WONDROUS FACE
The Billy Fury Story
by Spencer Leigh

Sample Text - How Billy Fury was discovered

On Wednesday afternoon 1 October 1958, 18 year old Ronnie Wycherley with his friends Brian Johnson and Les Tennant took a train under the Mersey to Birkenhead and the Essoldo Theatre. Ronnie was carrying his guitar in a bolster as he didn’t have a case. As to what happened next, the details differ from speaker to speaker but one thing is clear: it reads like a script of a Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film or indeed how Bobby Vee came to attention on the day the music died. Ronnie had left his Teddy boy gear behind and was wearing a two-tone light and dark jacket, white shirt and grey flannels.
As the lads had no idea what time the soundcheck was, they arrived at 1 pm. No one was there so they went to the cinema and emerged about 5 pm. They went to a café and then returned to the Essoldo. The girls outside the theatre saw Ronnie with his guitar and asked him for his autograph. He signed their books, ‘Stean Wade’.

Vince Eager: “When we had completed the sound check at the Birkenhead Essoldo, John Barry’s drummer Dougie Wright and I decided to have a Wimpy burger. We walked out of the stage door and there stood this James Dean lookalike, raincoat collar up and looking very moody. He asked me if Larry Parnes was in the theatre. He had sent Larry a tape of some songs he had written and he wanted to know if Larry liked them. I told him I would see if Larry was there. He was and he asked me to bring him in.”

Marty Wilde: “Ronnie was wearing a cowboy shirt and Larry Parnes brought him into my dressing room to see me and asked him to play some songs.” Brian Bennett, then one of Marty’s Wildcats, adds, “Ronnie had a guitar in a plastic bag, and he had a pair of brothel creepers: they were big suede shoes. He had this wonderful, swept-back blond hair.”

Vince Eager: “Larry Parnes commandeered the Hofner Committee guitar of Marty’s guitarist Kenny Packwood, and Ronnie played ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. We stood there for a moment and were gobsmacked. Singers didn’t write their own songs in those days, especially the good looking ones. We all applauded. Larry asked Ronnie if he had any more, and ‘Margo’ also received everybody’s approval.” Marty’s dressing room window was open and the fans outside added their appreciation.
Marty Wilde: “Larry took me aside and asked me what I thought. I told Larry he was super and Larry said, ‘Great, we’ll put him on tonight. Can he use your make-up?’”

Larry Parnes told Ronnie how good he was and asked, “Have you got guts?”. He said, “Of course I’ve got guts.” “Right,” said Larry, “You’re on in the second half.”

Coincidentally, a young comedian from another Liverpool suburb, Mossley Hill, had also called to see Larry Parnes. His name was Jimmy Tarbuck and he had had some success on holiday camp shows. He was as forward as Ronnie was shy and he wanted to be a singing comic. Larry Parnes was taken by his personality and he allowed Jimmy to make a few announcements and tell a few jokes. He was instructed to say, “Larry Parnes has given breaks to young people in his time and tonight he has invited a local boy to entertain you – Stean Wade.”

Ronnie was wary of performing in front of 1,000 people. He had never done this before and he had never anticipated that this would happen. Parnes pushed him forward and he performed three songs – ‘Maybe Tomorrow’, ‘Margo’ and one of Elvis’ Sun recordings, ‘Just Because’. The girls screamed. He may have been Stean Wade that night, but it was the moment that Billy Fury was born.

It had been a good day for Larry Parnes – he had discovered both Jimmy Tarbuck and Billy Fury in the same afternoon. He didn’t retain Tarby but he recommended him to Jack Good and he became the compère of the ‘Oh Boy!’ stage show.
Ronnie Wycherley was a different matter altogether, partly because Parnes was captivated by his looks and was already in love with him. Those cheap clothes would have to go of course – oh, how badly these northern hicks dressed, but the trousers were nice and tight. Dressing him would be part of the fun. Parnes called his lawyer, David Jacobs and told him to prepare a contract for Ronnie’s parents to sign as he was not 21. He instructed Ronnie to be at the Lord Nelson Hotel the next morning at 10 am to join the tour. Next stop the Essoldo, Stretford, near Manchester. For some odd reason, Parnes didn’t approve of rock’n’rollers sleeping in and the coach would always leave early, no matter what the distance.
Larry Parnes, in a clever move, gave Ronnie a £5 note for his efforts. He took the train home and showed his parents the fiver: “I don’t think my mother and my father believed what had happened when I told them. When I was packing my suitcase the next morning, my mum got worried about me going off all on my own, but I convinced her it was the biggest chance I’d ever have.” Jean says, “I will never forget that morning when Albert carried his suitcase down the stairs and we said goodbye to Ronnie Wycherley. Two months later Billy Fury walked through my door.”

When Parnes arrived in Stretford, he arranged a sign to be placed outside, ‘Also, the new teenage rage – Ronnie Wycherley’. Again Ronnie did well, but Parnes knew that the name(s) would have to go. Larry wasn’t impressed with Stean Wade: “I said no, although come to think of it, it’s a very good name. He was a very shy, modest person, who loved animals and didn’t like night-clubbing so I said, ‘You’ve got to have a nice ordinary friendly name. Look at Billy Cotton and ‘The Wakey-Wakey Show’. He’s a friendly man, so that’s it, you’ll be Billy. You’re going to be tops in this country so we want a name that drives everything home to everybody even before they see you. I know, ‘Billy Fury’. There was a problem though. It didn’t have my lucky ‘e’ on the end like Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde. I could have made it ‘Billy Furie’ but I didn’t like the look of that. I don’t say that Ronnie liked the name immediately, but he grew to like it.”

Larry Parnes and Ronnie Wycherley tossed a coin for the name – Larry lost but still went ahead with ‘Billy Fury’. Marty Wilde: “When Larry told me that he was calling him Billy Fury, I thought ‘What a great name’. I liked Marty Wilde but I didn’t like Georgie Fame or Johnny Gentle as they weren’t so good from a media point of view. However, Billy Fury was a gift for the newspapers.”

Ronnie Wycherley: “It was a few days after I’d started on that first tour supporting Marty Wilde. Larry Parnes rang me up and said, ‘You’re in the ‘Daily Mirror’.’ I went and got a copy and there was a picture of me and underneath it said, ‘Billy Fury’. Thanks!”

Billy Hatton: “Ronnie sent me a letter when he was on that tour saying that he was now being called Billy Fury. I took that as a compliment as I thought he’d taken my name and I’m sure Jean thought he was named after his Uncle Billy.” I’m sure Ronnie wouldn’t have wanted to tell anyone about Billy Cotton.

Early in November 1958 Ronnie Wycherley returned home for a short break. He showed his new guitar to his brother and gave him his old one. He was still shy but he was growing more confident on stage. On the Saturday evening he entered Charlie Mack’s talent contest at Wilson Hall in Garston. This was not a place for the squeamish as the club was a battleground. As Ronnie Wycherley, he sang ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ and won the heat, although he would be too busy to attend the final. In a few weeks’ time he would be a star.