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 |  Sujet: Fans stay as loyal as ever to city pop legend Billy Fury Mar 29 Jan 2008, 21:23 | |
| Fans stay as loyal as ever to city pop legend Billy Fury Jan 29 2008 by Mike Chapple !
Liverpool Daily Post GONE but not forgotten may be a cliché for some, but not to the followers of Liverpool rock ’n’ roll legend Billy Fury.
He may have died 25 years ago yesterday, but the anniversary for the man otherwise known as Ronald William Wycherley still drew a sizeable group of fans paying tribute before his statue at the Pier Head and his grave at Paddington Cemetery, in London’s Mill Hill, on Sunday.
His younger brother Albie, prevented by ill health from attending either, maintained that interest in such classics as Halfway To Paradise and Wondrous Place remained undiminished.
“It’s not a resurgence of interest in him – it’s been sustained and has never gone away,” said Albie, who had ’60s charts success under his own rock alter-ego, Jason Eddy. “His music just keeps going on and on. Stuff comes out nowadays and it’s gone before you know it. But his stays on because of the quality of the tunes.”
The story of Ronald Wycherley’s is a classic one.
The 18-year-old Mersey tug boat deckhand performed an impromptu audition for the top pop impresario Larry Parnes, in the dressing room of the now demolished Essoldo Theatre, Birkenhead, on October 1, 1958.
He was immediately thrust on the stage to join a bill which included Marty Wilde and the John Barry Seven. Afterwards, he was signed on the spot by Parnes, who gave him his stage name and added him to the rest of the tour. The rest is history. With his stylish good looks and fine voice, he became Britain’s answer to American idols such as Eddie Cochran and the hits followed.
His career at the top, however, was relatively short-lived due to ill health and a change in musical fashions.
In 1981, his career appeared to be taking an upturn when he signed a new deal with Polydor.
But his health was rapidly deteriorating, the prolonged rheumatic fever which had incapacitated him as a child being a factor in the fatal heart attack that killed him on January 28, 1983.
Unlike many of his pop contemporaries from the early ’60s, though, his reputation has grown and he is now widely regarded as one of the finest rock ’n’ roll singers this country has ever produced. The current massive TV publicity campaign for the anniversary CD and DVD compilations is testimony to that,
“I’m not surprised,” said 65-year-old Albie, (pictured right with mother Jean), who is patron and honorary president of his brother’s official fan club, In Thoughts of You. “I used to play live tribute shows when I was able to and the reaction from people is till amazing.” Billy Fury's mother Jean Wicherley and brother AlbieThe anniversary itself has also brought home sombre thoughts of how much he still misses his brother.
“We were very close and he always used to ring me every couple of days to talk about things. To be truthful, he wasn’t a very happy man but he was on the trail of a comeback when he died.”
The legacy of the rheumatic fever which proved fatal to his brother has almost taken its toll on Albie, too, who has suffered with heart and kidney problems in the years since his brother’s death. But he is determined to be in attendance – along with their mother, Jean, still going strong at 87 – for Billy’s official birthday celebrations in April when he would have been 68 years old. This will begin at the statue and end with a commemorative service at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, to which all fans are invited.
Albie added: “I may have had open heart surgery and need a kidney transplant but I’ll be there because I’m a fighter.
“Keep on rockin’! “mikechapple@dailypost.co.uk |
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