{{short description|English R&B and jazz musician (born 1943)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Georgie Fame | image = Georgie Fame.jpg | landscape = yes | caption = Fame at Concert at the Kings, 2013 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Clive Powell | alias = Georgie Fortune | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|06|26|df=yes}} | birth_place = Leigh, Lancashire, England | genre = {{hlist|Soul jazz<ref>{{cite book|title=Every Sound There Is: The Beatles' Revolver and the Transformation of Rock and Roll|first=Russell|last=Reising|date=2017|publisher=Routledge}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Anarchy|page=132|date=1965}}</ref>|R&B<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/georgie-fame-mn0000543055/discography|website=Allmusic|title=Georgie Fame biography|first=Steve|last=Huey}}</ref>|pop<ref name=allmusic />|soul<ref>{{cite book|title=Prem Rawat and Counterculture: Glastonbury and New Spiritualities|first=Ron|last=Geaves|date=2019|page=84|quote=…soul bands such as Georgie Fame…}}</ref>|jazz<ref name=allmusic />}} | occupation = {{hlist|Musician|singer}} | instrument = {{hlist|Keyboards|vocals|guitar}} | years_active = 1959–present | label = {{hlist|Columbia|Polydor|CBS|Pye}} | website = }}
'''Georgie Fame''' (born '''Clive Powell'''; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music |publisher=Virgin Books |edition=concise |date=1997 |page=452 |isbn=1-85227-745-9}}</ref> Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price,<ref>{{cite news |title=How We Met: 46. Georgie Fame and Alan Price |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-46-georgie-fame-and-alan-price-1539225.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=22 October 2011 |access-date=12 June 2021}}</ref> Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=British Hit Singles & Albums |publisher=Guinness World Records |location=London |edition=19th |year=2006 |page=194 |isbn=1-904994-10-5}}</ref> Fame is the only British music act to have achieved three UK No. 1 hits with his only top 10 chart entries: "Yeh, Yeh" in 1964, "Get Away" in 1966 and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" in 1968.
==Biography==
===Early life=== Powell was born at 1 Cotton Street, Leigh, Lancashire, England.<ref name="Larkin"/> He took piano lessons from the age of seven. On leaving Leigh Central County Secondary School at 15, he worked for a brief period in a cotton weaving mill, spending his evenings playing piano for a band called the Dominoes. After taking part in a singing contest at the Butlins Holiday Camp in Pwllheli, North Wales, he was offered a job there by the band leader, early British rock-and-roll star Rory Blackwell.
At sixteen years of age, Powell went to London and, on the recommendation of Lionel Bart, entered into a management agreement with Larry Parnes, who had given new stage names to artists Marty Wilde and Billy Fury.<ref name="Larkin"/> Fame later recalled that Parnes had given him an ultimatum over his forced change of name: "It was very much against my will but he said, 'If you don't use my name, I won't use you in the show'".<ref name=Rudland>Rudland, D. (2010), CD booklet notes to ''Georgie Fame: Mod Classics 1964–1966, Ace Records'', CDBGPD 206</ref>
Over the following year Fame toured the UK playing beside Wilde, Joe Brown, Dickie Pride, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and others. Fame played piano for Billy Fury in his backing band, the Blue Flames. When the backing band got the sack at the end of 1961, it was re-billed as "Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames" and went on to enjoy great success with a repertoire largely of rhythm and blues numbers.
===The Blue Flames=== {{main|Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames}} [[File:GeorgieFame1966.jpg|thumb|Fame and Rick Brown performing at The Grand Gala du Disque, Amsterdam, on Saturday 2 October 1966]] Fame was influenced by jazz, blues and the musicians Mose Allison and Willie Mabon. He was one of the first white musicians to be influenced by ska after hearing it in cafés in Jamaica and Ladbroke Grove in England. In the early 1960s Fame and his band appeared regularly at The Flamingo Club, a London "cool jazz" club, which Fame recalled as "full of American GIs who came in from their bases for the weekend" who played for him the song "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. "I had been playing piano up to that point but I bought a Hammond organ the next day."<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rik-gunnell-454967.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009172511/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rik-gunnell-454967.html|date=9 October 2009}}</ref> Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones described Fame at this point in his career as "an incredibly good pianist and singer" and "the idol of the large contingent of blacks" who frequented the Flamingo.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wyman |first=Bill |title=Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock and Roll Band |date=1990 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80783-1 |page=170}}</ref>
In 1963, the band recorded its debut album, ''Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo''.<ref name="Larkin"/> Produced by Ian Samwell and engineered by Glyn Johns,<ref>Johnny Gunnell, cover liner notes on ''Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo'', Polydor RSO, SPELP80.</ref> the album was released in place of a planned single by EMI Columbia. It failed to reach the chart, but the October 1964 follow-up, ''Fame at Last'', reached No. 15 on the UK Albums Chart.
Ronan O'Rahilly failed to get Fame's first record played by the BBC.<ref>[http://www.offshoreechos.com/Caroline%2060/Radio%20Caroline%20-%20The%2060s%20Chapter%2004.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927033543/http://www.offshoreechos.com/Caroline%2060/Radio%20Caroline%20-%20The%2060s%20Chapter%2004.htm|date=27 September 2007}}</ref> After it was rejected by Radio Luxembourg, O'Rahilly announced he would start his own radio station to promote the record.<ref>[http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/history2.asp] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815134758/http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/history2.asp|date=15 August 2007}}</ref> The station became the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline.<ref name="offshore">{{cite web |title=The Offshore Radio Revolution in Britain 1964 - 2004 - Edited Entry |url=https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A2939411 |website=H2g2.com |access-date=25 February 2019 |date=31 October 2004 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630004102/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2939411 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Fame enjoyed continual chart success, with three number one hits in the UK singles chart.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> His version of "Yeh, Yeh", released on 14 January 1965, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the UK singles chart and one week at No. 1 in Canada.<ref name="Larkin"/> "In the Meantime" charted in the UK, Canada, and US.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5693.pdf| title=RPM Play Sheet - May 17, 1965}}</ref> Fame made his US television debut that same year on ''Hullabaloo''. His single "Get Away", released on 21 July 1966, spent one week at No. 1 on the UK chart and 11 weeks on the chart, and one week at No. 1 in Canada. The song was written as a jingle for a petrol commercial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukmix.org/articles/charts/1966.html|title=UKMIX – Articles – Chart Of All Time – 1966 |publisher=ukmix.org |access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref> His version of the Bobby Hebb song "Sunny" made No. 13 in the UK charts in September 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirg/georgief.htm |title=Georgie Fame |publisher=45-rpm.org.uk |date=26 June 1943 |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref> His greatest chart success was in 1967 when "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" became a number one hit in the UK and Canada, and number seven in the US.<ref name="Larkin"/> "Yeh, Yeh" and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" sold over one million copies and were awarded gold discs.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book |first=Joseph |last=Murrells |year=1978 |title=The Book of Golden Discs |edition=2nd |publisher=Barrie and Jenkins |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/174 174, 220] |isbn=0-214-20512-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/174 }}</ref>
==== Popular culture ==== Two of the band's recordings, "Pink Champagne" and "Yeh, Yeh", were featured in the 2020 Netflix series ''The Queen's Gambit''.[[File:Georgie Fame in Sweden 1968.jpg|thumb|220px|left|Georgie Fame at Gröna Lund, Stockholm, 1968]]
===Solo=== Fame continued playing into the 1970s, having a hit with "Rosetta" with his friend Alan Price in 1971, and they worked together extensively.<ref name="Larkin"/> In 1974, he reunited the Blue Flames and began to sing with European orchestras and big bands. He wrote jingles for radio and TV commercials and composed for the films ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' (1970) and ''The Alf Garnett Saga'' (1972). He also had an acting role as a pop star in the rarely-seen 1968 film ''The Mini-Affair'', with music provided by the Bee Gees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mini-Affair |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150225728 |access-date=26 December 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>
The artist released two singles produced by Stock Aitken Waterman in 1986, a cover of Richie Cole's "New York Afternoon" (credited as Mondo Kané featuring Dee Lewis, Coral Gordon and Georgie Fame), and a cover of a Gilberto Gil track, "Samba", under his own name, for which he wrote the English-language lyrics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 12: Tell Me Tomorrow to New York Afternoon on Apple Podcasts|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-12-tell-me-tomorrow-to-new-york-afternoon/id1565879477?i=1000535927660|access-date=2021-11-15|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 16: Living Legend to Samba on Apple Podcasts|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-16-living-legend-to-samba/id1565879477?i=1000541752390|access-date=2021-11-15|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en-AU}}</ref>
He became a member of Van Morrison's band, as well as his musical producer.<ref name="Larkin"/> He played keyboards and sang harmony vocals on "In the Days Before Rock 'n' Roll" from the album ''Enlightenment'' while recording and touring as a solo act. He played organ on Van Morrison's albums between 1989 and 1997, and starred at Terry Dillon's 60th birthday party on 10 May 2008. Morrison refers to Fame in the line "I don't run into Mr. Clive" in his song "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore" on the 2008 ''Keep It Simple'' album. Fame appeared as a guest on Morrison's television concert presented by BBC Four on 25 and 27 April 2008.
Fame was a founding member of Bill Wyman's band Rhythm Kings. He also worked with Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Joan Armatrading and the Verve.<ref>[http://www.thepoint-online.co.uk/thepoint-702] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092923/http://www.thepoint-online.co.uk/thepoint-702|date=28 September 2007}}</ref>
thumb|Georgie Fame's Hammond A100
Fame has played residences at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.<ref name="Larkin"/> He played organ on Starclub's album. He was the headline act on the Sunday night at the Jazz World stage at the 2009 Glastonbury Festival after performing at the Midsummer Music at Spencers festival in Essex.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spencersgarden.net/event.php |title=Spencers – Spencers Events |website=Spencersgarden.net |access-date=29 June 2014 |archive-date=6 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206175704/http://spencersgarden.net/event.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
On 18 April 2010, Fame and his sons Tristan Powell (guitar) and James Powell (drums) performed at the Live Room at Twickenham Stadium<ref name="twick">{{cite news|title=Yeh Yeh Georgie Fame at the Live Room |url=https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/yoursay/news/8107213.Yeh_Yeh_Georgie_Fame_at_the_Live_Room/ |newspaper=Richmond and Twickenham Times |access-date=25 February 2019 |date=19 April 2010}}</ref> for the tenth birthday celebrations of The Eel Pie Club.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eelpieclub.com |title=Eel Pie Club |website=Eel Pie Club |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref> Part of the proceeds from the concert benefitted the Otakar Kraus Music Trust, which provides music and voice therapy for children and young people with physical and mental difficulties. The trio performed later that year at the Towersey Festival.<ref>[http://www.towerseyfestival.com/WhatsOn/Artists/The_Georgie_Fame_Band.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824060217/http://www.towerseyfestival.com/WhatsOn/Artists/The_Georgie_Fame_Band.html|date=24 August 2010}}</ref>
In July 2014, Fame played at the village hall in Goring-on-Thames<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=39862 |title=Henley on Thames News | Concert for Festival featuring Georgie Fame |website=Henleystandard.co.uk |access-date=29 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822044511/http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=39862 |archive-date=22 August 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and then at the Cornbury Festival in Oxfordshire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cornburyfestival.com/line-up/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420085006/http://www.cornburyfestival.com/line-up/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 2013 |title=Line Up – Cornbury Music Festival |website=Cornburyfestival.com |access-date=29 June 2014 }}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1972, Fame married Nicolette (''née'' Harrison), Marchioness of Londonderry, the former wife of the 9th Marquess. Lady Londonderry had given birth to one of Fame's children during her marriage to the marquess; the child, Tristan, bore the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh and was believed to be heir to the marquisate.<ref name="Walker">{{cite news|last1=Walker |first1=Tim |title=Annabel Goldsmith prepares joyful celebration for the late Marquess of Londonderry |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9539208/Annabel-Goldsmith-prepares-joyful-celebration-for-the-late-Marquess-of-Londonderry.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=13 September 2012}}</ref> When tests determined the child was Fame's, the Londonderrys divorced.<ref name="Singh">{{cite news|last1=Singh |first1=Anita |title=Sale of the century as aristocrats auction heirlooms |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/artsales/10732013/Sale-of-the-century-as-aristocrats-auction-heirlooms.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=30 March 2014}}</ref> The couple had another son, James, during their marriage.
Nicolette Powell committed suicide on 13 August 1993, after jumping off the Bristol Clifton Suspension Bridge. Media accounts reported that she left a note and her car keys with two bystanders.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-30 |title=Londonderry heir |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/opinion/columnists/mikeamos/mikeamos/11888262.londonderry-heir/ |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=The Northern Echo |language=en}}</ref><ref name="whatever">{{cite news|title=High Society: Whatever happened to the last of the debs? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/high-society-whatever-happened-to-the-last-of-the-debs-417273.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=24 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fame's wife felt she had lost role |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12719771.fames-wife-felt-she-had-lost-role/ |access-date=15 October 2025 |publisher=The Herald |date=9 September 1993}}</ref>
In an interview prior to her suicide, Fame said that they had stayed happily married because of her "charm, beauty, forbearance and understanding".<ref name="fall">{{cite news |title=Pop star's wife died in fall from bridge |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/pop-stars-wife-died-in-fall-from-bridge-1463007.html |newspaper=The Independent|access-date=7 January 2019 |date=24 August 1993 }}</ref>
Fame supports the Countryside Alliance and has played concerts to raise funds for the organisation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2006/cginews.cgi?record=41|title=Welcome roxyrama.com - BlueHost.com|website=Roxyrama.com|access-date=31 October 2009|archive-date=2 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202202603/http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2006/cginews.cgi?record=41|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Discography== {{Main|Georgie Fame discography}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category|Georgie Fame}} *[http://georgiefame.absoluteelsewhere.net Georgie Fame] at absoluteelsewhere.net *{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=georgie-fame-p4229}} * {{discogs artist|Georgie Fame}} * {{discogs artist|Clive Powell (2)|name=Clive Powell (2)}} * {{imdb name|0266600}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdrdN1PFa-U Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames - "Yeh Yeh"] - Ready, Steady, Go! on YouTube *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifht4gRVUko Georgie Fame - Getaway], Go Go Scope, 1968 on YouTube *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i8mTAsv5cA Georgie Fame - The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)] on YouTube *{{YouTube|F0to4Kpa86A|''The Entertainers: Georgie Fame''}} – Grampian Television broadcast 28 May 1979 {{Georgie Fame}} {{Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fame, Georgie}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century English pianists Category:21st-century English pianists Category:21st-century English organists Category:Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings members Category:English male jazz musicians Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians Category:English blues singers Category:English blues musicians Category:English jazz organists Category:English jazz pianists Category:English male pianists Category:English male singers Category:English pop keyboardists Category:English session musicians Category:English soul musicians Category:Epic Records artists Category:Imperial Records artists Category:Island Records artists Category:People from Leigh, Greater Manchester Category:RSO Records artists Category:Soul-jazz musicians Category:Van Morrison Category:Columbia Graphophone Company artists Category:Polydor Records artists Category:Pye Records artists