Billie Davis – English Sixties Soul Singer

Billie Davis - Angel Of The Morning (1968)

Tell Him
I Want You To Be My Baby
When You Move You Lose
Angel Of The Morning

Billie Davis was a 1960s English ‘soul’ singer’ and an ‘A’ typical Mod looking girl’ who frequently appeared on Ready Steady Go. She originally sprang to fame after winning a talent completion, backed by Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers. At one point she was the girlfriend of Jet Harris, a guitarist with the Shadows. She was in the car with him when they had a serious accident in which she was unharmed but Jet suffered serious injuries.

Her name was derived from Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis Jnr and given to her by impresario Robert Stigwood to replace her less salubrious birth name of Carol Hedges from Woking.

Billie Davis - white soul singer of the sixties
Billie Davis

She released several cover versions  of black soul records. Tell Him was a cover of the US hit for The Exciters which reached number ten in the UK charts.

Two main releases played at Manchester soul clubs were:-

When You Move You Lose (Decca 1966) Original by R & C Thomas – Stax

I Want You To Be My Baby (Decca 1968) Original by Ellie Greenwich.

When Roger Eagle left The Twisted Wheel  to DJ at the nearby Blue Note Club he took his record collection with him. That meant that his imported 45 of When You Move You Lose by Rufus & Carla (Thomas) went to the next club. So that’s when the new DJ had only the Keith Powell and Billie Davis version to play. (And it’s excellent).

Billie Davis – Wikipedia