Don Fardon (born Donald Arthur Fardon, 19 August 1940,

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

pop

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

. Fardon is best known for his cover of the song "

Indian Reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

" (1968), a UK number 3 hit and global million selling disc. He also wrote the football anthem "

Belfast Boy "Belfast Boy" is a song by the British singer Don Fardon. Released as a single in March 1970 it spent five weeks in the UK Singles Charts, peaking at number 32. It is a tribute to the Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer George Best, t ...

" about

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

Career

Prior to becoming a singer, Fardon worked as a

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

for Alfred Herberts Ltd in Coventry. Before his solo success, Fardon was a singer with

The Sorrows The Sorrows are a rock band formed in 1963 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, by Pip Whitcher, and were part of the British beat boom of the 1960s. They were a fixture in the English mod scene and are sometimes referred to as freakbeat. Care ...

. His biggest success was his

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "

" by

John D. Loudermilk John Dee Loudermilk Jr. (March 31, 1934 – September 21, 2016) was an American singer and songwriter. Although he had his own recording career during the 1950s and 1960s, he was primarily known as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "I ...

(1968, ''Billboard'' Hot 100: number 20; 1970, UK: number 3;

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

: number 4). The global sales were estimated at over one million copies. His follow-up single "

", composed in honour of the

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

player

, reached number 32 in the UK single chart. "Follow Your Drum" reached number 16 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

in May 1972. In 1973, his track "Delta Queen" reached number 86 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. He covered

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, "

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

" in 1974. Fardon also released a cover version of "

Running Bear "Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill ...

". In 2006 he re-released his

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Belfast Boy", in tribute following the death of

. His recording of the song " I'm Alive" (a cover of

Tommy James & The Shondells Tommy James and the Shondells are an American pop rock/psychedelic rock band, formed in Niles, Michigan, in 1964. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S. – " Hanky Panky" (July 1966, their only RIAA Certified Gold record) and "Crimson and Clov ...

) has been featured in a UK television advertisement for

Five Alive Five Alive (french: Déli-cinq) is a line of fruit juice blends created by Minute Maid, a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company. Both the name and the five colors of the logo refer to the five fruit juices each variety contains. The juice line was ...

fruit drinks, and a Dutch

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

commercial. On the back of the success of the latter, "I'm Alive" was reissued in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and in March 2011, it reached the Top 20 of the Dutch singles chart.

Discography

Albums

*''Lament of the Cherokee Indian Reservation'' (1968) GNP *''I've Paid My Dues'' (1970)

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

*'' Released'' (1970) Youngblood *''Indian Reservation'' (1988) GNP *''Line Dance Party'' (1998) Grasmere *''Indian Reservation'' (1999) Elap *''I'm Alive'' (2003)

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

*''Letter'' (2005) Magic *''Coventry Boy'' (2006)

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Singles

Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" is a song written by John D. Loudermilk.Jancik, Wayne ''The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders'' 1998. page 247 It was first recorded by Marvin Rainwater in 1959 and released ...

" - 1968 *" I'm Alive" - 1969 (re-issued 2011)* *"

" - originally released 20 March 1970 (re-issued 2006)*

References

External links