Glossary entry for
Proby, P. J.
Born James Marcus Smith on November 6th, 1938 at Herman Hospital in
Houston, Texas, P. J. Proby was a singer who had a strong following in
Britain in the 1960s, and apparently still performs. Based on the
following brief excerpt from his Official Homepage, he was quite a
visionary:
P.J. was known for his exhausting visional stage performances. It
was one of these performances on January 29th, 1965 at Fairfield
Hall, Croydon in London that Proby who was the first male ever to
wear his hair in a Pony Tail in the last century at least, burst out
of his skin tight velvet bellbottoms doing his act based on the
coloured shows he had been used to attending in the rougher areas of
Downtown L. A.
He explained to the frantic press that the ripped clothing was an
accident due to the weak velvet material, but when two days later
the same thing again happened, the audiences were wild with
excitement, as they had never witnessed such body movement onstage
nor such provocative mood and they loved him. However the British
system that govern the music scene were less enthusiastic. Jim was
banned from all theatres in Great Britain and not allowed to perform
his recordings on the B.B.C. or A.T.V. television stations.
And P. J. Proby's response? According to his
official homepage,
he says: "Hi Van. Thanks for the song title.
If you find out whatever happened to me - could you please let me know.
regards P.J."
More information available at:
Van references in:
- "Whatever Happened To PJ Proby?"
(on Down The Road)
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