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.
Blossom
Georgie Fame Lyrics
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Her piano
Gives her a warm welcoming smile and
When she begins
Playing them chords
Singing her songs everyone listens
Blossom fills the air with a rare perfume
Changing her, mood
She can be sad
Making her blues lonely and lost
In a midnight of nowhere
And everyone starts feeling the same
She looks small when the spotlights hit her
She sings tall and we're all gettin' bigger
Soon the room seems to shrink and shiver
Soon the moon will be here having dinner
Thirty two, bars never could say
Everything I wanted to
That is why songs of love 'ought to be
Longer especially for people like Blossom
Far longer yes much longer than this
The song "Blossom" by Georgie Fame is a tribute to pure, enchanting music played by a piano player. When the performer sits down by her piano, it seems to smile and welcome her in. As she plays her songs, everybody listens, and the air fills with a special scent, as if she brings the music from a distant era into the modern world. Her chords and melodies have the power to change people's moods, shifting from melancholic tunes to uplifting and joyful rhythms.
The lyrics describe how, even though the performer is physically small, her voice and music create an atmosphere that makes everyone feel bigger, part of a larger crowd unified by the sound of the piano. The song suggests that love songs, like the ones played by this musician, should be longer to capture all the nuances and emotions that music can stir in people's hearts.
Line by Line Meaning
When she sits, down
As soon as she takes a seat,
Her piano
She comes accompanied with her piano,
Gives her a warm welcoming smile and
The piano greets her warmly,
When she begins
As soon as she starts playing,
Playing them chords
Strumming the keys of the piano,
Singing her songs everyone listens
Her voice and music captivates every listener's attention
Blossom fills the air with a rare perfume
Her music carries a unique and enchanting scent,
And everybody swings to all the things she sings
Everyone dances to her tunes
Changing her, mood
Her musical performance can alter her mood,
She can be sad
She can translate her emotions of sadness through her music,
Making her blues lonely and lost
She conveys her bluesy feelings of loneliness and disorientation,
In a midnight of nowhere
In the midst of darkness and isolation,
And everyone starts feeling the same
Her lyrics enkindle a universal spectrum of emotions in listeners
She looks small when the spotlights hit her
When illuminated by the spotlight, she appears petite,
She sings tall and we're all gettin' bigger
Through her energetic and impactful performance, everyone else tends to grow in stature
Soon the room seems to shrink and shiver
Her rhythm and sound begin to reverberate around the space,
Soon the moon will be here having dinner
The metaphorical moon that rises is implied to be enjoying her performance like a meal
Thirty two, bars never could say
32 bars are never enough to express her emotions,
Everything I wanted to
She indicates that her art is a medium of expression,
That is why songs of love 'ought to be
This is why the ballads of love should be longer,
Longer especially for people like Blossom
Especially for performers like Blossom who are gifted in portraying their emotions through music,
Far longer yes much longer than this
The duration of the songs ought to be much longer than a moment's time.
Contributed by Lucy N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.