Richard Anthony

b. Richard Anthony Bush, 13 January 1938, Cairo, Egypt. Anthony forsook higher education in Paris to become a singer but was obliged to make ends meet with a variety of jobs and as a session saxophonist. He signed to Pathe-Marconi in 1958, but his debut single, ‘La Rue Des Coeurs Perdus’, fared poorly. However, he became popular with his native reproductions of US smashes such as Buddy Holly’s ‘Peggy Sue’ and Lloyd Price’s ‘Personality’. He came into his own, however, during the twist craze with ‘C’est Ma Fête’ (‘It’s My Party’), and an untranslated ‘Let’s Twist Again’ established him as a rival to Johnny Hallyday (the Gallic ‘answer’ to Elvis Presley). After a million-selling French cover version of Peter, Paul And Mary’s ‘500 Miles Away From Home’, he secured a UK chart entry in 1963 with ‘Walking Alone’ and reached the Top 20 with ‘If I Loved You’. His admirable revival of the Everly Brothers’ ‘Crying In The Rain’ narrowly missed the charts. Concentration on this market adversely affected his domestic standing, until 1966’s ‘Fille Sauvage’ (the Rolling Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’) brought him in from the cold. Both on tour and in the studio, he was backed for some time by the Roulettes, who impressed him with their playing on a French version of ‘Concrete And Clay’. Anthony’s career continued its ups and downs and his total record sales exceeded 12 million.