Chart entered : 27 February 1959
Chart peak : 18
Number of hits : 29
We move into 1959 now, a year with almost as many goodbyes as hellos. I'll put down some musings about that in a few posts' time .
For now we welcome another Larry Parnes protégée to the charts. The former Ronald Wycherley was born in Liverpool in 1940 ( slightly earlier than Mr Starkey ). Like Bobby Darin he was afflicted with rheumatic fever as a child which shortened his lifespan. He learned the piano and guitar at school and formed his first skiffle band while working on the docks. He was also writing his own songs and in October 1958 went to the Essoldo Theatre in Birkenhead where Marty Wilde was performing hoping to interest him in his songs. When he ran through one or two of them in the dressing room Parnes persuaded him that he should perform them himself and he was added to the bill. He was signed up to Parnes' stable, given his new moniker and this self-penned tune was his first single release on Decca by which time the broad-shouldered young cat had already raised eyebrows with his suggestive stage act.
"Maybe Tomorrow " is a lovely little tune with its tumbling guitar riff and superb arrangement by Harry Robinson. The minimalist percussion, sparing clarinet interventions and wordless female chorus all frame Billy's measured vocal and make it a cracking debut for a still under-rated artist.
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