Georgie Fame (b. June 26, 1943) is a British rhythm and blues and jazz sing… Read Full Bio ↴Georgie Fame (b. June 26, 1943) is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player whose real name is Clive Powell.

Fame was born in Leigh in Lancashire. At sixteen years of age he entered into a management agreement with Larry Parnes, who gave artists new names such as Marty Wilde and Billy Fury. Fame was already playing piano for Billy Fury in a backing band called The Blue Flames, which later became billed as "Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames". The band had great success with rhythm and blues. Their greatest success was "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" in 1968, which was a number-one hit in the United Kingdom and in the United States; they also had UK number-one hits with "Yeh, Yeh" (1965) and "Get Away" (1966). Although he enjoyed regular chart success with singles in the late 60s, it was a peculiar quirk of chart statistics that his only three Top 10 hits all made number one.

Fame continued playing into the 1970s, enjoying a hit with Alan Price (ex-keyboard player of The Animals), "Rosetta", in 1971. He has also toured as one of the Rhythm Kings, with his friend Bill Wyman playing bass.

From the late 1980s, until the 1997 album The Healing Game he was a core member of Van Morrison's band, as well as his musical producer, playing keyboards and singing harmony vocals on tracks like "In the Days before Rock 'n' Roll", whilst still recording and touring as an artist in his own right. He frequently plays residences at jazz clubs such as Ronnie Scott's. He has also played organ on Starclub's album..

Georgie Fame's swinging, surprisingly credible blend of jazz and American R&B earned him a substantial following in his native U.K., where he scored three number one singles during the '60s. Fame played piano and organ in addition to singing, and was influenced by the likes of Mose Allison, Booker T. & the MG's, and Louis Jordan. Early in his career, he also peppered his repertoire with Jamaican ska and bluebeat tunes, helping to popularize that genre in England; during his later years, he was one of the few jazz singers of any stripe to take an interest in the vanishing art of vocalese, and earned much general respect from jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fame was born Clive Powell on June 26, 1943, in Leigh, Lancashire (near Manchester, England). He began playing piano at a young age, and performed with several groups around Manchester as a teenager, when he was particularly fond of Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 1959, his family moved to London, where the 16 year old was discovered by songwriter Lionel Bart (best known for the musical Oliver). Bart took Powell to talent manager Larry Parnes, who promoted British rockers like Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Johnny Gentle, and Vince Eager. Powell naturally had to be renamed as well, and as Georgie Fame, he played piano behind Wilde and Eager before officially joining Fury's backing band, the Blue Flames, in the summer of 1961. (The Blue Flames also included guitarist Colin Green, saxophonist Mick Eve, bassist Tony Makins, and drummer Red Reece.) When Fury let the band go at the end of the year, Fame became their lead singer, and they hit the London club circuit playing a distinctive blend of rock, pop, R&B, jazz, and ska. Their budding reputation landed them a residency at the West End jazz club the Flamingo, and thanks to the American servicemen who frequented the club and lent Fame their records, he discovered the Hammond B-3 organ, becoming one of the very few British musicians to adopt the instrument in late 1962. From there, the Blue Flames became one of the most popular live bands in London. In 1963, they signed with EMI Columbia, and in early 1964 released their acclaimed debut LP, Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo. It wasn't a hot seller at first, and likewise their first three singles all flopped, but word of the group was spreading.

Finally, in early 1965, Fame hit the charts with "Yeh Yeh," a swinging tune recorded by Latin jazz legend Mongo Santamaria and given lyrics by vocalese virtuoso Jon Hendricks of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. "Yeh Yeh" went all the way to number one on the British charts, and Fame started living up to his stage name (although the song barely missed the Top 20 in America). His 1965 LP Fame at Last reached the British Top 20, and after several more minor hits, he had another British number one with "Getaway" in 1966. After one more LP with the original Blue Flames, 1966's Sweet Thing, Fame broke up the band and recorded solo; over the next few years, his backing bands included drummer Mitch Mitchell (later of the Jimi Hendrix Experience) and the young guitarist John McLaughlin (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra).

At the outset, Fame's solo career was just as productive as before, kicking off with the Top Ten big-band LP Sound Venture (recorded with Harry South's orchestra); thanks to its success, he toured with the legendary Count Basie the following year. Several hit singles followed over the next few years, including "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde," which became his third British chart-topper in late 1967 and, the following year, his only Top Ten hit in America. But by 1969, his success was beginning to tail off; hoping to make inroads into the more adult-oriented cabaret circuit, Fame was moving more and more into straight-up pop and away from his roots. In 1971, he teamed up with onetime Animals organist Alan Price and recorded an album of critically reviled MOR pop, Fame & Price; the partnership produced a near-Top Ten hit in "Rosetta," but ended in 1973. Fame re-formed the Blue Flames with original guitarist Colin Green in 1974 and attempted to return to R&B, but his records for Island attracted little attention. He spent much of the '70s and '80s making ends meet by performing on TV and the cabaret circuit, as well as writing advertising jingles; he also continued to make records, to little fanfare.

In 1989, Fame played organ on Van Morrison's Avalon Sunset album, which grew into a fruitful collaboration over the course of the '90s; Fame played on all of Morrison's albums through 1997's The Healing Game, received co-billing on Morrison's 1996 jazz album How Long Has This Been Going On, and even served a stint as Morrison's musical director. Meanwhile, Fame's own solo work during the '90s received some of his best reviews since the '60s, starting with 1991's jazzy Cool Cat Blues, which featured a duet with Morrison on "Moondance." 1995's Three Line Whip featured his sons Tristan and James Powell on guitar and drums, respectively, and 1996's The Blues and Me further enhanced his growing jazz credibility. In 1998, Fame split with Morrison to record and tour with former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman's new group the Rhythm Kings, contributing organ and vocals to several albums. In 2000, now signed to Ben Sidran's Go Jazz label, Fame released the acclaimed Poet in New York, which established him as an impressive student of jazz's vocalese tradition.

Because I Love You
Georgie Fame Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It's because I love you
Not because we're far apart
It's because I love you
And because your near my heart
It's because I miss you
Oh how long it seems to be
It's because I miss you
Thoughts of you come back to me

Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah

Once we walked together
From the field up to the hill
Promised love forever
I remember that is still
It's because I love
I'll come home to you one day
It's because I love you
In my thoughts you'll always stay

Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah

Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah

Overall Meaning

Georgie Fame's song "Because I Love You" is a song about love and missing someone. The lyrics express deep feelings of love towards someone and wanting to be close to them. The singer sings about how their love for the person is not because they are far apart, but because they are close to their heart. The singer misses the person deeply and longs to be with them again. The thoughts of the person keep coming back to the singer which shows how much they care about them.

The verse "Once we walked together from the field up to the hill, promised love forever, I remember that it's still, It's because I love, I'll come home to you one day, It's because I love you, in my thoughts you'll always stay" shows how much the singer remembers their time with the person and how they still love and cherish them. The singer promises to come back to the person one day and until then, they will always think about them.

The chorus "Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah" shows how the person's dreams and aspirations are important to the singer, and they encourage them to pursue what makes them happy. The repetition of this phrase emphasizes this point and shows the singer's support for their loved one.

Overall, "Because I Love You" is a song that expresses the emotions of love and missing someone. The lyrics are simple but effective in conveying the depth of the singer's feelings towards the person they love.

Line by Line Meaning

It's because I love you
The reason I do everything is because I love you

Not because we're far apart
Our distance doesn't affect how I feel

And because your near my heart
Your presence means everything to me

It's because I miss you
My longing for you makes every day feel like forever

Oh how long it seems to be
Days feel like weeks, weeks feel like months, and months feel like years

Thoughts of you come back to me
Memories of you keep me going through the hardest times

Do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be yeah
Live your life on your own terms

Once we walked together
We used to do everything together

From the field up to the hill
We explored the beauty of nature together

Promised love forever
We made a commitment to love each other forever

I remember that is still
Those memories are still alive and well in my heart