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Billy Thorpe (and the Aztecs)
Billy
Thorpe is one of the enigmas of Australian music, despite being one of the
pioneers of Australian pop music maintaining a contemporary standing.
Born in Manchester in 1946, Billy’s family emigrated to Brisbane when he
was nine. Two years later the young Thorpe was overheard by a television
producer playing his guitar and singing at the back of his parents’
Brisbane store. Soon he was appearing regularly on Queensland television
and ended up performing on the same stage as many of the top artists of the
day.
When he was 17 he moved to Sydney as a seasoned solo country/pop singer. He
was performing on shows like ‘Saturday Date’ just as the Beatles were
turning pop music as it was known upside down. Legend has it that Billy
walked up to instrumental group The Aztecs and told them they needed a
singer. The Aztecs already had a record contract, and had issued one surf
instrumental single, ‘Board Boogie’. Having that contract and their new
singer gave Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs the jump on anyone else who might have
wanted to join the new trend in pop music. They were even further ahead of
the pack when, before recording their first vocal single, they added
recently-arrived-in-the-country songwriting Englishman Tony Barber. Written
by Tony, the pretty pop ballad ‘Blue Day’ served its purpose as the group
consolidated a sizeable following as regular attractions at Sydney’s
premier pop dance, Surf City.
Two days before entering the studio to record two more Tony Barber songs
for their next single, Tony received a copy of the Rolling Stones’ first EP
from his brother back in England. The Aztecs decided to record their own
version of a song on that EP, the Coasters’ ‘Poison Ivy’. Heralding the
arrival of ‘beat’ music in Australia, it became a national number one hit in
June 1964, The Year Of The Beatles.
For their next single Billy Thorpe switched to Alberts, home of the
Easybeats and released ‘Mashed Potato’ a curious choice which consisted of
three words repeated over and over. “Mashed Potato Yeah”. It charted on the
strength of ‘Poison Ivy’s huge success. The Aztecs made up for it with
their next release, a pop version of Fats Domino’s ‘Sick And Tired’ a
recording which made a virtue of the vibrato in Billy Thorpe’s singing voice.
The Aztecs had also adopted a famous routine to go with the performance of
this song especially, hopping one step in unison while singer Billy Thorpe
kept his hands behind his back ( a stance he’d borrowed from Billy J
Kramer). The song and its delivery guaranteed Billy Thorpe’s place as pop
sensations.
The next single concentrated even more on exploiting Thorpie’s singing
voice, with a straight ballad version of ‘Over The Rainbow’, the song from
‘The Wizard Of Oz’. Another huge hit ensued, but Tony Barber decided his
songwriting was being pushed into the background, and he decided to leave
for a solo career. Two of the original band members also decided to leave,
and Billy Thorpe set about assembling a new band comprising three former
members of pioneering Ray Hoff and the Off Beats, and two members from the
musicians’ favourite band Max Merritt and the Meteors. On subsequent
singles Billy Thorpe might have descended or reverted into schmaltz land
(‘I Told The Brook’ ‘Twilight Time’ ‘Baby Hold Me Close’ ‘Love Letters’),
but it could also be argued he knew how to deliver what The People wanted -
indisputable pop records, supported by great musicians on stage.
In March 1966 Billy was handed his own national TV show, ‘It’s All
Happening’, a milestone in Australian music television, the first show to
feature truly live performances. The latest version of the Aztecs acted as
house band. A year later the show was cancelled, the Aztecs had broken up,
and Billy found himself spiralling into cabaret land. In the space of two
years he had scored nine major hits.
By December 1968 Thorpe had decided to
try his luck in England, and accepted some gigs in Melbourne for extra cash
before leaving. He never arrived in England. Billy Thorpe became so
enamoured by the rock/blues scene flourishing in Melbourne at that time, he
chose to stay and became an integral part of it. The new ‘General Custer
look’ Thorpe played long extended electric guitar solos and boasted the
loudest band in the land. Their repertoire comprised souped-up rock and
roll and blues.
Australian record companies were still singles-centric at the time and
Billy’s ‘new’ Aztecs broke every rule of commerciality and studio aesthetic
by recording the live-in-the-studio album ‘The Hoax Is Over’. The studio
walls literally vibrated with the intensity of the volume. “Where was the
single?” traditionalists asked. The album was in tune with the ‘progressive
rock of the day and made Top 10 nationally.
Billy’s new career was very much performance rather than hit driven. His
group’s next albums where ‘Aztecs – Live’ (recorded at Melbourne Town Hall)
and ‘Aztecs Live – At Sunbury’. The rise to popularity of this Aztecs
coincided with the liberation of liquor regulations in Melbourne, bringing
rock and roll out of the dances and clubs, and into the pubs. Despite or
because of their volume, The Aztecs became the premier pub attraction.
Occasionally Billy would take his hands off his electric guitar and again
put his hands behind his back, a signal for his devoted audience to imitate
him. The call and response relationship between stage and audience was a
big part of the group’s appeal. That and the ‘boogie’ rock style Billy
Thorpe evolved would be a direct influence on the latterday AC/DC.
In October 72 Billy finally added a new studio recording to the legend,
‘The Dawn Song’, followed by the self-deprecating autobiographical
career-defining ‘Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy)’. In November
1973 the Aztecs became the first rock band to play the Sydney Opera House.
After ‘Most People I Know’ was unsuccessfully released in England Thorpe
set his sights on the US, disbanding the Aztecs and adopting more of an
adult/rock-oriented style. He returned to Australia in November 1975 to
promote the ‘Million Dollar Bill’ album and its breezy jazz single, ‘It’s
Almost Summer’. Billy Thorpe’s career had changed gear again.
In 1979 Thorpe signed a US deal with
American producer Spencer Proffer and recorded the ambitious science
fiction/rock opera concept album ‘Children Of The Future’, which achieved
Top 20 status in America, selling 500,000 copies. The follow-up album ‘21st
Century Man’ also gained a US gold record. The years that followed saw
Thorpe concentrated on non-music business activities as diverse as
electronics and toys, before forming Zoo with Mick Fleetwood in 1990.
Anytime he visited Australia the ‘Most People I Know’ Aztecs fans were
ready to flock to any show Thorpe was prepared to mount. There’s a
readymade audience there anytime “Thorpie” wants it.
In July 1996 Billy Thorpe returned to Australia to live and authored two
highly-entertaining best selling books which only scratch the surface of
his life and career, 'Sex Thugs And Rock'n'Roll', and naturally, 'Most
People I Know'. In August 2002 Billy served as the creative force behind
the 'Long Way To The Top' tour, taking part with performances with both the
"original" and the "Sunbury" Aztecs. The "original"
Aztecs last played together in 1965.
Billy Thorpe suffered a massive heart attack at his home in Sydney's
eastern suburbs, early February 28, 2007. He was rushed to St Vincent's
Hospital but died at 2:30am AEDT, with family members by his side. For
several years he had been working on an ambitious rock opera inspired by
Thorpe's travels to Morocco. Following his death family and closest music industry mates
were determined to finish the record.
Mick Fleetwood added his percussive talents, Sneaky Sound System's
Connie Mitchell provided harmonies and producer Daniel Denholm
painstakingly pieced together Thorpe's recordings. Thorpe had spent seven
obsessed years on the record. Three and a half more years after his death
‘Tangiers’ was released.
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