Singer-songwriter and record producer, who published two autobiographies about his time in the rock scene.
Billy Thorpe was born in England and migrated with his family to Brisbane in the 1950s. Thorpe was an experienced performer from an early age, appearing on stage and television throughout the Brisbane area. He moved to Sydney in 1963 and joined a band that would become known as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. The band broke sales and attendance records throughout Australia, establishing themselves as one of Australia's all time popular bands with hist such as 'Poison Ivy', 'Over the Rainbow', 'Mashed Potato' and 'Sick and Tired'. The Aztecs went through several transformations during the late 1960s, but by the early 1970s Thorpe and his band had reached legendary status in Australian Rock'n'Roll. This period culminated in the famous double live album recorded at the Sunbury Pop Festival in 1972.
After the Aztecs disbanded in 1975, Thorpe moved to Los Angeles where continued to perform and record, reaching top forty status with several albums and playing to sold-out venues across the United States. In 1984 he stopped performing live to concentrate on a business venture in electronics that enabled him to consult with companies such as Disney, Mattel and Universal. During this period, he collaborated with his Aztecs band-mate Tony Barber on several children's books. He also continued to find success in the recording studio, but these recordings went unnoticed in Australia.
However, the profile of the Aztecs remained strong in Australia and the release of a three cd box set led to the reformation of the 'Sunbury Aztecs' in the mid 1990s. He enhanced his legendary status with the biographies Sex Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll (1996) and Most People I Know (think that I'm crazy) (1998). Thorpe remained a popular performer on stage and television and had just finished recording a new album when he died in February 2007.
Australian Writing and Rock Music affiliation: producer, songwriter, vocals, guitar.
