cochran]] and others. Fame played piano for Billy Fury in his backing band, the Blue Flames. When the backing band got the sack at the end of 1961, it was re-billed as "Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames" and went on to enjoy great success with a repertoire largely of rhythm and blues numbers.

{{Mainmain|Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames}}

[[File:GeorgieFame1966.jpg|thumb|Fame and Rick Brown performing at The [[Grand Gala du Disque]], [[Amsterdam]], on Saturday, 2 October 1966]]

Fame was influenced by [[jazz]], [[blues]], and the musicians [[Mose Allison]] and [[Willie Mabon]]. He was one of the first white musicians to be influenced by [[ska]] after hearing it in cafés in Jamaica and [[Ladbroke Grove]] in England. HeIn recalledthe early 1960s Fame and his band appeared regularly at [[The Flamingo Club]], wasa London "[[cool jazz]]" club, which Fame recalled as "full of American GIs who came in from their bases for the weekend" who played for him the song "[[Green Onions]]" by [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]]. "I had been playing piano up to that point but I bought a Hammond organ the next day."<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rik-gunnell-454967.html] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091009172511/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rik-gunnell-454967.html |date=9 October 2009}}</ref> [[Bill Wyman]] of [[the Rolling Stones]] described Fame at this point in his career as "an incredibly good pianist and singer" and "the idol of the large contingent of blacks" who frequented the Flamingo.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wyman |first=Bill |title=Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock and Roll Band |date=1990 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80783-1 |page=170}}</ref>

[[Ronan O'Rahilly]] failed to get Fame's first record played by the BBC.<ref>[http://www.offshoreechos.com/Caroline%2060/Radio%20Caroline%20-%20The%2060s%20Chapter%2004.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927033543/http://www.offshoreechos.com/Caroline%2060/Radio%20Caroline%20-%20The%2060s%20Chapter%2004.htm |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> After it was rejected by [[Radio Luxembourg (English)|Radio Luxembourg]], O'Rahilly announced he would start his own radio station to promote the record.<ref>[http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/history2.asp] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815134758/http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/history2.asp |date=15 August 2007 }}</ref> The station became the offshore [[pirate radio]] station [[Radio Caroline]].<ref name="offshore">{{cite web |title=The Offshore Radio Revolution in Britain 1964 - 2004 - Edited Entry |url=https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A2939411 |website=H2g2.com |access-date=25 February 2019 |date=31 October 2004 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630004102/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2939411 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Fame enjoyed continual chart success, with three number one hits in the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> His version of "[[Yeh, Yeh]]", released on 14 January 1965, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the UK singles chart.<ref name="Larkin"/> "In the Meantime" charted in both UK and US. Fame made his US television debut that same year on ''[[Hullabaloo (TV series)|Hullabaloo]]''. His single "[[Getaway (Georgie Fame song)|Get Away]]", released on 21 July 1966, spent one week at No. 1 on the UK chart and 11 weeks on the chart. The song was written as a jingle for a petrol commercial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukmix.org/articles/charts/1966.html|title=UKMIX – Articles – Chart Of All Time – 1966 |publisher=ukmix.org |access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref> His version of the [[Bobby Hebb]] song "[[Sunny (Bobby Hebb song)|Sunny]]" made No. 13 in the UK charts in September 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirg/georgief.htm |title=Georgie Fame |publisher=45-rpm.org.uk |date=26 June 1943 |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref> His greatest chart success was in 1967 when "[[The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde]]" became a number one hit in the UK, and No.number 7 in the US.<ref name="Larkin"/> "Yeh, Yeh" and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" sold over one million copies and were awarded [[music recording sales certification|gold discs]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book |first=Joseph |last=Murrells |year=1978 |title=The Book of Golden Discs |edition=2nd |publisher=Barrie and Jenkins |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/174 174, 220] |isbn=0-214-20512-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/174 }}</ref>

Fame supports the [[Countryside Alliance]] and has played concerts to raise funds for the organisation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2006/cginews.cgi?record=41|title=Welcome roxyrama.com - BlueHost.com|website=Roxyrama.com|access-date=31 October 2009|archive-date=2 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202202603/http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2006/cginews.cgi?record=41|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Category:MaleBritish male jazz musicians]]