Trivia

In 1953 he formed a vocal group of three men and two women called the Coronets (named for the Coronation that year) who became well known through work on radio and television. The Coronets sang backup on recordings and had a few of their own on Columbia.

A few Bill Shepherd genre EPs were released on the Rainbow label in 1962, on colored vinyl: Hit Themes from TV, Western Songs, and the Sing-Along Party Record, twelve songs on a 7-inch disk.

He signed with Pye, and a Bill Shepherd Orchestra instrumental single in 1958, 'Big Guitar', scored a French number 1 in France for its B side, a version of 'Tequila' (a US number 1 that year by the Champs).

The Pye contract seems to have ended in 1962, but Bill continued to arrange for other artists' recordings and for radio and television. About this time he even had his own radio program on the BBC called Evergreen, for which he wrote the theme music.

Bill left the group he formed in 1953'the Coronets' about 1955, after which another singer in the group, Mike Sammes, turned them into an institution as the Mike Sammes Singers, recording a large share of the backing vocals on British pop records through the 1970s (they sing on 'I Am the Walrus').

His first album as session leader was Shepherd and His Flock Swing on Roulette in 1958 (besides the obvious pun the title is a play on the jazz instrumental 'Swingin' Shepherd Blues' that was a pop hit that year).

Bill moved in the mid-fifties from singing into doing instrumental and vocal arrangements of all types from light classical to country, a skill that served him well later with the varied music of the Bee Gees.

Bill perceived that Barry's songwriting, the Gibb brothers' harmonies, and their growing abilities as instrumentalists all could fit perfectly into the current Beatles-dominated pop music world. With his encouragement they finally got a top twenty single, and an album.

Shepherd joined Festival Records and first began working with Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb in 1965 on their recording of Arthur Alexander's "Every Day I Have to Cry" and the Barry Gibb-authored B-side, "You Wouldn't Know.".

In 1968, Shepherd also released an album entitled Aurora on which he conducted a soft pop chorus in performances of songs composed by the Gibb brothers.

Shepherd departed Australia for England in 1966, and by 1967 was back working with the Bee Gees, this time under the auspices of manager/producer Robert Stigwood. He was responsible for many of the arrangements and the conducting of many accompaniments on their '60s recordings, from small string ensembles to 30-piece orchestras, in effect serving the same function with this group that George Martin had with the Beatles.

After time in the RAF and work as a journalist, Bill decided to become a professional singer, first at Butlin's English resorts and then as a member of George Mitchell's singers.

The Bill Shepherd Chorus was credited on the front of the sleeve on two albums by Ray Martin's Orchestra, High Barbaree! 12 Famous Sea Shanties (Columbia, 1957) and Olives, Almonds and Raisins (Columbia, 1958).

Bill continued to arrange and conduct for other artists and for radio and television. Hit songs bearing the credit 'Accompaniment directed by Bill Shepherd' included 'Love Me Again' and 'Devotion' by Petula Clark (with Bill's orchestra, 1958), 'Trudie' by Joe Henderson (piano instrumental with Bill's chorus, 1958), 'The Story of My Life' by Gary Miller (with Bill's orchestra and chorus, 1958, produced by Joe Meek), and 'I've Waited So Long' by Anthony Newley (with Bill's orchestra, 1959, UK number 3). The Bill Shepherd Orchestra is credited on the front cover of an album by English singer Lita Roza, Me on a Carousel (1959), and the Bill Shepherd Orchestra and Chorus on an album by Michael O'Duffy, Homespun from Ireland (Pye, 1959).

He also worked with legendary producer Joe Meek during the early '60s and cut a song with Gene Vincent, conducting the orchestral accompaniment for the American rock legend in 1963 before emigrating to Australia in 1964.

During the early 1980's Bill Shepherd introduced himself to as a candidate for consideration as Musical Director for the Starborne library. His prior release [Aurora] and his additional work with the Bill Shepherd Singers won him a spot on the Starborne growing list of Music Directors.

The British-born Shepherd had first achieved notice in the pop world in 1959 with his work as producer/composer on a film called Idle on Parade, which attempted to put Anthony Newley into a kind of rock & roll comedy vehicle.

Shepherd's good professional relationship with the Bee Gees in those years, along with his musical range, allowed him to work in any of the idioms in which they chose to record, from psychedelia to pop ballads, and he was, at least as much as guitarist Vince Melouney or drummer Colin Petersen, a full-time member of the group in everything but name.

As a recording artist, Bill Shepherd has released such successful albums as the pop instrumental LP Shepherd and His Flock in 1959 and, in 1968, the Aurora LP.

It is as an engineer, and later a producer/arranger, however, that he had a major impact on popular music by virtue of his association with the Bee Gees.

He was a British orchestra leader, arranger and music director.

Possibly Bill's last album before emigrating to Australia was "Bill Shepherd Plays Evergreens", released on Parlophone around June 1964. He wrote for the sleeve notes that 'my main ambition is to compose, especially modern pops' and 'do a lot more lyric writing', but adds that 'with the new big band, the current radio, TV and session work, there isn't a great deal of free time'. But for some reason, less than a year later, he was on the other side of the world recording songs by three teenage boys.

Bill and his friend Jimmy Fraser perpetrated two beat group cash-in albums in 1963-1964 as Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots. Titled Merseymania and More Merseymania, they contained a few Lennon-McCartney songs, but mostly Bill Shepherd compositions, sung by Bill and Jimmy and played by a Beatles-like rock band of hired musicians. (The first of these albums appeared in the USA as Beats!!!! The Merseyside Sound.).

He sometimes used the alias of Kim Drake.