Billy Thorpe.






Tropical Totem is a Poster Gallery displaying a collection of  
Tropically themed wall art. starting at only $9.95 for instant digital downloads.
Some are FREE. Browse NOW! TROPICAL TOTEM




"I took my first breathe on March 29th, 1946 in Manchester England, but life really began for me when I heard "Sur la du pont Paris" ("Under the bridges of Paris") on the radio in Blackpool England when I was 3 or 4 years old. Somehow that syrupy, sentimental French love song with its accordions and Mantovanni style strings got inside my 4 year old head and I was hooked. 

From that moment I couldn't get enough of music. Any music. I loved it and it was in 1956 in a tiny church hall on the fringes of Brisbane, Australia, that my own music career got its start. I played my first gig at the age of 10 and within 6 months was performing regularly on local TV and doing gigs.     

 - Billy Thorpe
Source: Thorpie's WEBSITE

 Billy Thorpe was born in Manchester, England, in 1946. He 
immigrated to Australia with his family when he was nine, and settled in Brisbane, Queensland. By the time he was ten years old, Thorpie was performing on Brisbane television (billed as Little Rock Allen). He toured country areas with singer Reg Lindsay. By the time he was 15, Thorpie had worked in stage shows, variety television, clubs and even vaudeville at Brisbane's Theatre Royal with George Wallace. He also toured with the likes of Johnny O'Keefe and Col Joye. 

 In late 1963, as a seasoned 17-year-old, Thorpie moved to Sydney and joined his first band The Aztecs. The original Aztecs line-up comprised Vince Maloney (lead guitar; ex-Vibratones), Val Jones (rhythm guitar), John 'Bluey' Watson (bass; ex-Vibratones) and Col Baigent (drums). Just prior to Thorpie's arrival, The Aztecs had issued a surf instrumental single, 'Smoke and Stack'/'Board Boogie', on the Linda Lee label (January 1964). Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs became a major attraction at promoter John Harrigan's Surf City discotheque.

 Source: Thorpie's WEBSITE 








Popular posts from this blog

Col Joye says "The Bandstand "family" is still there".

Image
"I still keep in touch with the Bandstand family. I guess I talk to most of them. When I talk about Sandy Scott, Little Pattie and Judy Stone and Brian Henderson , I speak to them probably once or twice a week. It's still a family. That family thing is still there. The entertainment industry is a very strange fraternity. Even though a lot of times you don't see a lot of people for maybe 12 months, I have a group of people that are very close friends".   Source: A recent ATN 7 interview. Col Joye, is an Australian popular entertainer and entrepreneur. Joye was the first Australian rock and roll singer to have a number one record Australia-wide, and experienced a string of chart successes in the early Australian rock and roll scene. Recording as a solo artist and with his backing band The Joy Boys, which included his brothers Kevin and Keith, he enjoyed a string of hits on the local and national singles charts of Australia beginning in 1959.  Col's sing...
Read more

Sean and Sonja.

Image
Old friends of Janice Slater , Sean Cullip and Sonja Tallis were only teenagers when they combined in 1964 to form folk duo, Sean and Sonja. In 1965 they were signed to CBS and produced three very successful LP's until Sean was conscripted to serve in Vietnam in 1966. This single was off the third album of the same name from 1966. In 1968, they reunited and played the circuits until 1974. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sonja Tallis is an Australian actress, singer, and drama teacher. Sonja Tallis began her showbiz career as a folk singer, touring as part of a duo called "Sean & Sonja", before moving onto acting. After acting in serial The Young Doctors, she had a small role in Sons and Daughters, before going onto her best-known role, as top dog Nora Flynn in Prisoner. She played Nora for six months in 1985. She went on to a regular role in the short-lived Crawford's series Prime Time in 1986, and has also appeared in Home and Away and M...
Read more

JOHNNY O'KEEFE "Real Wild Child" (LP Cover In Detail).

Image
Front Cover Download Hi Res Image JOHNNY O'KEEFE Bill Haley and The Comets were a huge influence on the rise of a  "Real Wild Child" "Johnny O'Keefe was a young man of music who wrote Show-World" history right across the Commonwealth of Australia " . It's difficult to describe Johnny's many  talents  an artist, producer, composer, compere and later Australia's No.1 TV personality. Just what made Johnny tick and what was the secret of his effervescent success? Johnny's story goes back to the momentous days when Bill Haley introduced Rock and Rollto Australia by his triumphant tour in 1957. In those days Johnny was just another up and  going  pop artist, but even then, dispensing the kind of music that caused teenagers to attend his dances in droves"  source: back cover 1. Rock Time  2. Shake Baby Shake 3. That'll Be Alright 4. I Ain't Gonna Do It   5. Ready For You 6. Don't You Know 7. You Excite Me  ...
Read more