Don Fardon | |
---|---|
Birth name | Donald Arthur Fardon |
Born | Coventry, Warwickshire, England | 19 August 1940
Genres | Freakbeat, rock and roll |
Labels | Piccadilly |
Donald Arthur Fardon (born 19 August 1940) is an English pop singer. [1] [2]
Fardon is best known for his cover of the song "Indian Reservation" (1968), a UK number 3 hit and global million selling disc. He also wrote the football anthem "Belfast Boy" about George Best.
Prior to becoming a singer, Fardon worked as a draughtsman for Alfred Herberts Ltd in Coventry. Before his solo success, Fardon was a singer with The Sorrows.
His biggest success was his cover version of "Indian Reservation" by John D. Loudermilk (1968, Billboard Hot 100: number 20; 1970, UK: number 3; [3] Australia: number 4). [4] The global sales were estimated at over one million copies. [5]
His follow-up single "Belfast Boy", composed in honour of the Manchester United and Northern Ireland player George Best, reached number 32 in the UK single chart. "Follow Your Drum" reached number 16 on the Australian Singles Chart in May 1972.
In 1973, his track "Delta Queen" reached number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [4] He covered The Kinks' hit, "Lola" in 1974. Fardon also released a cover version of "Running Bear". In 2006 he re-released his single, "Belfast Boy", in tribute following the death of George Best. [6]
His recording of the song "I'm Alive" (a cover of Tommy James & The Shondells) has been featured in a UK television advertisement for Five Alive fruit drinks, and a Dutch Vodafone commercial. On the back of the success of the latter, "I'm Alive" was reissued in the Netherlands and in March 2011, it reached the Top 20 of the Dutch singles chart.
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"Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. It was first recorded by Marvin Rainwater in 1959 and released on MGM as "The Pale Faced Indian", but that release went unnoticed. The first hit version was a 1968 recording by Don Fardon – a former member of the Sorrows – that reached number 20 on the Hot 100 in 1968 and number 3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1970.
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