june 26

Today, it's the birthday of Georgie Fame, which is as real a name as you'd expect it to be. Born Clive Powell, he started as a piano player on the early rock n' roll circuit in Britain, inheriting his backing band when they were all fired from backing up 50's rocker Billy Fury. Absorbing the beats of ska, blues, jazz, and Motown that he played in Soho nightclubs, he gave up piano for a Hammond organ, and found his sound.
He hit his stride as a solo artist in the Mod 60's, with three Top 10's; he even got them across the pond. In the 70's, he got the wife of a Marquess pregnant; she divorced, and her marriage to Fame lasted 20 years, until her death.
In the 80's and 90's, he played with artists like Bill Wyman and Van Morrison; today, he still plays out, alongside his sons.
Since it's summer, I'll throw in a clip of "Yeh Yeh", the song that ended the Beatles' 1964 streak of number 1's. A jazzy number, great to dance to on the road...



yeh yeh