Halfway to Paradise: The Life of Billy Fury

David Stafford, Caroline Stafford

• Publisher: Omnibus Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781787590748
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

"There's only ever been two English rock'n'roll singers, Johnny Rotten and Billy Fury." – Ian Dury If he'd merely stood like a statue on stage, he would have flooded theatres with hormonal longings, but he was incapable of standing still. He pulsed. He writhed. He invalidated the manufacturer's guarantee on microphone stands. He provoked shock and awe. From Billy's troubled childhood in Liverpool, via gold and silver lamé, to his later years as a farming ornithologist and a comeback cut short by his premature death, David and Caroline Stafford's sparkling biography brings to life this captivating performer. Billy knew everybody, auditioned The Beatles to be his backing band, met and out-handsomed Elvis, partied with Keith Moon and hosted acid parties. Yet, throughout the mayhem, he always remained true to himself: diffident and amused. Halfway to Paradise tells the full story with the compassion and affection due to an artist who, decades after his death, still commands admiration and adoration: the life, the times, the fans, the Fury.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: “…a bit posh for round here at the time.”
• Chapter Two: “Hey Ronnie, you look a bit like Eddie Cochran.”
• Chapter Three: “I sing, play the guitar and write some of my own songs.”
• Chapter Four: “And I suddenly said, ‘Fury!’”
• Chapter Five: “There was a theatre in every town. We used to play them all.”
• Chapter Six: “Serious haircut; collar up at the back; hands in the gunslinger position…”
• Picture Section
• Chapter Seven: “You wouldn’t want your girlfriend anywhere near Billy Fury…”
• Chapter Eight: “…but I thought I was going to die soon.”
• Chapter Nine: “…one of the greatest rock and roll albums of its era.”
• Chapter Ten: “…but when he put the gold lamé suit on, it was like there was someone else inside.”
• Chapter Eleven: “Decca got really heavy with me and slowly swayed me to the ballads.”
• Chapter Twelve: “…and he’s now a mature, dependable artist.”
• Picture Section
• Chapter Thirteen: “…seeing Billy in it makes me realise why the Beatles had to happen.”
• Chapter Fourteen: “Why has he never appeared at the Palladium?”
• Chapter Fifteen: “Don’t die, Billy! Don’t die!”
• Chapter Sixteen: “The life of a pop star is not always an easy one.”
• Chapter Seventeen: “These odd bods are the new aristocracy of Great Britain.”
• Chapter Eighteen: “I’m still on the carousel, and I want to get off but no one’s stopping it.”
• Picture Section
• Chapter Nineteen: “Mr Consistency”
• Chapter Twenty: “Don’t write Billy Fury off. One good single and he’ll be right back.”
• Chapter Twenty-One: “Our names were written in biro on the window – Billy Fury and Marty Wilde.”
• Chapter Twenty-Two: “I said to him ‘do you fancy a little go before you get too old?’”
• Chapter Twenty-Three: “…the greatest rock and roller in the world. In the world!”
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• Acknowledgements
• Selected Bibliography
• Discography
• Copyright