Gary Farr

Did You Know?

• Gary Farr was the third child of Tommy Farr, a famous Welsh champion heavyweight boxer.
• His brother, Thomas Rikki Germon, was better known as rock music promoter Rikki Farr.
• Toward the end of his life, Farr took up carpentry and enjoyed bicycling; he suffered a heart attack after a strenuous bicycle outing in Los Angeles.

With the T-Bones

Farr and his band the T-Bones were active in the British rhythm and blues scene around Sussex starting in 1963. Their growing local reputation earned them the Yardbirds' old Friday night spot at London's Marquee Club, and they also became regulars at the Crawdaddy Club. In 1965, they put out an EP called Dem Bones Dem Bones Dem T-Bones on Columbia in the UK, produced by Giorgio Gomelsky, along with a few singles around the same time. None of this material made the UK charts, but the group did get on the American TV show Shindig Goes to London in August 1965, where they played a cover of "Wooly Bully" alongside acts like The Moody Blues and The Animals.

After that, their drummer Brian "Legs" Walkley met and played with organist Keith Emerson, who then joined the band near the end. They cut a single, "Together Forever," with Emerson, but it never came out. The T-Bones broke up soon after in 1967.

Solo career

After the T-Bones disbanded, Farr's career slowed, but by May 1968 he released a single, "Everyday" b/w "Green," with Kevin Westlake. By 1969 he began writing his own material in an acoustic-folk style, moving away from the blues and R&B of his earlier years. His first album, Take Something With You, was released on Marmalade and featured the British group Mighty Baby as session musicians; the track "Green" appeared on it. He also recorded a non-album single, "Hey Daddy."

In August 1969 he performed at the Isle of Wight Festival. In 1970, Farr recorded his second solo album, Strange Fruit, on CBS, again with members of Mighty Baby and Richard Thompson. A single from the album, "Revolution of the Season" / "Old Man Boulder," was released with catalogue number S5430. His live performances were mostly in low-key folk clubs, but through his familial connection to promoter Rikki Farr, he performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

After no commercial success, he was out of music until 1973, when he recorded his third and final solo record, Addressed to the Censors of Love, on ATCO. It was his only album recorded in the United States and was produced by Jerry Wexler. One single, "Mexican Sun," was released from it, with the A-side in stereo and the B-side in mono. Neither the single nor the album succeeded commercially, and Farr's solo career ended.