Remembered as a one-hit-wonder (the chart-topping Out Of Time), the man born John Henry Deighton can rightly be considered one of Britain’s great underachievers.
With his powerhouse voice, he had the ability to handle most kinds of material – R&B, rock, soul, even jazz – and he was hailed by The Rolling Stones. Not bad for a working-class ex-schoolboy boxing champion and boy soprano who sang Silent Night at the Royal Festival Hall.
After releasing eleven singles on Andrew Loog Oldham‘s Immediate label he began working with the jazz-rock group Colosseum before joining Atomic Rooster in 1972, featuring on their albums Made in England (1972) and Nice ‘n’ Greasy (1973).
He has continued to perform live sporadically.
Bizarrely, Farlowe supplemented his income as a pop star with a stall in Islington selling WWII Nazi regalia, including SS daggers, original swastika flags and medals, insignia and party buttons.