Billy Thorpe

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Billy Thorpe
Billy Thorpe
Background information
Birth name	William Richard Thorpe
Born	March 29, 1946
Origin	Manchester, Lancashire
Genre(s)	Rock n Roll
Occupation(s)	Rock singer
Years active	1960s-Today
Label(s)	Atlantic, Festival, Mushroom

Billy Thorpe (born William Thorpe, 29 March 1946 in Manchester, Lancashire) is a reknowned Australian musician. He earned great success as the lead singer of Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs. In 1977 he came to the US, and in 1979 released the epic rock song "Children of the Sun".

Contents 1 Introduction 2 The Begining 3 Starting Out 4 1965 5 1966 6 1967 - 1968 7 1969 8 1970 9 1971 10 1972 11 1973 12 1974 13 1975 - 76 14 1977-present 15 Singles

[edit] Introduction

There are two distinct phases to the career of Billy Thorpe and of the various line-ups of The Aztecs which supported him. Billy established himself in Australian music-lovers' conciousnesses as a clean cut teen pin-up idol and sustained this image through much of the sixties. Then, in a dramatic about-face, the hair grew longer, the amplifiers increased in volume and power, and, ushered in by the famous Sunbury music festival, Thorpie became Australia's first and most perennial hard rock demi-god, creating a legend which has spanned three decades.

[edit] The Begining

William Richard Thorpe was born in Manchester, England and emigrated with his family to Brisbane in the fifties. The precocious Billy participated in amateur talent quests as a yodeller and sang at local dances. He performed as a youth under the pseudonym 'Little Rock Allen', to avoid potential hassles from the child protection agencies, and played on bills supporting the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and our own rock 'n' roll phenomenon, Johnny O'Keefe. The yodelling quality to Billy's voice can be heard in the vocal style of some of his early recordings.

Billy moved to Sydney in early 1963 and soon auditioned for singing work at the premier beat-music venue of the day, Surf City in Kings Cross. His backing band for these auditions was called The Aztecs. They had formed from the remnants of two popular Sydney surf-instrumental outfits, The Vibratones and The Sierras. The coupling of the musically-accomplished group with Billy's obvious charismatic appeal and stage presence impressed the musicians themselves, and quickly gained the attention of entrepreneurs keen to spot "the next big thing". Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs rapidly became a popular drawcard on the burgeoning Sydney beat-dance circuit, and set about honing their sound.

The group was offered a recording arrangement with the small independent label Linda Lee, and in the closing stages of the year recorded what was to become the first single.

[edit] Starting Out

The first recorded output from the band appeared in April of 1964. Blue Day was written by rhythm guitarist Tony Barber (not to be confused with the well-known game-show host), and displayed his nascent songwriting skills. While hardly an earth-shattering debut (a pedestrian beat-influenced song with tinny recording, dominated by Thorpe's reedy whine), the record garnered moderate notice on Sydney radio, and actually became a proper hit when it was re-released in the wake of The Aztecs' subsequent breakthrough.

It was the follow-up that set the benchmark. Their cover of Lieber & Stoller's Poison Ivy is rightfully honoured as Australia's first ever 'beat boom' hit, reaching number one on the national charts, and remaining an oft-compiled classic of the era. As happened with so many other Aussie cover versions of songs made known by significant British groups of the time, The Aztecs' version of this Coasters original made a mockery of the record upon which it was based - a half-hearted Rolling Stones EP rendition.

They signed with Albert Productions, an emerging music company led by young publisher/producer Ted Albert. The Aztecs became the frontrunners in a stable that would go on to include such quality acts as The Easybeats, The Missing Links and The Throb. They followed up the huge success of Poison Ivy with a series of strongly-charting releases, among them Mashed Potato; (notable mainly for its gormless, repetitive three-word lyric), and the confidently slinky Searchers cover, Sick & Tired.

By the time The Beatles hit our shores in June, absolute pandemonium had become the order of the day at Aztecs shows around the country. The group actually kept the Fabs themselves from chart poll position while the moptops' tour was in full swing! Indeed, John Lennon summoned "this Billy Thorpe character" for a meeting which took place at the Fabs' hotel, The Sheraton in Kings Cross, the teenage Billy apparently impressing his hosts with his precocity and charm.

Concert footage from the time shows the band barely able to complete a number without wild stage invasions from hysterical fans. And while The Aztecs epitomised the polish and professionalism developing within the biggest acts of the day, with their natty matching suits and menacing-looking Burns Bison guitars - not to mention the whole band's deft mastery of the legendary Stomp dance moves! - they suffered from the same sound reinforcement inadequacies endured by all performers then. The band's amplification just could not compete with the sheer volume of the audiences' screaming abandon. If the Aztecs' musical chops suffered as a result of not being able to be heard, few seemed to mind - the concert performances remained exciting events which drew ever-increasing crowd numbers and national popularity.

Consolidating their position with appearances on such TV pop shows as Bandstand and with a strong mix of Barber-penned originals and well-chosen covers for their eponymous debut album on Parlophone the group went from strength to strength. At this stage, it could be argued that only Ray Brown & the Whispers (who had inherited the Aztecs residency at Surf City) could rival the Aztecs to any significant degree.

Towards the end of 1964, Thorpe signalled a not-so-subtle change in musical direction, with a decidedly 'MOR', string-drenched version of Judy Garland's Somewhere Over The Rainbow. With this single, the group entered 1965 with its biggest hit to date, albeit the swansong of the original Aztecs line-up.

[edit] 1965

The early part of 1965 saw 'BT & the As' continue touring to sold-out houses throughout the land, and earning a clutch of gold record awards. They supported such overseas acts as Tony Sheridan and (the late) Screaming Lord Sutch, and, notably, attracted a record 63,000 punters to a headlining performance at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl.

Then, at the height of the group's dominance, Thorpe unceremoniously jettisoned his original backing group in favour of an all-new line-up. The precise reasons for this drastic change remain unclear, although speculation over remuneration disputes continues. With the new group establishing its credentials with another MOR ballad, I Told The Brook (although its flip, the rollicking, bass-dominated Funny Face hinted that Thorpe hadn't completely abandoned his rocking roots) departing members Barber and Maloney formed the short-lived Vince & Tony Two, before Vince was summoned to England to join the emerging new Bee Gees line-up.

The Aztecs MkII continued to ply the national concert circuit and released another album, supported by strong chart entries for a batch of singles which mainly mined the soppy ballad vein introduced with Rainbow. The advent of such fresh and vital new bands as The Easybeats, The Twilights and The Masters Apprentices (among many others) could not dampen the ardour of Aztecs fans, and the group continued to enjoy a fervent following throughout the year.

[edit] 1966

1966 is notable for Billy as the year he expanded his horizons to become an all-round entertainer. Backed by the "Mark II" Aztecs, he notched up further hits with Twilight Time, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Love Letters and Word For Today.

On March 27, the Seven Network broadcast the first episode of It's All Happening!, a one-hour live-to-air showcase for Billy and band (augmented by Rocky Thomas and Tony Buchanan on brass), as well as weekly guest stars (local luminaries like The Easys, Ray Brown and Normie Rowe, alongside visiting acts such as Helen Shapiro, Neil Sedaka and Bobby Rydell). The show was a non-stop musical feast, with Thorpie the MC aided and fetchingly abetted by a phalanx of go-go dancers, and the band precariously mounted on a scaffolding set. The rowdy 400-strong audience enthusiastically propelled the show through the sound barrier, and it proved one of the better examples of the infant pop-TV genre. It's All Happening! lasted until the end of the year, its demise also marking the end of the second Aztecs grouping.

Of that second Aztecs configuration, at least two members, Johnny Dick and Teddy Toi, would go on to forge lasting individual careers in Aussie rock (notably becoming members of the Alberts' All-Stars house band), while each returned to the Aztecs fold occasionally over subsequent years.

But what began with a bang in 1964, ended with a whimper for Billy in 1966, as the vicissitudes of the evolving pop world seemed to render his style redundant. With the break-up of the Aztecs, he was left to ponder and re-assess his future...

[edit] 1967 - 1968

These two years marked a holding pattern for Thorpie. By various accounts, he had become disenchanted with his career direction, and wanted to explore the more radical forms of music emerging from the UK and US. It was as though he had already acknowledged that his cutesy, middle-of-the-road image and musical approach had no place among the new psychedelic, blues and 'head-music' styles now finding favour with fans in the latter half of the sixties.

It's quite likely that Billy's widely-publicised bankruptcy and other personal upheavals didn't help his mood during this period, and in late '68 he retreated to Melbourne to lick his wounds and start preparations for phase two of his remarkable career.

With one largely ignored '67 single, Dream Baby, Billy began the process of breaking the shackles of his 60s ('phase one') pop persona, to re-emerge shortly thereafter with the template of his sensational 70s ('phase two') resurgence as the macho, bearded, long-haired, blueswailing rocker we have come to revere.

[edit] 1969

1969 began with Billy being offered a recording deal in England by expatriate Australian entrepreneur, Robert Stigwood (The Bee Gees, Cream). While rehearsing a backing band in Melbourne that would form the basis for the new Aztecs, the guitarist withdrew, leaving Thorpe to assume lead guitar role at short notice. Thus began the blueprint for the astonishing new sound that was shortly to be introduced to an unsuspecting but enthusiastic public.

As it transpired, the overseas offer wasn't taken up. Instead, Billy proceeded to build his new band and sound, absorbing the many exciting developments and influences in Melbourne's growing progressive scene:

Melbourne in 1969 was unbelievable. Never seen anything like it. I got there and realised I was a pop star with a lot to learn. I thought - fuck me! Why am I going to England when it's all happening here? I went to Melbourne for two weeks and stayed eight years". The first recording fruits of this newfound musical style appeared in '69 with the determinedly blues-based single Rock Me Baby / Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. The a-side was to become a mainstay of The Aztecs' live set and one of its most popular songs for years. With plaited ponytail, tight jeans and a new blues-based outlook, Thorpie and his new Aztecs blitzed Melbourne's 'heads' with an explosive presentation that forever laid to rest his clean-cut 60s pop image. His and the band's '69 resurgence was to gel shortly into the legendary entity that was to dominate Oz Rock for the better part of the 70s...

[edit] 1970

To paraphrase Murray Engleheart's liner notes for the Lock Up Your Mothers anthology, the next recorded instalment of OzRock brutality was an ambitious jam-filled album called The Hoax Is Over, which was recorded in September 1970 with new drummer Kevin Murphy. The album was an unequivocal signal of the Aztecs'new direction, containing only four tracks, three of which were Thorpe originals. The LP is dominated by two extended tracks: on Side 1 it's the Aztec's version of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's Gangster Of Love, which clocks in at a whopping 24:35!. On Side 2 it's Billy own Mississippi, (19:35). According to Thorpe, the band (at this time comprising he, Murphy, Warren Morgan, Lobby Loyde and bassist Paul Wheeler), was flying on LSD while hapless engineer Ernie Rose just let the tapes roll. The result heralded the fully-fledged arrival of the Aztecs mark III, par excellence.Live shows at Melbourne's premier venues like Thumpin' Tum and Catcher, consolidated the band's reputation and drew solid enthusiastic response.

Not all the Aztecs' gigs in those early months were so well recieved, however. Away from their home base in Melbourne (where they were the undisputed kings of the booming local pub-rock scene) the Aztecs encountered stiff - and sometimes brutal - resistance to their new style. Punters who turned up expecting to see well-groomed young men in neat suits, performing Poison Ivy and Mashed Potato, sometimes reacted violently when confronted by the raw, aggressive blues and crushing volume of the new Aztecs. One particularly nasty episode, which Billy recounts in the liner notes to Lock Up Your Mothers, occurred when the Aztecs played in the country town of Queanbeyan, just north of Canberra, in early 1970. A llarge fight erupted after the gig, and the band were forced to escape by car, but were chased down the highway towards Canberra by a group of hooligans, who pursued them at speeds in excess of 100mph, firing shots after them! The Aztecs sought refuge in their hotel, but the local hoons carried the fight into the hotel foyer. The resulting melee deomlished the hotel foyer and spilled out into the street, resulting in several members of the band being badly injured, as well as members of support group Fraternity, including lead singer Bon Scott, who had waded in to help. Next morning, the band was escorted out of town by police, and were warned - for their own safety - not to return.

[edit] 1971

While continuing to bludgeon Melbourne's rock cognoscenti with their power-blues repertoire, a landmark event for the band took place on 13 June 1971. A then four-piece Aztecs (Thorpe, Morgan and Wheeler, together with former 'Mickey Mouse Club' drumming prodigy, Gil "Rathead" Matthews), played at the Melbourne Town Hall. The evening's performance, including Morgan's commandeering of the huge town hall organ, was captured on the album Live At Melbourne Town Hall. Thorpie remembers:

"... to the capacity crowd of 5,000 and the band, it felt like we were standing on a pair of Boeing 747 engines. It cracked the foundations and broke windows in neighbouring buildings!" Such was what was to become the trademark of subsequent Aztecs live shows from now on. Or, as This Is Spinal Tap guitar-god Nigel Tufnel would have it: "This goes up to eleven!" By contrast though the milder, pastoral-sounding The Dawn Song was released in '71. A moderate hit, it displayed the musical diversity of Thorpe and his cohorts at this time. There was the view that the band's live power could not be adequately captured on tape, hence studio recordings like TDS which leant in other directions.

[edit] 1972

"And I know at times, I act a little haa-aayy-zz-eee-ee"...

Who of us, listening to mainstream radio in early 1972, could have escaped the refrains of this singularly captivating paean to high-living hedonism? Most People I Know(Think That I'm Crazy) had as much impact as She's So Fine, The Real Thing, I'll Be Gone and Eagle Rock, to the point where this song has become a definitive icon of Aussie Rock. It was a huge hit for Thorpie and the new Aztecs, indubitably propelled to the top of charts by the band's triumphant appearance at the legendary 1972 Sunbury Music Festival. Thorpe himself sees this as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian music, thanks to the promoters' decision to feature an all-Australian lineup, rather than relying on imported stars..

While by no means the first of Australia's outdoor rock festivals, Sunbury was to assume the mantle of "our own Woodstock". It was held at the end of January, 1972, over the Australia Day long weekend. The venue was a natural amphitheatre site on farmland near Sunbury, a rural town north of Melbourne, Victoria. The Aztecs shared billing with such other prominent acts as Spectrum/Murtceps, The La De Das, Max Merritt & the Meteors, SCRA, Pirana, Greg Quill's Country Radio and many others. But the main event of the festival was undoubtedly Thorpie's triumphant appearance! The exhortation from the stage to "suck more piss!" has passed into folklore, as stoned and drunk punters, enjoying the ambience of a weekend of hard music, topless frolicking, easy drugs and free love, adopted THORPIE! as the king of Oz Rock (whatever that is/was), and elevated him and his powerhouse band to the status of legend - a status Billy has never quite lived down.

Evidence of The Aztecs' incendiary set, and those of the other performers, could be enjoyed on the double-album recording, Sunbury [EMI-HMV SOXLP 7561/2], and also on the film made of the event, Sunbury [Video release: Siren SIRVID 100]. But a double-album collecting the Aztecs' full set, Live at Sunbury [Havoc HST 4003/4], captures our lads alone in their full glory. Complete with a splendid cartoon 3D pop-up cover, depicting the group and friends in a festival tent, smoking hookas and looking out of it (as you do). This release, with full inserts and in mint condition, is much sought after by collectors today. A quick listen to any part of the contents will confirm why...

After the release of Most People (which had become a virtual anthem among young Aussies by this time), the group set about recording a follow-up. Believe It Just Like Me railed against radio's preponderant preference for overseas playlist fodder at the time, and while it was a worthy successor (and in a similar hard rocking style) to the mega-hit, it failed to emulate the success of Most People.

Nevertheless, the plaudits earned by the band after its monumental Sunbury appearance stood it in good stead for its subsequent triumphs. Chatting with Ian 'Molly' Meldrum soon after the event, Billy observed:

"I never had any idea that the band had become this popular, but something like this really gives you an indication. It's been really worth it, coming from the beginning, it seems to have built up; coming from a hundred people to 40,000 - it's unbelievable! The point is, we don't need overseas names, this must be obvious here! The only way to promote Australian music, is to make it purely Australian music, and, I mean, it's good to bring in a group that is a good [overseas] group, but most of these festivals...I don't see why we shouldn't use our bands here". Another prominent feature that had manifested itself since Thorpe's move to Melbourne, and that by now had become synonymous with the Aztecs, was...pure volume! The band's manager, Michael Browning, coined a term that stuck: 'Aztec Energy'; describing the almost overwhelming power that the band generated from the stage. Billy had this to say about it to Go-Set's Meldrum in

==March, 1972==:

"It was loud. Everything was loud. There was so much energy it was frightening in a way. I want to get much louder but the problem is that in this country the equipment can't handle it, and it just distorts so much of the sound. Hendrix was loud but he was loud and clear".

[edit] 1973

"Gonna create a disturbance in your mind..." Thorpe's message in 1973 was without doubt loud and clear! He and the 'floating' personnel of The Aztecs commanded a pre-eminent position in Aussie rock. While artists such as Ross Wilson, Mike Rudd, Lindsay Bjerre and Gulliver Smith (to name but four of many) strove to push out and pull down boundaries in their music, it seemed somehow comforting that we continued to have Thorpie and pals providing no-nonsense, balls-out rock sustenance to the masses.

That is not to say that Billy's and the band's music lacked innovation or creativity musically. One of his tour-de-force concert staples at the time; exhilarating and provocative with its changes; was a fiercely-rocking piece called "Fuck On Stage" ("whaddaya mean I can't say fuck on stage?!') - borne out of our hero's increasingly frequent arrests and detainments for the liberal use of that very word onstage! Another original concert chestnut from the time was Mamma. Here, each member of the band excelled with a solo turn, Billy's being a scat vocal unison guitar thing, with Gil's inventive and fulsome drum underpinnings consistently exciting. The old Ike and Tina Turner standard, Ooh Poo Pah Doo, proved perhaps the most memorable of the classic 'Sunbury Aztecs' live song list, involving as it did a prolonged audience-band call and response interlude, a gleeful threat by the perpetrator (Thorpe) to "create a disturbance in your mind", culminating in some of the rawest, lewdest heavy blues jamming that even the most jaded of audiences had witnessed.

The band repeated their festival success at Sunbury '73 and enjoyed another triumph by again selling out the Myer Bowl in Melbourne. This particular coup supplied added poignancy after a couple of abortive excursions the band made to the UK earlier in the year. One reason the Marquee gigs in London are said to have failed is...that volume! It was too much for the Brits, apparently!

On the recording front, Billy was certainly not idle in 1973. Not for one moment setting aside the Aztecs' busy performing schedule, he still found time to collaborate on quite a fine little album, it has to be said, with his long-time friend and at that time housemate, Warren "Pig" Morgan. The resultant album, "Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy", is well worth seeking out, as is its pumping lead-off single, Captain Straightman.

Another curiosity of the time is the single Billy and Pig co-wrote and produced, with full Aztec backing, for the eccentric soul-blues singer Wendy Saddington. Looking Through My Window is a sensitively rendered epic ballad, well worth seeking out.

In August , Billy switched record labels from the independent Havoc to the newly-opened local arm of Atlantic Records, releasing the singles Movie Queen and Don't You Know You're Changing? in quick succession. Although '73's latter bunch of singles were ostensibly solo Thorpe releases, they nonetheless featured most of the extant Aztecs line-up (with help from Chain pals Phil Manning and Barry Sullivan) and served as appetisers for his 1974 offerings.

One particularly notable, innovative, and ultimately monumental Aztec event in 1973; mounted in the wake of the band's incredible popularity and dominance at this time; was the band's farewell concert at the brand new Sydney Opera House. The members were by this time going in different musical directions and this gala concert was staged as an extravagant bow-out.

The concert, the first rock performance at the Opera House, was recorded and released in 1973 as a double album. The show consisted of three one-hour sets, the first acoustic, the second, an elaborately-staged concept suite called No More War. The third set was an all-in all-star jam, bringing Lobby Loyde, Kevin Murphy and Johnny Dick back into the fold for the first time in years.

Before disbanding, the Aztecs recorded one more album for Atlantic.

[edit] 1974

Right at the beginning of '74, the More Arse Than Class LP came out, to cries of derision from the Fred Niles of the day about the album's title, not to mention its disgusting cover, folding out to show the naked, hairy posteriors of four young men! The music on the record was where the true arse was though - it kicked it! It remains the Aztecs most successful studio album, and apart from the undiluted power of its music, is a strong testament to the skills of erstwhile Aztec drummer/producer/engineer/archivist Gil Matthews. Also notable is the return on bass duties of Billy's old cohort Teddy Toi.

[edit] 1975 - 76

Billy's recorded output over the next two years consisted of two well-received, ostensibly solo albums, "Million Dollar Bill" and " Pick Me Up & Play Me Loud". The breezy, soulful single, "It's Almost Summer" was also a medium-sized hit. He enlisted the help of former Aztecs Matthews, Morgan and Toi, together with new guitarist and songwriter, Billy Kristian. Billy continued to tour with this basic line-up and remained a popular drawcard

[edit] 1977-present

Over the years since the early 70s, Billy has written and produced tracks and has sat in on sessions for a number of artists, among them, Jeff St John, Ronnie Charles, The Wild Cherries, Angry Anderson and Wendy Saddington. He also appeared in the Australian stage production of Pete Townshend's rock opera, Tommy.

In the late 'Seventies, Billy decided to pursue this collaborative interest further, and moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he established a highly successful toy wholesaling business. Hooking up with such notable US sessioneers as Leland Sklar and Earl Slick, he released a series of ambitious concept albums, like Children Of The Sun, 21st Century Man, Stimulation (a particular favourite of this author's) and East Of Eden's Gate. He also showed up in Mick Fleetwood's hobby band, Zoo, and returned occasionally to Australia for well-received spot appearances, often with a reunion of his old Aztecs pals.

In the early 90s, Thorpe and family came back to Oz for good. A rejuvenated interest in Billy's amazing body of work led to the successful launch of a 3CD retrospective, Lock Up Your Mothers and national concerts again reuniting the classic Sunbury Aztecs line-up. Billy continues to record and has found a lucrative sideline in advertising composition (like the "Friday Night Football" TV promo for the 9 network). He has also authored two highly entertaining (and essential) autobiographical books, and for someone who has done all he has in his life, looks remarkably trim and youthful for his 50-something years.

But the final word on this remarkable performer should perhaps come from one of his major fans - another OzRock icon - Angry Anderson:

"I've dreamt about that voice. I worship at the temple of that voice". Amen and Ooh Poo Pah Doo!

Interview with the Great Billy Thopre transcript

[edit] Singles

Singles 4/64 Blue Day / You Don't Love Me [Linda Lee LL 006] 6/64 Poison Ivy / Broken Things Linda Lee [LL 007] 6/64 Blue Day / You Don't Love Me [Festival FK 650] 8/64 Mashed Potato / Don't Cha Know [Parlophone A 8119] 10/64 Sick & Tired / About Love [Parlophone A 8131] 11/64 Smoke & Stack / Board Boogie [Linda Lee HK 765] 12/64 Over The Rainbow / That I Love [Parlophone A 8136] 5/65 I Told The Brook / Funny Face [Parlophone A 8158] 7/65 Twilight Time / My Girl Josephine [Parlophone A 8165] 9/65 Hallelujah I Love Her So / Baby Hold Me Close [Parlophone A 8170] 10/65 Poison Ivy / Blue Day [Linda Lee HK 1116] 11/65 Love Letters / Dancing In The Street [Parlophone A 8180] 6/66 Word For Today / The New Breed [Parlophone A 8208] 10/66 I've Been Wrong Before / Wee Bit More Of Your Lovin' [Parlophone A 8220] 9/67 Dream Baby / You Don't Live Twice [Festival FK 2015] 3/70 Good Morning Little School Girl / Rock Me Baby [Festival FK 3638] ?/71 The Dawn Song / Time to Live [Havoc H 1003] 2/72 Most People I Know / Regulation Three Pufff [Havoc H 1012] 10/72 Believe It Just Like Me / Get To Hell Out of Here [Havoc H 1014] ?/73 Captain Straightman / Bow My Head [Havoc H 1019] 8/73 Movie Queen / Mame [Atlantic 10020] 8/73 Don't You Know You're Changing? / Yes I'm Tired [Atlantic 10029] 4/74 Over The Rainbow / Let's Have A Party [Atlantic 10035] ?/74 Cigarettes and Whiskey / Back Home in Australia [Atlantic 10043] 11/75 It's Almost Summer / Drive My Car [Infinity K 6202]