The beginnings of Georgie Fame started on June 26, 1943 when he was
born as Clive Powell in Leigh, Lancashire. By 1957, at the age of 14,
he had joined a local pop group called the Dominoes, as a pianist. In
1959 the group won a talent contest put on by bandleader Rory
Blackwell, at which point Blackwell offered Clive a job playing piano
with his band. Clive accepted, and soon after moved into a London flat,
which he shared with members of the instrumental group Nero and the
Gladiators. It was during a routine show with Blackwell's band at the
Islington Ballroom (where the band had a residency) that Clive was
spotted by songwriter Lionel Bart, who urged him to audition for beat
group/record mogul Larry Parnes. Well, Parnes liked what he saw and
snapped up Clive as his new 'discovery', and then changed his name to
Georgie Fame. Most of Parnes' talent roster also had odd names; Marty
Wild, Vince Eager, and Duffy Power for examples. 'Georgie' was employed
as a back-up musician for many of these singers as well as for touring
American artists like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. Georgie then
joined Billy Fury's first back-up band, The Blue Flames, with whom he
stayed until late 1961. At the end of that year he switched from piano
to organ and formed his own Blue Flames with Colin Green (guitar), Mick
Eve (sax), Tony Makins (bass), and Red Reece (drums). The Blue Flames
line-up, however, was fairly flexible and changed throughout their
career.
By 1963, Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames were playing R&B and had
switched managers to Rik Gunnel. Andrew Oldham became the publicist.
'63 turned out to be an important year for Georgie when the group
became the first resident act at London's subterranean Flamingo Club,
on Wardour street in Soho. The Flamingo, owned by Ember Records boss Jeffrey Kruger, was one of the most famous
R&B/jazz clubs at the time, and was frequented by the hippest of
London's mohair-clad modernists, as well as black U.S. servicemen and
West Indian immigrants. By the summer of that year, Georgie Fame had
added another saxophone and a conga player to the lineup and was
drawing on a number of influences including Jimmy Smith, Mose Allison,
James Brown, Motown, R&B and the ska/bluebeat rhythm (which was
probably picked up from the West Indian immigrants at The Flamingo).
The band's song list of R&B faves like 'Night Train', 'Get On The Right
Track, Baby', 'Do The Dog', 'Green Onions' and 'Shop Around' packed the
club most nights and gained Georgie Fame a sort of cult following among
London's booming mod underground.
With all of the mop-top Beatle-types battling each other for a little
chart action (nothing against the Beatles), Georgie Fame and The Blue
Flames' hip 'Hammond and Horns' sound was indeed an alternative to the
Rickenbacker/Hofner onslaught. Georgie also became something of a
style-setter in his madras and seersucker jackets. The group was cool,
sophisticated, and sharp as hell, which made it no surprise·when they
became favorites of the mods and one of the most popular white R&B acts
on the circuit.
With this growing army of supporters, Georgie Fame was finally signed
to a record contract by Columbia in 1963. The first three singles,
released in 1964, 'Do The Dog', 'Do Re Mi', and 'Bend A Little', didn't
go very far. This isn't to say that they were bad at all, in fact the
B-side of 'Do Re Mi' .was an amazing rendition of 'Green Onions'. Also
released in '64 was an e.p. titled 'Rhythm and Blue Beat'. The first
track on this record was a cover of 'Madness', which leads one to
wonder if Georgie Fame anticipated 2-tone by about 15 years (?). In any
case, this record didn't go very far either.
But Georgie didn't have to wait too long for Fame, because in December
of '64 his cover of Jon Hendricks' 'Yeh Yeh' hit number one on the
charts in the U.K. and was a minor hit in the U.S. as well which made
Georgie Fame big news at the age of 21. The success of 'Yeh Yeh' also
earned Georgie an appearance on Ready Steady Go! to promote the record.
Around this time an album was released- a live set from The Flamingo
Club titled, appropriately enough, 'R&B At The Flamingo'.
The next two singles, 'Something' (Oct. '65), and 'In The Meantime'
(Dec. '65) didn't equal the success of 'Yeh Yeh', but 'In The Meantime'
did make the top twenty. Perhaps people were thinking that Georgie Fame
was just another one-hit-wonder, because it was another six months
before his next single, 'Get Away', was released in June 1966.
But once again, it went straight to number one and everyone knew that
he was back. 'Get Away' was a smash, as was the album 'Sweet Things'-
released around the same time. However, many of Georgie Fame's original
mod followers had left him because they felt that he was becoming too
commercial. Even though a drug bust had made him cooler in the street
credibility department, that didn't keep many of these fans, who
preferred his earlier, more authentic R&B sound.
After this second number one, Georgie Fame disbanded the Blue Flames in
September 1966 and decided to go solo. This pretty much signaled his
move away from strict R&B to a more mainstream pop approach (not that
'Get Away' and 'Sweet Things' weren't in that direction anyway). He continued to have a string of hits with a version
of Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny' in October 1966, and Billy Stewart's 'Sitting In The Park' in December 1966.
Georgie then switched over to CBS records and continued the hits with
'Because I Love You' in April 1967, and a third number one with 'The
Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde' (December '67), which was the theme song for
the movie of the same name. This song was also a hit in the U.S. and
can occasionally be heard on oldies stations.
After this, his music, and consequently his career, went downhill. He
teamed up with Alan Price for a variety show act. In recent years he
has spent time writing jingles.
When he was in his prime, there wasn't another British artist working
in the same field that could touch Georgie Fame for great R&B sounds.
Georgie's music has been re-issued and is available at Amazon and on
iTunes.
