Bill Fairley

Bill Fairley (19**- ) was a British-born musician who moved to South Africa in 1967 when he formed a group "The Bill Fairley Singers" in Johannesburg.

Bill Fairley is well known as a band leader and arranger, having led his own bands and vocal groups for many years in South Africa. He served his musical apprenticeship in the British army playing for three years with the Hussars Military Band. On demobilization he turned professional and was lead alto with the famous Kirchin Brothers Band for three years. Bill finally settled in Manchester and formed his own band. During this period he worked with the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Helen Merrill, Mark Murphy, Shirley Bassey and Matt Monroe. In South Africa he was the original musical director for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and successive shows such as The Sound of Music, Evita, Barnum, Hello Dolly, A Little Night Music, Chicago, Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, Piaf, Pippin and others. (Icon )