Billie
Anthony (born Philomena McGeachie Levy in Glasgow on 11 October 1932 — 5
January 1991) was a Scottish female singer.
Her
mother Lily was a talented dancer and her father, a song and dance man, and
stage manager at the Glasgow Empire. Her godmother was the legendary Gracie
Fields. Although her parents divorced when she was very small (precisely
eighteen days after her birth) she spent her entire childhood in and around the
theatre, and wanted a career on the stage as a dancer. At first her mother was
against her going into show business, so on leaving school she reluctantly
agreed to train as a dressmaker, but her obsession with the theatre proved too
powerful.
In
1946, when still only fourteen, she ran away from home and joined the chorus of
a touring show as one of "May Moxon’s Young Ladies". Five years later
she met Peter Elliott, who was part of a famous show business family called The
Musical Elliotts. They developed an instant friendship and, due to their mutual
love of dancing, decided on the formation of their own double act. As Phil and
Peter Elliott, they successfully toured variety theatres as "The Debonair
Dancers - Four Educated Feet". They toured continuously throughout 1952
but, in 1953, were compelled to abandon their act when Peter was called up to
do his national service with the Royal Air Force.
During
their time on the variety circuit they had met and become friends with singer
Tony Brent, who had several hit records to his name. It was Brent who first
recognised Levy’s vocal potential and, acting on his advice, she decided to go
solo in an effort to try to make a living as a singer while Elliott was away.
Brent introduced her to his own manager, Don Agness, and he arranged for her to
do a trial recording. Then in October 1953, after months of voice training and
with her name changed to Billie Anthony, she recorded and released her first
single for Columbia Records called "I’d Rather Take My Time" coupled
with "Things Go Wrong". However it flopped.
On
February 20, 1954 Anthony and Elliott eventually got married. However, the
marriage did not last as they realised that their lives were no longer going in
the same direction. By the time Elliott had completed his service in the
R.A.F., Anthony had attained quite a high level of popularity as a vocalist,
and Elliott decided that he wanted to explore other possibilities. Thus, they
went their separate ways, and eventually divorced in the early 1960s.
January
1954 saw the release of her second record, "Ricochet", followed in
March by, "Bell Bottom Blues", both of which did well for Alma Cogan,
Teresa Brewer and Joan Regan. Both sides of her next release "Cross Over
The Bridge" and "I Get So Lonely" were recorded in April as
duets with Tony Brent.
With
the success of "This Ole House", she became known as "Britain’s
Blonde Bombshell". However, although she looked terrific, and had a good
voice, no other record of hers ever made the UK chart, leaving her with the
unfortunate one hit wonder tag. Her two follow up discs, "Teach Me
Tonight" and "No More", went almost unnoticed.
In
January 1955 Stuart Hamblin, the American country & western
singer-songwriter and composer of "This Ole House", came to London
and, because he was so impressed with Anthony’s version of his song, met her
and presented her with the choice of another number from the material he had
not yet published. She chose "Shake The Hand Of A Stranger", a song
that most people consider to be the best of her career. Recorded and released
in April, it failed to take off. Every song she recorded after that seemed to
eclipse the preceding one but, although they sold in sizeable numbers, songs
such as "Boom Boom Boomerang", "Ten Little Kisses" and
"The Old Piano Rag" did not take Billie back to the charts. (Photo of Billie with DJ Pete Murray)
she was visited in her dressing
room by Gene Kelly who had been in the audience. He discussed ideas regarding a
part for her in a film musical, but his ideas eventually proved to be without
foundation, and a movie part was never offered.
1955
to 1957 were Anthony's busiest years. Due to ever increasing demand her fan
club was formed, and besides touring she made regular radio and television
appearances, not only in Britain but also on the continent. The greater part of
1957 was spent on the road with Harry Secombe in the variety show 'Rocking The
Town'. Billie spent a hectic eight weeks in the early part of 1958,
entertaining the forces in Cyprus, Malta and North Africa. After returning to
London she spent the remainder of the year touring in variety, doing one night
stands and the occasional service camp dates. This similar routine of one night
stands continued throughout 1959, interrupted only by a summer season at the
Great Yarmouth's Regal Theatre with Hughie Green's 'Double Your Money' show.
By
1960 her recording career which had been slowly declining, ground to a halt
after six and a half years. "A Handful of Gold" coupled with
"Sure Fire Love", released in January 1960 were Anthony's last
offerings.
She
eventually withdrew from show business, and with the birth of her daughter
Jessica in 1968, she decided to concentrate on full time motherhood. From then
on she chose to live quietly in the north London area of Hornsey.
In
early 1991, Anthony lost consciousness after suffering a series of strokes and
never recovered. She died in London’s Whittington Hospital on 5 January, 1991,
at the age of fifty eight. Following her funeral service her ashes were
returned to Glasgow where they were scattered on the river Kelvin.
(Info
Wikipedia)
6 comments:
For THE MAGIC OF BILLIE ANTHONY go here:
http://uptobox.com/45mcrmv9rvfh
1. I'd Rather Take My Time
2. Ricochet
3. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
4. Bell Bottom Blues
5. Make Love to Me
6. I Get So Lonely
7. Hit and Run Affair
8. This Ole House
9. Teach Me Tonight
10. No More
11. Butterscotch Mop
12. Shake the Hand of a Stranger
13. Tweedlee Dee
14. Boom Boom Boomerang
15. Ten Little Kisses
16. The Banjo's Back in Town
17. Old Pi-anna Rag
18. Bring Me a Bluebird
19. The Key to My Heart
20. Sweet Old Fashioned Girl
21. Lay Down Your Arms
22. One-Fingered Piano
23. The Charge of the Light Brigade
24. I Dreamed
25. Needle and Thread
26. Rock a Billy
27. One
28. It's Fun Finding Out About London
29. Love and Kisses
30. You
31. Careful Careful
32. We Have No Bananas Yes
33. A Handful of Gold
Certainly underrated in her time, I note that she did lots of Covers for the more well known singers of the 1940's and 1950's; among them Teresa Brewer. Rosemary Clooney and Georgia Gibbs among others. There are some audios of her on You Tube, but no videos(You've done your homework there !) Nice singer.
I do like the photo of her and Pet Clark
in your blog(Taken during 1950's by the looks of their dresses)
mp3 player now working!
Bob,
Please re-up this album; I would love to hear all her covers
of those 50s hits.
Thank you :-)
Hello HP, have made a list of all your requests as up to 7th September. Will take a few days to sort them out. here's the first re-up. Please note I have not got a scanner so borrowed poor quality artwork from web.
https://www.upload.ee/files/10456462/Billie_Anthony___Magic_Of.rar.html
Next hopefully will be Bobby Byrne (if I can find it!) Regards, Bob.
Bob,
Thank you for re-upping Billie Anthony. This album lists all her 21 UK singles from 1953 to 1961, and with the help of 45cat I was able list them chronologically with B sides when available, including 16 covers of US hits.
There are two beautiful pictures with herself, Anne Shelton (1940-1961 hits), Ama Cogan (1954-1961) and Petula Clark (early hits 1954-1962).
Ruby Murray (1954-1959), Lita Rosa (1952-1957), Joan Regan (1953-1961) and Vera Lynn (1950s hits 1951-1957)were not included, I just wanted to have an excuse to mention them :-)
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