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Billy Nicholls

BILLY NICHOLLS
 
 
Billy Nicholls  (born 15 February 1949, White City, Hammersmith, London) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and musical director.  Billy first gained fame in the 1960’s while still a teenager with his Pet Sounds-influenced album, Would You Believe, originally released on Immediate Records.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The Skywalkers learned about the 1960’s music scene through early Pink Floyd albums and the Soft Machine, and no doubt the rich musical heritage in their home country.  Their musical vision was to fuse garage and psychedelic music together, but always with a pop sensibility; as they put it in the interview:  “We like psychedelic music but it has to have a pop character as well.  Think of bands like the Electric Prunes, Love and Strawberry Alarm ClockTomorrow.  Our favorite years in music are 1966 and 1967, where garage and psychedelic music just came together.  Our favourite subgenre is Baroque Pop with artists like Billy NichollsSagittariusthe Millenniumand of course the Zombies.”  I would add to that list a rather under-appreciated American band called the Left Banke, who had a lovely hit song in 1967, “Walk Away Renee”. 
 
(January 2013)