Donald Arthur Fardon (born 19 August 1940) is an English pop singer. Fardon is best known for his cover of the song "

Indian Reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

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

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

Career

Prior to becoming a singer, Fardon worked as a draughtsman for Alfred Herberts Ltd in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. 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. C ...

. 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 "In ...

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

: number 4). The global sales were estimated at over one million copies. His follow-up single " Belfast Boy", composed in honour of the

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

player

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

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, 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 beca ...

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 graphics, 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 repres ...

. He covered

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

' hit, "

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 * Lol ...

" 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 George Best. 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 Five Alive () 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 first introduced ...

fruit drinks, and a Dutch

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

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

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

*'' 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 r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

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

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

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

References

External links