p.j. proby singlehoesjes

P.J. PROBY (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)

P. J. Proby (born James Marcus Smith, 6 November 1938, Houston, Texas) is a singer, songwriter, and actor noted for his theatrical portrayal of Elvis Presley, plus interpretations of old standards in the vein of Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett.

After graduating from a military school, James Marcus Smith moved to Hollywood in 1957 and changed his name to Jett Powers. Under this guise he released a handful of singles in his home country and was signed to Liberty as a songwriter. His songs were recorded by such artists as the Dalton Brothers, the Ribbons, Jack Scott, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Burnette ("Clown Shoes").

In 1961 Powers changed his name to P.J. Proby - the name belonged to a friend of songwriter Sharon Sheeley - and recorded his first singles for Liberty. After several flops he wrote "Wicked Woman" and recorded it under the name Orville Woods.

The watershed in Proby's career came when Jackie DeShannon introduced him to Jack Good, creator of British television shows "6.5 Special" and "Oh Boy!". Good had been commissioned by Brian Epstein to make a TV special starring The Beatles. He brought Proby to the UK in 1964 to take part in it. Good, who had earlier been inspired by Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to dress Gene Vincent in black leather, put Proby in velvet knee breeches, burlap smock and buckled shoes, with a pony tail to complete the image of an eighteenth century dandy.

By the end of 1964, P.J. Proby had transferred for contractual reasons to 'Liberty'- an American label- though much of his output still benefited from British production.

His first record for them turned out to be the song he is best remembered for, "Somewhere" was an outrageous over-the-top rendition of Leonard Bernstein's song from "West Side Story". The song peaked at No. 6 in December of 1964. At this point it seemed that Proby had well and truly got it made. Flavour of the month with three Top 10 hits behind him, it seemed the sky was the limit...but then it all went wrong.

In January '65, P.J. headlined a package tour over Cilla Black and Tommy Rou which opened at Croydon's ABC Theatre. During the first night Proby's trousers infamously split from knee to crotch. When the same thing happened the following night, the guardians of public decency deemed it an act of rampant exhibitionism rather than faulty tailoring and he was replaced on the bill by Tom Jones.

Sadly, this never helped his record sales at home and apart from one #23 hit in 1967 his output in the states has never been highly rated. The great appreciation shown by British and European fans encouraged the singer to make his home in England. He has remained faithful to his adopted home, even during several years of comparative obscurity during the early 1980s.

P.J. Proby is still in good voice and well worth seeking out, regularly touring and recording. He is currently on tour in the U.K. I had the privilege of seeing PJ at Portsmouth Guildhall a few years ago and boy could that man sing.

(info from geocities.com/sunset strip and 45-rpm.org.uk)