Billy Thorpe

Billy Thorpe is a guy that I know absolutely nothing about other than he wrote "Children of the Sun." I've tried to find some info about him, but it is very hard to come by. I did find that he was big in Australia, though.

Would anyone recommend his music? I do like "Children of the Sun" (it gets some airplay here in Phoenix).

Billy Thorpe is Australia's "Rock N' Roll King". In the late 60's/early 70's he along with guitarist Lobby Lloyde in their band the Aztecs were the progenitors of the Australian Heavy Rock sound that manifested in bands like AC/DC, Buffalo, Rose Tattoo, The Angels etc. They also paved the way for the Australian Pub Rock circuit which allowed bands like AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel etc to hone their skills, sound and generally toughen up.

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I do like "Children of the Sun" (it gets some airplay here in Phoenix).

That song gets some play on sattelite radio. I kinda liked it, but like you, had never heard of this Thorpe guy.

Thanks for the clips RP.

The song "East Of Edens Gate" is even better!!! It has Earl Slick and Frankie Bannali (sp? Quiet Riot Drummer)on that particular album. He was also in The Zoo with Mick Fleetwood. I don't know about his Australian albums, but these albums are pretty cool:

Children of the Sun (1979)
21st Century Man (1980)
Stimulation (1981)
East Of Eden's Gate (1982)

I've always liked Billy Thorpe. "Earth Calling" is my favorite song by him, love the lyrics.

I remember "Children Of The Sun" when it first came out, even before radio picked up on it. My brother's friend had the LP. I thought it was pretty cool. By the time radio picked up on it many years later (it definitely took a very long time) and everybody would stop and turn up the radio when it was on, I was like dude, I was listening to this when I was 12 years old.

Billy went on to be in a band called Zoo which featured Mick Fleetwood on drums and Bekka Bramlett on vox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMWEafmWF2A

For sure Thorpie was big in Australia he ended up as a regular on a mainstream TV show called Hey Hey its Saturday so it was all a bit caberet in the end. Or maybe its just my metal warped take on it, definatley a very well respected pioneer of the oz pub rock circuit and liked to play loud in the early days god bless him..

XYZ wrote:

Billy Thorpe is a guy that I know absolutely nothing about other than he wrote "Children of the Sun." I've tried to find some info about him, but it is very hard to come by. I did find that he was big in Australia, though.

Would anyone recommend his music? I do like "Children of the Sun" (it gets some airplay here in Phoenix).

Don't know much about to him or his music but I saw him opening for Deep Purple back in 2004. I heard he died few years ago

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I am not very familiar with his catalog, but just seeing his name in this thread reminded me of Children Of The Sun and I have not heard this song in 20 plus years.

Children of the Sun, along with Pink Floyd and Stevie Ray Vaughn are instant channel changers for me on FM radio.