Kev
02-28-2007, 09:56 AM
For those who don't know him, he was a Rock and Roll legend here in Australia.
From the Herald Sun website:
ROCK legend Billy Thorpe, who died today in Sydney, has been honoured as a "genius" showman who inspired a generation of musicians.
Thorpe died in St Vincent's Hospital after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in Darling Point, in Sydney's east, just after midnight. He was 60.
Do you remember Billy?
Leave your memories and tributes below
Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, whose hits include Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy), sold out concert venues and produced chart-topping songs in the '60s and '70s.
Their former manager, Michael Browning, said Thorpe created what became known as the pub music scene, and was a "genius" showman.
"He was amazing, I remember standing on the side on the stage at the Myer Music Bowl in front of 200,000 people and watching Billy work the crowd," he told the Seven Network.
"I don't think there has ever been anyone in Australia that has been able to work the crowd like Billy Thorpe."
Music journalist and historian Glenn Baker said there was "something that was just primal about Thorpe's blood-curdling roar".
He was born in England but immigrated to Brisbane with his family in the 1950s and later moved to Sydney in 1963 to jumpstart his music career.
He established himself as a pin-up idol in the '60s, but reinvented his image in Melbourne and turned Australian rock "on its ear with a thunderous, pulverising music", Mr Baker said.
"The Aztecs just become a byword, really, for the origins of Australian pub rock," he said.
"It's the one form of music we've done better and more convincingly than any other."
Normie Rowe, who similarly started his career as a teenage rock sensation in the 1960s, said Thorpe emulated the 1950s bands who started the rock and roll movement in Australia.
Thorpe moved to Los Angeles in the late '70s and released a series of concept albums before returning to Australia in the '90s.
He had just recorded a new album and had just finished an acoustic tour. He was soon to travel to Morocco, where he was working in a recording project.
Rowe said Thorpe was the driving force behind the music documentary Long Way To The Top in 2002.
Federal Labor MP and former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett said Thorpe inspired many bands.
"The thing about Thorpie and the Aztecs ... was that they were loud and proud and very Aussie and when they played at Sunbury (music festival) they got up as a bunch of Aussie blokes and just really did it full frontal," he told the Nine Network.
"I think his transition from sort of a pop singer and pop idol really to a full blown, absolutely in your face rocker, was something incredible to see and provided, I think, a lot of inspiration for many, many bands."
Thorpe is survived by his widow Lynne and daughters Lauren and Rusty.
Funeral details are expected to be announced by tomorrow.
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5402386,00.jpg
From the Herald Sun website:
ROCK legend Billy Thorpe, who died today in Sydney, has been honoured as a "genius" showman who inspired a generation of musicians.
Thorpe died in St Vincent's Hospital after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in Darling Point, in Sydney's east, just after midnight. He was 60.
Do you remember Billy?
Leave your memories and tributes below
Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, whose hits include Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy), sold out concert venues and produced chart-topping songs in the '60s and '70s.
Their former manager, Michael Browning, said Thorpe created what became known as the pub music scene, and was a "genius" showman.
"He was amazing, I remember standing on the side on the stage at the Myer Music Bowl in front of 200,000 people and watching Billy work the crowd," he told the Seven Network.
"I don't think there has ever been anyone in Australia that has been able to work the crowd like Billy Thorpe."
Music journalist and historian Glenn Baker said there was "something that was just primal about Thorpe's blood-curdling roar".
He was born in England but immigrated to Brisbane with his family in the 1950s and later moved to Sydney in 1963 to jumpstart his music career.
He established himself as a pin-up idol in the '60s, but reinvented his image in Melbourne and turned Australian rock "on its ear with a thunderous, pulverising music", Mr Baker said.
"The Aztecs just become a byword, really, for the origins of Australian pub rock," he said.
"It's the one form of music we've done better and more convincingly than any other."
Normie Rowe, who similarly started his career as a teenage rock sensation in the 1960s, said Thorpe emulated the 1950s bands who started the rock and roll movement in Australia.
Thorpe moved to Los Angeles in the late '70s and released a series of concept albums before returning to Australia in the '90s.
He had just recorded a new album and had just finished an acoustic tour. He was soon to travel to Morocco, where he was working in a recording project.
Rowe said Thorpe was the driving force behind the music documentary Long Way To The Top in 2002.
Federal Labor MP and former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett said Thorpe inspired many bands.
"The thing about Thorpie and the Aztecs ... was that they were loud and proud and very Aussie and when they played at Sunbury (music festival) they got up as a bunch of Aussie blokes and just really did it full frontal," he told the Nine Network.
"I think his transition from sort of a pop singer and pop idol really to a full blown, absolutely in your face rocker, was something incredible to see and provided, I think, a lot of inspiration for many, many bands."
Thorpe is survived by his widow Lynne and daughters Lauren and Rusty.
Funeral details are expected to be announced by tomorrow.
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5402386,00.jpg