Billy Thorpe (and the Aztecs)

Billy Thorpe is one of the enigmas of Australian music, despite being one of the pioneers of Australian pop music maintaining a contemporary standing.

Born in Manchester in 1946, Billy’s family emigrated to Brisbane when he was nine. Two years later the young Thorpe was overheard by a television producer playing his guitar and singing at the back of his parents’ Brisbane store. Soon he was appearing regularly on Queensland television and ended up performing on the same stage as many of the top artists of the day.

When he was 17 he moved to Sydney as a seasoned solo country/pop singer. He was performing on shows like ‘Saturday Date’ just as the Beatles were turning pop music as it was known upside down. Legend has it that Billy walked up to instrumental group The Aztecs and told them they needed a singer. The Aztecs already had a record contract, and had issued one surf instrumental single. Having that contract and their new singer gave Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs the jump on anyone else who might have wanted to join the new trend in pop music. They were even further ahead of the pack when, before recording their first vocal single, they added recently-arrived-in-the-country songwriting Englishman Tony Barber. Written by Tony, the pretty pop ballad ‘Blue Day’ served its purpose as the group consolidated a sizeable following as regular attractions at Sydney’s premier pop dance, Surf City.

Two days before entering the studio to record two more Tony Barber songs for their next single, Tony received a copy of the Rolling Stones’ first EP from his brother back in England. The Aztecs decided to record their own version of a song on that EP, the Coasters’ ‘Poison Ivy’. Heralding the arrival of ‘beat’ music in Australia, it became a national number one hit in June 1964, The Year Of The Beatles.

For their next single Billy Thorpe switched to Alberts, home of the Easybeats and released ‘Mashed Potato’ a curious choice which consisted of three words repeated over and over. “Mashed Potato Yeah”. It charted on the strength of ‘Poison Ivy’s huge success. The Aztecs made up for it with their next release, a pop version of Fats Domino’s ‘Sick And Tired’ a recording which made a virtue of the vibrato in Billy Thorpe’s singing voice. The Aztecs had also adopted a famous routine to go with the performance of this song especially, hopping one step in unison while singer Billy Thorpe kept his hands behind his back ( a stance he’d borrowed from Billy J Kramer). The song and its delivery guaranteed Billy Thorpe’s place as pop sensations.

The next single concentrated even more on exploiting Thorpie’s singing voice, with a straight ballad version of ‘Over The Rainbow’, the song from ‘The Wizard Of Oz’. Another huge hit ensued, but Tony Barber decided his songwriting was being pushed into the background, and he decided to leave for a solo career. Two of the original band members also decided to leave, and Billy Thorpe set about assembling a new band comprising three former members of pioneering Ray Hoff and the Off Beats, and two members from the musicians’ favourite band Max Merritt and the Meteors. On subsequent singles Billy Thorpe might have descended or reverted into schmaltz land (‘I Told The Brook’ ‘Twilight Time’ ‘Baby Hold Me Close’ ‘Love Letters’), but it could also be argued he knew how to deliver what The People wanted - indisputable pop records, supported by great musicians on stage.

In March 1966 Billy was handed his own national TV show, ‘It’s All Happening’, a milestone in Australian music television, the first show to feature truly live performances. The latest version of the Aztecs acted as house band. A year later the show was cancelled, the Aztecs had broken up, and Billy found himself spiralling into cabaret land. In the space of two years he had scored nine major hits.

By December 1968 Thorpe had decided to try his luck in England, and accepted some gigs in Melbourne for extra cash before leaving. He never arrived in England. Billy Thorpe became so enamoured by the rock/blues scene flourishing in Melbourne at that time, he chose to stay and became an integral part of it. The new ‘General Custer look’ Thorpe played long extended electric guitar solos and boasted the loudest band in the land. Their repertoire comprised souped-up rock and roll and blues.

Australian record companies were still singles-centric at the time and Billy’s ‘new’ Aztecs broke every rule of commerciality and studio aesthetic by recording the live-in-the-studio album ‘The Hoax Is Over’. The studio walls literally vibrated with the intensity of the volume. “Where was the single?” traditionalists asked. The album was in tune with the ‘progressive rock of the day and made Top 10 nationally.

Billy’s new career was very much performance rather than hit driven. His group’s next albums where ‘Aztecs – Live’ (recorded at Melbourne Town Hall) and ‘Aztecs Live – At Sunbury’. The rise to popularity of this Aztecs coincided with the liberation of liquor regulations in Melbourne, bringing rock and roll out of the dances and clubs, and into the pubs. Despite or because of their volume, The Aztecs became the premier pub attraction. Occasionally Billy would take his hands off his electric guitar and again put his hands behind his back, a signal for his devoted audience to imitate him. The call and response relationship between stage and audience was a big part of the group’s appeal. That and the ‘boogie’ rock style Billy Thorpe evolved would be a direct influence on the latterday AC/DC.

In October 72 Billy finally added a new studio recording to the legend, ‘The Dawn Song’, followed by the self-deprecating autobiographical career-defining ‘Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy)’. In November 1973 the Aztecs became the first rock band to play the Sydney Opera House.

After ‘Most People I Know’ was unsuccessfully released in England Thorpe set his sights on the US, disbanding the Aztecs and adopting more of an adult/rock-oriented style. He returned to Australia in November 1975 to promote the ‘Million Dollar Bill’ album and its breezy jazz single, ‘It’s Almost Summer’. Billy Thorpe’s career had changed gear again.

In 1979 Thorpe signed a US deal with American producer Spencer Proffer and recorded the ambitious science fiction/rock opera concept album ‘Children Of The Future’, which achieved Top 20 status in America, selling 500,000 copies. The follow-up album ‘21st Century Man’ also gained a US gold record. The years that followed saw Thorpe concentrated on non-music business activities as diverse as electronics and toys, before forming Zoo with Mick Fleetwood in 1990. Anytime he visited Australia the ‘Most People I Know’ Aztecs fans were ready to flock to any show Thorpe was prepared to mount. There’s a readymade audience there anytime “Thorpie” wants it.

In July 1996 Billy Thorpe returned to Australia to live and authored two highly-entertaining best selling books which only scratch the surface of his life and career, 'Sex Thugs And Rock'n'Roll', and naturally, 'Most People I Know'. In August 2002 Billy served as the creative force behind the 'Long Way To The Top' tour, taking part with performances with both the "original" and the "Sunbury" Aztecs. The "original" Aztecs last played together in 1965.

Billy Thorpe suffered a massive heart attack at his home in Sydney's eastern suburbs, early February 28, 2007. He was rushed to St Vincent's Hospital but died at 2:30am AEDT, with family members by his side. For several years he had been working on an ambitious "Moroccan" album.