English Warbler Returns With More Sweet Songs: Pt. 2 of My Tribute to Underrated UK Zinger Billie Davis!

With her trademark bobbed hair,

leather minis and long boots...

British songstress Billie Davis was a leading source

of Sixties style inspiration. The biographer of the

supergroup Cream described Billie as

"astonishingly photogenic."

With a sweet, seductive

voice, Billie sizzled on covers

of American pop, soul, R&B

and progressive rock... and

this first video offers proof.

The excitement meter was

pegged as Billie appeared

on the German music TV

show Beat-Club and per-

formed her signature song

"I Want You To Be My Baby."

"I Want You to Be My Baby"
- Billie Davis (Oct./Nov. 1968,
highest chart pos. #33 UK,

live perf. on German TV
show Beat-Club)

If by some stretch of the imagination

you still aren't sure if you want to

hop aboard the Billie Bandwagon...

Part 2 of my series should make

a Billie Believer out of you.

These recordings, released between 1967 and 2002, have become favorites
of mine. They are part of a remarkable comeback for Billie, who had her

career derailed by a serious car crash in September of 1963 that left her
with a broken jaw and fueled speculation she would never perform again.

Billie enjoyed early career
success in 1963 with the
 single "Tell Him," a cover
of the hit by the U.S. group
The Exciters. Billie's version
reached the UK top 10, but
 subsequent releases, some
of them excellent, fell far
short  of that mark. Billie
spent the following few
years jumping from one
record label to another
(Decca to Columbia to
Piccadilly) in search
of another hit.

In 1967 Billie returned to Decca and
revived her career with a string of
superb recordings. "Wasn't It You,"
Billie's first new single on the
imprint, is a song written by
Carole King and originally
released as an album track
by Petula Clark.  The song
was also waxed to perfection
in America by Mod Squad

sweetheart Peggy Lipton.
Listen now to the fine
Billie Davis rendition.

"Wasn't It You"

- Billie Davis

(June 1967,

uncharted)

At the start of 1969, Billie released the soulful shouter
"Make the Feeling Go Away." Watch and listen as the
English thrush wows the audience on Beat Club.

"Make the Feeling Go Away" - Billie Davis
(Jan. 1969, perf. on German TV show Beat-Club)

By the end of the 60s, Billie Davis was more popular elsewhere than she was
at home in the UK. She was especially big in Spanish speaking countries.
Billy released a fine two-fer in Argentina - "Billy Sunshine," the song
you heard in part 1, backed with the infectious, bubble-gum ditty
 "I'm In Love With You," a Joey Levine-Kris Resnick song
originally recorded by Kasenetz-Katz Super Cirkus.
With Levine on lead vocals, the K-K single
Bubbled Under the Billboard Hot 100
in January of 1969. Billie's groovy
cover was released later that year.

"I'm In Love With You" - Billie Davis

(Nov. 1969, B side of "Billy Sunshine"

single released only in Argentina)

In the fall of 1970 Billie released her last single on Decca,
an exquisite recording of the Joe Cocker composition
"There Must Be a Reason."

"There Must Be a Reason" - Billie Davis

(Oct. 1970)

In 1971 Billie left Decca for the
second time and moved to Barcelona,
Spain, where she continued to make
records throughout the 70s and into
the 80s. CD compilations released
in the 21st century contain gems
culled from the Decca vaults.

Billie shines on "Living In The Past,"

a cover of a popular song that was a
hit single and album in 1972 for the
British prog-rock band Jethro Tull.

"Living in the Past" - Billie Davis

(from March 2002 CD The Best

of Billie Davis and 2005 CD

Tell Him: The Decca Years)

Another previously unreleased Billie Davis track is her
sensational version of Neil Diamond's "Love to Love."

"Love To Love" - Billie Davis

(from March 2002 CD The Best of Billie Davis

and 2005 CD Tell Him: The Decca Years)

A delight to the eyes and ears,
Billie Davis was a pioneer of
the British beat sound. Billie
recorded some of the best
Brit pop of the 60s. She and
Keith Powell waxed great
Northern Soul covers of
American Soul and
Stax R&B. During her
second stint with Decca,

Billie gave us brilliant
interpretations of mature,
adult-oriented songs written
by some of the best tunesmiths

on both sides of the Atlantic.

There you have it - a wealth of great

recordings by UK fashionista thrush

BILLIE DAVIS!

My mind's made up.

I've joined the Billie Club.
Have you?

I've Joined the Billie Club!

Evie Sands,
the blue-eyed soul

singer, songwriter
and guitarist you
met in the two
previous posts,

was first to record
"Billy Sunshine"
and "Angel Of
The Morning."

Both of those songs were covered by UK vocalist Billie Davis,
one of the leading female voices of the 60s Mod Scene.
Today I begin a two-part series dedicated to the
lovely and talented miss Davis.

"Billy Sunshine" - Billie Davis
(from 1970 album Billie Davis & Mar. 2005
album Tell Him: The Decca Years)

Influenced by American girl groups and soul singers,

UK thrush Carol Hedges derived her stage name

Billie Davis from two famous American artists -

jazz legend Billie Holiday and entertainer

Sammy Davis Jr. 

In 1962 Billie Davis released her first single, a duet with Mike Sarne.

 Their record is a comical call and response style
novelty ditty entitled "Will I What?"

"Will I What?" - Mike Sarne featuring Billie Davis
(Aug. 1962, highest chart pos. #18 UK)

With her bobbed hair and trend setting fashions, Billie Davis
exemplified the London Mod Scene subculture of the early to mid 60s.

She toured with The Beatles
and Rolling Stones and
appeared with Herman's
Hermits, The Animals
and other British Invasion
recording acts in the 1965
UK movie Pop Gear...
U.S. title Go Go Mania.

From 1963 through 1965,
Billie released a series of
solo singles. in 1964 she
waxed "Whatcha' Gonna
Do," a song written and
originally recorded in
1956 by American blues
and R&B star Chuck Willis.
The LeRoys are credited as
the background vocalists
on Billie's single.





In this beautifully restored HD film clip, Billie performs
"Whatcha' Gonna Do" in a scene from Pop Gear. Follow the
 melody and you'll understand why Billie gives me fever!

"Whatcha' Gonna Do" - Billie Davis & the LeRoys

(Sept. 1964, uncharted, scene from 1965 UK
film Pop Gear aka Go Go Mania)

Billie is best known for her covers of two other American hits.

One is a rendition of "Tell Him," originally recorded by the Exciters.

The other is a jump blues number entitled "I Want You to be My Baby,"

originally a 1953 R&B hit for Louis Jordan and a top 20 pop chart
hit in 1955 for Lillian Briggs. The Billie Davis version was
given an updated Northern Soul arrangement. You are
about to witness Billie's electrifying performance
of the song on Spanish TV in early 1969.

Katy bar the door - Billie KILLS! 

"I Want You to Be My Baby" - Billie Davis

(Oct./Nov. 1968, highest chart pos. #33 UK,

early 1969 perf. on Spanish TV )

Eng-uh-lund

Swings Like a

Pendulum Do.

Billie's Makin'

Great Records

Two by Two!

At the beginning of 1966,
Billie formed a duo with
Keith Powell, an act billed
as Keith & Billie. Keith
Powell was an underrated

blue-eyed soul man from
Birmingham, England,
who possessed a deep,
rich voice that reminds
me of Bill Medley of

the Righteous Brothers
and of Jerry Butler.

 

Keith & Billie released three Northern Soul singles that covered classic

soul and R&B hits originally waxed by American artists. For their first

release, Keith Powell and Billie Davis mined the Stax catalog

 with a cover of the 1965 Rufus and Carla (Thomas)

recording "When You Move You Lose."

"When You Move You Lose" - Keith Powell And Billie Davis

(Jan. 1966, uncharted)

Flip the disc and you've got a killer bee, honey, the sweet soulful sound
of "Tastes Sour Don't It" aka "Taste Sour Don't It," a song written by
Jimmy Radcliffe and recorded in 1966 by Barbara Jean English,
former lead singer of a New Jersey girl group called the
Clickettes. Barbara's version remained unreleased
at the time, but Keith and Billie did a nice job
of resurrecting it on the B side of their
Piccadilly platter. Question:

Ever taste a sour donut?

"Tastes Sour Don't It" - Keith Powell And Billie Davis

 (Jan. 1966, uncharted B side of "When You Move You Lose")

Checking the scoreboard, Keith and Billie released 3 duet singles -
a total of 6 sides, all excellent - yet not a single one reached
the chart! Yep, it's par for the course in a world that tends
to overlook greatness and rewards mediocrity.

In the fall of 1967, Billie gained
a UK solo hit with her version
of "Angel of the Morning."

This, as you recall from an
earlier post, is the song
written by Chip Taylor,
first waxed by Evie Sands
 and successfully covered
by Merrilee Rush, Juice
Newton and other artists
in the U.S. and the UK.

"Angel of the Morning"

- Billie Davis

(Nov./Dec. 1967)

Stay tuned. Coming up in my next post...
more great English pop and soul in
Part 2 of my salute to Brit bird

BILLIE DAVIS!

Have a Shady day!