On April 8th and 9th 2007, Easter Sunday and Monday, PJ Proby performed at the Paradise Room in Blackpool’s Casino Building.

I was there and I like to share it with you!

After a rather late discovery on Internet that Proby didn’t die from alcohol as expected in the Nineties and was still performing, I flew over from Holland to see this unexpected miracle with my own eyes. Could there be anything left of the power I remembered so well from the Sixties and Seventees? I was about to find out........

It was a tremendous, powerful show and PJ gave his all! It changed my life for ever....

Here’s what happened:

The two nights started with an intro from Blackpools local crooner Johnny Duffy, followed the first night by an enthusiastic performance of Double Impact. The second night showman Jesse Garron did his personifications of all the rock and roll greatest. Not bad, but two hours is a long time when you are waiting for

“PJ Proby!!!!!!!!!!!”

I won’t comment on the very classy looks of PJ when he came on stage. You can see that for yourself in the photos. He entered the stage with his beautiful version of Hurt from Timi Yuro. Goose bumps! This was followed by his swinging sixties hit Mission Bell.

Everybody was surprised when then came Together! According to PJ this was the first time he performed that one live; he hadn’t even done it in the sixties when it was his second hit in England!

His classical Somewhere moved a mother and daughter the first night to run towards the stage and hold his hand, like in the old days! After this powerful song PJ went straight into the rocker Lonely Weekends.  Afterwards PJ asked the audience who had seen Elvis, the musical? For those who didn’t, he gave a medley of Are You Lonesome Tonight, Yesterday, World Without Love and Without Love. This was followed by the uptempo Mystery Train.

Then came the song where it all started with for me in Februari 1965: I Apologise!

PJ managed to let the chills run up and down my spine and it was impossible to make photos!

Then came a song which he also never did live before, a favorite of many fans:

The Masquerade Is Over, from his first album I am PJ Proby. Hereafter the show became high speed with rockers like Proby’s classic Stagger Lee, his version of Doris Day’s Que Sera Sera, and Loydd Price’ Question!

After taking a few seconds to get his breath back PJ went flawless into the most beautiful version of Maria I have ever heard! I can’t imagine any singer -past or present- singing this song as incredibly beautifully as the way PJ does. Nobody could even come close!

From there PJ went to his comeback in 1997 when he did Legend with Marc Almond. He sang I’m Coming Back and Proby is back for sure!

Another wonderful surprise followed: Angelica! from the lp Enigma, probably also the first time PJ did this song live! It’s his tribute to his friend Gene Pitney, who’s sadly no longer with us.

Teasing the audience and letting them guess what would be next, PJ started singing lines from different songs like Just Like Him and Clown Shoes... Then came what we all should have known: American Trilogy! PJ sings this song with so much feeling that it will even move people that have never been a Proby fan at all to tears. PJ did certainly put his heart and soul into it! Then again, that’s what he always has done!

PJ ended his show with his first big hit Hold Me and everybody went crazy!

After this PJ thanked and introduced the members of the band.

Paul Thornton on guitar, Sophie Maw on saxophone and flute, Sarah Dale on bass and vocals, and Mitch Oldham on drums. They all did a terrific job!

PJ left the audience completely fullfilled but in a daze.

It took me a few weeks to get back to earth!

So here’s where my commitment to P.J. Proby started and the photos I took in Blackpool were the start of this website! I will do everything in my power to spread the name and fame of the most talented, yet most underrated and boycotted singer ever!

Get to see a Proby show when you can! I promise you, you will never be the same again!

Manja Dolan