Success in Sydney
In 1963, Thorpe moved to Sydney and auditioned for a regular gig at Surf City, a popular beat music venue in the city's Kings Cross area. In 1996, Thorpe wrote his first autobiography, Sex and thugs and rock 'n' roll : a year in Kings Cross 1963–1964, on his early experiences there. His backing band was an accomplished Sydney surf instrumental group called The Aztecs, comprising Colin Baigent (drums), Val Jones (rhythm guitar), Vince Melouney (aka Vince Maloney) (lead guitar, vocals), and John "Bluey" Watson (bass guitar). Before Thorpe joined, The Aztecs had released "Smoke and Stack", a surf instrumental. UK-born Tony Barber (rhythm guitar, vocals) soon replaced Jones and they were known as Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs.
In 1964, the band released their second single, "Blue Day", written by guitarist Barber, which contains the first known recording of Thorpe. US songwriters Leiber and Stoller wrote "Poison Ivy" for R&B vocal group The Coasters, but Thorpe preferred the cover version by The Rolling Stones. They decided to cover it themselves; it was produced at Festival Records and released on the independent Linda Lee label. It became their breakthrough hit when it peaked at #1 on the local Sydney charts. The band was signed by Ted Albert to his newly established Albert Productions, a local record label devoted exclusively to recording Australian pop artists. Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs had national chart success, their record sales and concert attendances rivalling those of The Beatles, with hits like "Mashed Potato", "Sick and Tired" and Wizard of Oz tune "Over the Rainbow" in the top ten of the record charts in most state capitals.
The original Aztecs lineup split from Thorpe at the beginning of 1965 over a financial dispute, so he created another set, with Johnny Dick (drums), Mike Downes (rhythm guitar, vocals), Colin Risbey (lead guitar, vocals), Jimmy Taylor (piano), Teddy Toi (bass guitar), Tony Buchanan (saxophone) and Rocky Thomas (brass). This lineup achieved further success with pop ballads such as "I Told the Brook", "Twilight Time" and "Love Letters". On 27 March 1966, Sydney TV station ATN-7 debuted a music show, It's All Happening!, hosted by Thorpe with the Aztecs as the house band. Each one-hour episode featured both Australian and international musical guests. Despite the TV exposure, later singles did not chart and when the show ended its run in early 1967, the Aztecs broke up. Thorpe undertook a brief solo career, he released "Dream Baby" (Roy Orbison cover), in October 1967 but it had no chart success. During 1968 he modified his image to display long hair, moustache and a fringed jacket; he formed a new backing band with Dick, Mick Liber (guitar) and Dave McTaggert (bass guitar) who was quickly replaced by Paul Wheeler. By August, Dick and Liber had left, and Thorpe relocated to Melbourne.
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