Billy Fury - His Wondrous Story: The Complete Collection

Probably Britain’s best ever male singer

The hair? Perfect. The suits? Perfect. The name? Impossibly perfect. The songs? Do you really need to ask? Fury was the closest the UK ever got to Elvis, a beautifully cheekboned, surly individual who dripped charisma; possessor of the kind of trembling, emotive voice that could make a statue swoon.

Arguably, there was even more to him than there was to Presley. The former Ron Wycherley was also a troubled soul, and his frailty and vulnerability seeped into almost every song he sang. Fury seemed to inhabit his material with every beat of his aching heart. At a time when pop was largely about boast and bluster, Billy was never one to hide his hurt and loneliness. Only Johnnie Ray ever mopped his brow with a more tear-stained handkerchief.

As a chronological showcase of the hits, this is hard to beat, although an inclusion from his landmark Sound Of Fury album would have completed the picture. But even on later singles Love Or Money and Forget Him, recorded not long before Fury’s death in 1983, when he was clearly in poor heath, that voice rings true and imbues what may seem like fluffy pop tunes with a gravitas few have since matched, or ever will.

UMTV | tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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