Julie Felix (born Julie Ann Felix in Santa Barbara, CA, on 14 June 1938; died 22 March 2020) was an American-born British-based folk recording artist who achieved success in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her biggest hit was in 1970 with “If I Could (El Condor Pasa)”. The song that best exemplifies her talents is “The World Will Go On”. In 1964, the same year that she arrived in the United Kingdom, she became the first solo folk performer signed to a major British record label, when she gai...
Julie Felix (born Julie Ann Felix in Santa Barbara, CA, on 14 June 1938; died 22 March 2020) was an American-born British-based folk recording artist who achieved success in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her biggest hit was in 1970 with “If I Could (El Condor Pasa)”. The song that best exemplifies her talents is “The World Will Go On”.
In 1964, the same year that she arrived in the United Kingdom, she became the first solo folk performer signed to a major British record label, when she gained a recording contract with Decca Records. Within a decade she had a well-established career. In 1965 she was reportedly the first folksinger to fill the Royal Albert Hall, and was described by The Times as "Britain's First Lady of Folk".
In 1966, Felix became the resident singer on the BBC television programme The Frost Report, presented by David Frost. She hosted her own shows for the BBC from 1967 to 1970, including the series Once More With Felix (the first episode was transmitted on 9 December 1967). Among those featured on her show were The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen and Led Zeppelin's lead guitarist, Jimmy Page (who played the "White Summer" and "Black Mountain Side" guitar solo pieces). On 1 May 1967 she appeared on the German TV show Beat-Club; in September 1968 at the International Essen Song Days. She performed at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969.
She had two UK Singles Chart hits in 1970, the first of several on the RAK label, produced by Mickie Most. The first was with the song entitled "If I Could (El Cóndor Pasa)", while the second, marginally less successful, "Heaven is Here", was written by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of Hot Chocolate. 1990 saw the release of a new album, Bright Shadows.
Felix lived in England until her death, still recording and performing, including appearing on stage on her 80th birthday in 2018. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
