![]() ![]() We learned a lot about the impact of rock 'n roll on Fifties British culture, but unless you knew something about the period, you'd have imagined that Bill Haley and Billy Fury were contemporaries, which is certainly not the case historically. ![]() The program was also uncertain about its history. ![]() There were some notable absentees from the roster of people reminiscing about the era - for example, Marty Wilde or Tommy Steele, both of whom are very much alive at the time of writing. Yet the piece as a whole remained curiously uninformative about Fury's personality apart from learning about the difference between his on- and offstage personae, and his fondness for animals, we learned little about him. Several of his contemporaries, including Eager, offered their reminiscences. Alan Byron's documentary unearthed plenty of archival material of Fury's performances, as well as interviews with the singer. Thereafter he made sporadic appearances on television and in theaters until his early death at the age of 53. By the mid-Sixties he was yesterday's singer, and remained in comparative obscurity until he was asked to perform in David Puttnam's THAT'LL BE THE DAY (1973). Fury's star waned as rapidly as it had risen. In the late Fifties and early Sixties Fury was catapulted to stardom with over twenty hit singles to his credit plus innumerable television appearances. At the outset it seemed as if Fury would be providing songs for other artists but once Parnes had heard him perform, he realized that he had a new young talent on his hands. He auditioned for manager Larry Parnes at a young age, and was immediately signed up to join other young singers in the stable, including Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, and Vince Eager. Born Ronald Wycherley in 1940, Billy Fury came from a modest working class background in Liverpool, but soon displayed a talent for musicianship that got him noticed. ![]()
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