Georgie Fame
b. Clive Powell, 26 June 1943, Leigh, Lancashire, England. Entrepreneur Larry Parnes, gave the name to this talented organist during the early '60s following a recommendation from songwriter Lionel Bart. Parnes already had a Power, a Wilde, an Eager and a Fury. All he now needed was Fame. It took a number of years before Georgie and his band the Blue Flames had commercial success, although he was a major force in the popularizing of early R&B, bluebeat and ska at London's famous Flamingo club. The seminal RHYTHM AND BLUES AT THE FLAMINGOwas released in 1964. Chart success came later that year with a UK number 1, Yeh Yeh. Fame's jazzy nasal delivery, reminiscent of Mose Alison, made this record one of the decade's classic songs. He continued with another eleven hits, including two further UK chart toppers, Get Away and The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, the latter of which was his only US Top 10 single in 1968. The former maintained his jazz feel, which continued on such striking mood pieces as Sunny and Sitting In The Park. Thereafter, he veered towards straight pop. His recent change of record labels had attempted to re-market him and at one stage teamed him with the Harry South Big Band. While his albums showed a more progressive style his singles became lightweight, the nadir being when he teamed up with Alan Price to produce some catchy pop songs. Fame has also played straight jazz at Ronnie Scott's club, performed a tribute to Hoagy Carmichaelwith singer Annie Ross, and has sung over Esso advertisements. It was four years before a new album appeared. In recent times Georgie has been content touring with Van Morrison as keyboard player, given a brief cameo to perform the occasional hit. During the renaissance of the Hammond B3 organ (an instrument that Fame had originally pioneered in the London clubs) during the jazz boom of the early '90s it was announced that Georgie had recorded a new album COOL CAT BLUES, its subsequent release to favourable reviews and regular concert appearances indicates a new phase. The album was recorded to the highest standards and featured smooth contributions from Steve Gadd, Robben Ford, Richard Tee, Jon Hendricks and Boz Scaggs. A reggae reworking of Yeh Yeh and a graceful version of Carmichael's Georgia are but two outstanding tracks. Van Morrison duets with Fame on the former's classic, Moondance. He followed this with THE BLUES AND ME, an album of a similar high standard.