Jimmy Bilsbury

Jimmy Bilsbury
Birth name James Robert Bilsbury
Also known as Jimmy Pilsbury
Born (1943-11-02)2 November 1943
Liverpool, England
Died 10 March 2003(2003-03-10) (aged 60)
Bonn, Germany
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Associated acts The Magic Lanterns
Les Humphries Singers

James Robert "Jimmy" Bilsbury (2 November 1942[1] 10 March 2003) was an English pop singer and songwriter, most famous for co-writing the Boney M hit, "Belfast", and as a member of the Magic Lanterns and the Les Humphries Singers. He was born in Liverpool.[2]

After appearing with the Ray Johnson Skiffle Group, the Nightboppers, the Beat Boys, the Sabres and the Hammers,[3] and singing and writing for the Magic Lanterns,[4] Bilsbury co-founded the Les Humphries Singers in 1970 with Les Humphries, and was a member when they represented Germany in the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Sing Sang Song".[5] Bilsbury also performed with Megaton.[3] He co-wrote "Belfast" for popular disco formation Boney M. with singer Drafi Deutscher and Joe Menke.[3]

Bilsbury, who according to Neue Revue had been living on social welfare, was found dead in his 8 square metres (86 sq ft) apartment in Bonn on 13 March 2003,[6] and the post mortem established that he had died three days earlier from heart failure. He was cremated and his ashes were buried in Gauting Waldfriedhof near Munich, at a ceremony attended by his 16-year-old son.[5][7]

References

  1. "November". Pop-History - Geburtstage. André Kauth. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  2. Rau, Oliver (28 May 2003). "German participant in 1976 - Les Humphries Singer Robert Bilsbury died". Eurovision Square. esctoday.com. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Hammers - 1964". Lanky Beat. Bill Hart. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  4. "2003 January To June". The Dead Rock Stars Club. Doc Rock. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  5. 1 2 Engels, Josef (31 May 2003). "Jimmy Bilsbury lebte als Millionär - und starb in einem Obdachlosenheim". Welt Online. Axel Springer. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  6. "Sänger von Les Humphries tot". Hamburger Abendblatt. 28 May 2003. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  7. "Humphries - Der schäbige Tod seines besten Sängers" (pdf). Neue Revue - pages 23-24. Club Chantal - Norbert Seitz & Doris Seitz. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.