Back in the early 60s, a young man named Ronald Wycherley changed his name to Billy Fury and began to make waves in the UK charts. When he needed a new backing band, one of the groups that auditioned were called The Silver Beetles. They were offered the job minus their bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, but they refused to make that sacrifice. Guitarist John Lennon did ask for Fury's autograph though, before the Silver Beetles left the audition.
A year later, Fury had his biggest hit with a cover of the Goffin/King song Halfway To Paradise. Or that's how history remembers it. In truth, Halfway To Paradise only reached #3 in the charts, one of three Fury singles to achieve that position. He did better with his follow-up release, Jealousy (a version of the Danish song, Jalousie, written in 1925) which got to #2.
Twenty-some years later, NME writer Cath Carroll formed the band Miaow in Manchester and began to make minor ripples in the UK indie charts. Miaow released a bunch of singles but split up before they finished their debut album (Carroll went on to join The Hit Parade and pursue a solo career in the 90s). One of the tracks that might have made the cut for that unreleased album is this radio session which takes a few more steps towards completing Billy Fury's journey...
Top man, Billy
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