[BITList] Sound, and Fury

[John Feltham]

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Fury,  Billy  [real name Ronald Wycherley]  (1940-1983), singer and  
songwriter, was born on 17 April 1940 at 126 Smithdown Road, Garston,  
Liverpool, the elder son of Albert Edward Wycherley, a shoe repairer,  
and his wife, Sarah Jane (known as Jean), nee Homer. He first attended  
St Silas's infant school and, after leaving Wellington Road secondary  
modern school at the age of fifteen, worked as a rivet thrower in an  
engineering factory and as a deckhand on a tugboat in the Mersey  
estuary. He was fascinated by rock'n'roll music and taught himself to  
play guitar and to write songs. He occasionally performed in public as  
part of the Formby Sniffle [sic] Group under the name Stean Wade.

In 1958 Ronald sent a tape of six compositions to the rock'n'roll  
impresario Larry Parnes, who invited him to play them backstage at the  
Birkenhead Essoldo to the singer Marty Wilde. As a result he was given  
a spot in that night's show and was signed to a contract by Parnes,  
who gave him the stage name Billy Fury. After being turned down by  
Marty Wilde's recording company, Philips, he was given a recording  
contract by Decca and in 1959 made his first hit recording, his own  
composition 'Maybe tomorrow'. This was followed by three more self- 
written hits: 'Margo', 'Colette', and 'That's love'. But the most  
acclaimed of his early recordings was The Sound of Fury (1960), a long- 
playing album that featured Fury's singing and Joe Brown's guitar  
playing in a convincing imitation of the American rockabilly sound.

Recognizing the potential impact of Fury's Elvis Presley-influenced,  
hip-swivelling, and at times highly suggestive stage act, the  
television producer Jack Good featured him on his shows Oh Boy!, Boy  
Meets Girls, and Wham! In 1959 he made his acting debut, playing a  
Teddy boy in Strictly for Sparrows, a television play by Ted Willis.  
Fury undertook concert tours frequently in the early 1960s but toned  
down his stage act after the curtain was dropped during his  
performance at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, in October 1959, swapping  
his bomber jacket and cowboy boots for a gold lame suit and smart  
shoes. At one stage Parnes briefly considered hiring the Beatles as  
Billy Fury's backing group. Instead, Parnes formed the Blue Flames,  
led by pianist and organist Georgie Fame. After leaving Fury in 1962,  
the Blue Flames became a pioneer of the rhythm and blues movement in  
London. Fury's later supporting groups were the Tornados and the  
Gamblers.

 From 1960 Decca decided that Fury should record versions of American  
hits rather than his own compositions. Among these were 'One thousand  
stars' (1961), 'Halfway to paradise' (1961), 'Jealousy' (1961), and  
'It's only make believe' (1964). With musical arrangements by Ivor  
Raymonde, both 'Halfway to paradise' and 'Jealousy' earned silver  
discs for sales of 250,000 copies. His last major hit was the romantic  
ballad 'In thoughts of you' in 1965, the year in which he made his  
only appearance on television in the United States and his only  
appearance in pantomime-Aladdin at the New Theatre, Oxford. He starred  
in two light comedy musical films, Play it Cool (1962, directed by  
Michael Winner) and I Gotta Horse (1965, directed by Kenneth Hume).

Fury's popularity, and that of many contemporaries, was affected by  
the arrival of a new generation of Liverpool musicians led by the  
Beatles. In an attempt to capitalize on their success he recorded  
versions of two songs associated with the new groups ('Glad all over'  
and 'Hippy hippy shake') for the US market. He signed a new recording  
contract with EMI's Parlophone label and issued eleven singles between  
1966 and 1968. Most were undistinguished. He formed his own record  
company, Fury, in 1971 to release his own work and that of rock'n'roll  
singer Shane Fenton (later Alvin Stardust) and others. He returned to  
the stage in the next decade, appearing at the London Rock'n'Roll  
Festival in August 1972. In the same year he starred with David Essex  
and Ringo Starr in That'll Be the Day, a nostalgic film set in a 1950s  
holiday camp in which Fury played a rock star named Stormy Tempest. In  
1974 he took part in a rock'n'roll revival tour with Marty Wilde and  
others and in 1978 he re-recorded his early hits for the K-Tel company  
in order to raise money following his being declared bankrupt, having  
apparently become the victim of unscrupulous management. He returned  
to recording in 1981 and his final album, The One and Only, was  
released posthumously.

Fury had suffered intermittent health problems following a bout of  
rheumatic fever at the age of six which damaged his heart valves. In  
the latter part of his life he spent much of his time on his farm on  
the Surrey-Sussex border, turning a swimming pool into a bird  
sanctuary. In the 1970s he purchased a 100 acre farm near Llandovery  
in north Wales, where he bred horses and sheep and indulged his  
interest in ornithology. His personal life was somewhat complicated:  
an eight-year relationship with Audrey Valentine (Lee) Middleton (b.  
1937) ended in 1967 (she subsequently married the disc jockey Kenny  
Everett). There followed a short-lived marriage (from 31 May 1969) to  
Lee's friend Judith Hall, a fashion model. The last twelve years of  
his life were shared with Lisa Rosen, a music publisher.

During the 1970s Fury twice underwent major heart surgery, and in  
March 1982 he collapsed, suffering from paralysis and temporary  
blindness. He recovered, but died of a heart attack in St Mary's  
Hospital, Harrow Road, Westminster, London, on 28 January 1983 and was  
buried on 4 February at Paddington new cemetery, Mill Hill, London. A  
tribute concert was held at the Beck Theatre, Hayes, to raise funds  
for the Billy Fury Memorial Fund for Research into Heart Disease. Fury  
was one of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars, and his music, which has  
had numerous CD reissues since his untimely death, continues to  
inspire a loyal following.

Dave Laing

Sources  P. Hardy and D. Laing, Faber companion to 20th-century  
popular music (1995) + S. Leigh and J. Firminger, Halfway to paradise:  
Britpop, 1955-1962 (1996) + D. McAleer, Hit parade heroes: British  
beat before the Beatles (1993) + J. Rogan, Starmakers and Svengalis:  
the history of British pop management (1988) + b. cert. + d. cert. +  
DNB + The Times (29 Jan 1983) + 'The Billy Fury Story', www.billyfury.co.uk 
, Nov 2001
Archives  FILM BFI NFTVA, Omnibus, BBC1 12 Oct 1998 + BFI NFTVA,  
performance footage SOUND BL NSA, 'Like I have never been gone: the  
Billy Fury story', BBC Radio 2, 25 Jan 1998, H9642/1 + BL NSA,  
documentary recording + BL NSA, performance recording
Likenesses  H. Hammond, photograph, 1960, NPG [see illus.] ·  
photographs, 1962-8, Hult. Arch.
Wealth at death  under £40,000: probate, 21 July 1986, CGPLA Eng. &  
Wales