447 Goodbye Billy Fury - Forget Him

Chart  entered  : 4  June  1983

Chart  peak : 59

A  sad  one  here  as  Billy  had   passed  away  at  the  start  of  the  year.

Billy's  biggest  hits  fell  mainly  in  the  pre-Beatles  era  with  "Jealousy  "  reaching  number  2  in  1961   but  he  could  still  get  his  records  into  the  Top  40  as  late  as  1966  and  Parlophone   kept  faith  in  him, releasing  his  singles  until  1970.  The   seventies  were  a  rough  decade  for  Billy. He  made  few  records  and  two  instances   of   open  heart  surgery  in  1972 and 1976,  following  on  from  his  bouts  of   rheumatic  fever  as  a  child,  restricted  his  ability  to  tour. He  dabbled  in  acting  with  a  part  in  That'll  Be  The  Day He  lived  on  a  farm  in  Wales  and  became  interested  in  wildlife  conservation. In  1978  he  was  declared  bankrupt  due  to  unpaid  taxes  and  lost  his  song  publishing  royalties. In  March  1981  he  almost  died  after  collapsing  on  his  farm.

  Nevertheless   the  success  of  Shakin  Stevens  prompted  thoughts  of  a  recording  comeback  and   he  signed  for  Polydor.   Although  his  first  single  in  seven  years  didn't  chart  it  attracted  the  attention  of  Shaky's  producer  Stuart  Colman  who  started  working  with  him  and  two  singles  became  minor  hits  in  1982  peaking  at  57  and  58 .  Unfortunately  Radio  One  wasn't  interested  in  any one  who  pre-dated  the  Beatles  ; that  was  Radio  Two  territory.  and  they  were  completely  ignored  by  the  more  popular  station.

In  January  1983  Billy  made  a  live  appearance  performing  some  of  his  hits   to  be  recorded  for  a  Channel  4  show  Unforgettable .  He  looked  fragile  but  his  voice  seemed  to  have  held  up. He  then  returned  to  the  studio  for  further  work  on  an  album  with  Colman  but  four  days  later  collapsed  at  his  home   and  died  the  next  day  aged  42.

"Forget  Him"  was  issued  posthumously  though  not  from  the  sessions  with  Colman.  It  was  a cover  of  the  1963  Bobby  Rydell   hit  written  by  Tony  Hatch  under  the  pseudonym  "Mark  Anthony".  Billy's  version  seems  to  belong  in  the  seventies  with  its  soft  rock  electric  piano  and  Osmonds  harmonies   and  is  a  perfectly  acceptable  MOR  pop  number. There's  not  a  great  deal  else  to  say  about  it  except  that  it  maintained  the  pattern  of  BIlly's  comeback  releases  by  peaking  at  number  59.

The  album  with  Colman  "The  One  And  Only"  was  also  released  posthumously  and  charted  at  56. No  more  singles  were  released  from  it  and  there  was  nothing  left  in  the  vaults  so  this  post  wraps  up  quickly. In  1999  his  1960  hit  "Wondrous  Place"  was  used  in  a  TV  ad  for  the  Toyota  Yaris  but  if  it  was  released  as  a  single  it  didn't  chart.  Documentaries, a  musical, tribute  shows  , a  statue  in  Liverpool  and  a  road  in  Camden   have  kept  his  memory  alive  in  the  ensuing  decades.