GEORGIE FAME & THE BLUE FLAMES

Clive Powell

Curiously I found this in the bargain bins when I was but about 12 or 13 years old and along with a number of other ex-jukebox singles found his 'Rocking Pneumonia and The Boogie Boogie Flu' that I adored and drove my parent's mad with and which is probably my first experience of New Orleans R 'n' B although at the time I didn't know it of course but I have it later by the good Doctor (John that is!) and this led me to Huey 'Piano' Smith. 'Don't cha Just Know it!? well I'll be John Brown . . . . . . . 

On this day in music history: December 11, 1964 - “Yeh, Yeh” by Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames is released. Written by Pat Patrick, Rodgers Grant and Jon Hendricks, it is the sixth UK and first US single release for the jazz/blue eyed soul band from London, UK. Born Clive Powell in the city of Leigh near Manchester, UK, he begins taking piano lessons at the age of seven. Powell leaves school at fifteen to pursue music full time. Landing a job playing piano in a band called The Dominoes, he goes to London where he meets songwriter Lionel Bart (“Oliver!”). Bart introduces the young musician to music impresario Larry Parnes, responsible for discovering British teen idols like Marty Wilde and Billy Fury. It is Parnes that gives Powell his stage name “Georgie Fame”, which Powell initially does not like, but accepts it when the manager tells him, “If you don’t use my name, I won’t use you in the show”. From there, Fame begins backing Billy Fury, dubbing his band The Blue Flames. After Parnes fires the band for being “too jazzy”, Fame & The Blue Flames strike out on their own, establishing a residency at The Flamingo Club in the Soho district of London. In 1963, the band are signed to EMI distributed Columbia Records. Their first three singles fail to make the charts, but finally enter the UK album charts in the Fall of 1964 with “Fame At Last!”. Heavily influenced by American jazz and rhythm & blues musicians like Mose Allison and Willie Mabon, another favorite of Fame’s is percussionist Mongo Santamaria. Famous for his recording of the Herbie Hancock penned “Watermelon Man”, it is another song first recorded by Santamaria that will propel Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames to stardom. The instrumental “Yeh, Yeh” written by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick, it is given lyrics by vocalese legend Jon Hendricks, who records it with his group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames record their version in late 1964, and is released by Columbia, two weeks before Christmas. The jazzy and undeniably catchy single is an immediate smash in the UK, racing up the chart and hitting #1 on January 14, 1965 for two weeks, unseating The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” from the top of the chart. Released in the US by Imperial Records of the back of its UK success, it peaks at #21 on March 27, 1965. The song establishes Georgie Fame as a leader of the British “blue eyed soul movement”, going on to score numerous chart hits around the world. His second UK number one, and his biggest hit in the US comes three years later with “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde (#7 Pop). Over the years, “Yeh, Yeh” is covered by numerous artists including Matt Bianco, Tuck & Patti, They Might Be Giants, and actor Hugh Laurie. Georgie Fame will revisit his first chart topper in 2015, when he records a new version of it with jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall.