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Duffy Power | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond Leslie Howard |
| Born | (1941-09-09)9 September 1941 Fulham,London, England |
| Died | 19 February 2014(2014-02-19) (aged 72) |
| Genres | Blues,rock and roll |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1959–2014 |
Duffy Power (bornRaymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014)[1] was anEnglishblues androck and rollsinger, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later.
Ray Howard was born inFulham,South WestLondon.[2] He was discovered in 1959 byimpresarioLarry Parnes, singing at a talent show with his group Duffy and the Dreamers. He was renamed Duffy Power in the style of Parnes' other discoveries, such asBilly Fury,Marty Wilde,Vince Eager andGeorgie Fame.[2] Herecorded a series ofcover versions of suchsongs as "Dream Lover" and "Ain't She Sweet" assingles for theFontanalabel over the next two years, but unlike some of his stablemates failed to achieve commercial success.[3]
In 1960, he featured inDaniel Farson's 'Living for Kicks ' documentary.
He left Parnes in 1961, suffering fromdepression. However, he was introduced by a friend to the growing London blues club scene, and in 1963 teamed up withGraham Bond,Jack Bruce,Ginger Baker andJohn McLaughlin to record "I Saw Her Standing There",[3] one of the firstcover versions of aBeatles song.[2] He continued to record forParlophone Records through the 1960s, both as asolo artist, often backed by topsession musicians such asBinky McKenzie, and withAlexis Korner'sBlues Incorporated,[2] but the critical acclaim for his performances failed to be matched by sales.[3] He sometimes performed and recorded, with other musicians, under the name Duffy's Nucleus.[4]
Power also worked as a session musician, and played on thesoundtrack of the 1969filmThe Italian Job.[1] An album of tracks recorded in 1969 and produced by Peter Eden was issued on theSpark label whilst in 1971 tracks recorded between 1965 and 1967 were released onTransatlantic asInnovations.[3][5] In 1972, he finally released a soloalbum,Duffy Power, on the GSF label (GSF 502),produced in conjunction withAndrew Loog Oldham and featuring Korner,Dana Gillespie and others.[2] Although by this time he was widely recognised as an impressive singer, his albums still failed to sell.[3] His personal life was aggravated by depression and drug use and he succumbed to mental illness, curtailing regular performances.[5]
Most of his Parlophone material including unreleased recordings from the 1960s were issued onCD in 2002 asLeapers and Sleepers. In 2006 saw a further retrospectiveVampers and Champers that included the re-release of his Translantic LPInnovations.
Power died on 19 February 2014 at the age of 72.[6][7]
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