P.J. Proby started off the year with preparing for his upcoming Court Case at Crown Court in Worcester. He was accused of benefit fraud. After a 16 days trial, the Prosecution dropped the case and the Jury found P.J. Proby “not guilty” on all nine accounts. His name was cleared.

The prosecution said that if they would have had all the paperwork from the different departments of the Pension Service, they would not have prosecuted. This had truely been a waste of taxpayers money, which had caused P.J. Proby a lot of stress. Luckily all ended well. Sadly this whole episode has cost a lot of bookings, as theatres were awaiting the outcome of the trial.

Pj responded by writing a song for his upcoming Court Case: We the Jury/ I’m PJ.

The CD single was released immediately after PJ had won his Court Case and his name was cleared.

This is what he said about the time he wrote We The Jury:

There have been three pre-trial hearings and at each one the Prosecution has stood and asked that the Court imprison me for no less than three years for crimes I did not commit.

The outlook is not very hopeful, but I’ve still got a song in my heart. And while I was washing my dishes after dinner, I found myself making up this little song, which is how “We The Jury” came to life during the evening before my trial the next morning 6th of March 2012.

I fought for truth and the truth won.

The second song on this single was “I’m P.J.”, written by Michael Dees. This is PJ’s comment on the song:

“I’m PJ.” was written by my childhood friend and ole pal Michael Dees, who has described me pretty darn good in this here story. “Even if I do say so myself”.

The weekend before he had to go to trial, P.J. did his full show of 1 1/2 hour in Ricky Tomlinson’s nightclub The Greenroom in Liverpool. He was backed by his MD and keyboard player  Steve “Stretch” Price, who had formed a band consisting of John Pettifer on guitar, Simon Goulding on bass and Paul Smith on drums. Sue Greenway gave a great sax and flute performance. In August this show was repeated, with Dave Tyas on drums and Katie Parker on sax & flute. See the photo.

Sixties Gold Tour 2012

P.J. was asked back on The Sixties Gold Tour 2012 (from half September till 1 December) by Chimes International. The exact dates are to be found on the tour dates 2012 page.

P.J. Proby did a  powerful 30 minutes set, backed by The Pacemakers (Tony Young - keyboards, Steve Tomson - guitar, Nick Woolgar - drums & Joe Mitchell  -bass) and Katie Parker on sax & flute. PJ sang his hit singles Hold Me and Somewhere, did two songs from his 1965 album P.J. Proby (Mission Bell and Lonely Weekend) and another two songs as a tribute to his old friends from these days, Eddie Cochran and Ben Weisman: Three Steps To Heaven and The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. Additionally P.J. sang his Elvis song If I Can Dream. A sparkling performance!

Sadly, Chip Hawkes had to undergo treatment for his Multiple Myeloma. Chris Farlowe replaced Chip on the first two shows, and Steve Ellis (ex Love Affair) on the rest of the Tour, both backed by The Pacemakers and opening the show. They were great as ever.

The Animals closed the first half. They really got the audience going. John Steel is the old drummer and founder member of The Animals. Mick Gallagher is the keyboard player that joined The Animals in 1965 after Alan Price had left the band. Guitar player Danny Handley has earned his stripes in many bands and singer  Peter Barton realy has Eric Burdon power!

Of course the night was closed by Gerry Marsden!

Sweden!

The year ended with a special treat for all the Swedish fans...

On 13 December P.J. Proby & The Pacemakers gave a double show for Viking Line on board of Cruise Ship Cinderella, going from Stockholm to Finland and back again.

Sophie Freeman came on board as well to lighten up PJs show on sax and flute.

The two sets were professionally filmed by Björn Lund and the P.J. Proby DVD will be available through the shop on www.pjproby.net in due time!

The following great photographs are some stills from the show, taken by Björn Lund.

Thank you Björn!

                        

                         To conclude the year, P.J. Proby wishes you all a

                        Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013!