RIP Billy Thorpe

[Neb-Maat-Re]

In the early hours of this morning Australian time, the passing of Billy Thorpe at age 60 in hospital after a heart attack at home.

Like most Australian pop & rock musicians of the 60s and 70s, Billy was actually born in the UK and migrated with his family when he was 9. He commenced his career as a child star on Brisbane television before moving to Sydney and joining instrumental band the Vibratones to form the first of many lineups of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. His early records were dance or surf related pop and a version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, later transforming himself into a denim-clad rock and blues guitar hero and the mainstay of early 70s rock festivals with his rock anthem Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy. Tiring of the pub rock scene in 1976 he moved to LA were he produced the "Children of the Sun" series of futuristic concept albums, where he apparently gained a reputation as a synth wizard.

Billy was a member of Mick Fleetwood's The Zoo before returning to Aus in the 90s beginning with his "Lock Up Your Mothers" concerts and his 2 highly successful semi-autobiographical novels.

Vale, Bill.