Billy Nicholls

The Profile

British singer-songwriter whose baroque/psychedelic pop debut Would You Believe was recorded for Immediate Records in the late 1960s under Andrew Loog Oldham and featured members of Small Faces. The album became a cult “lost” classic and was officially released decades later. Nicholls is also known for the song Forever's No Time At All.

Review-sourced highlights: signed very young to write songs for Del Shannon on the advice of George Harrison; contracted by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham for Immediate; appears uncredited on Small Faces’ Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake; Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane contributed to his recordings; Would You Believe was pressed only in scarce promo copies in 1968 and officially released on CD in 2000; the album’s sound is likened to Pet Sounds with rich, baroque arrangements.

One glowing DeBaser review hails Billy Nicholls’ Would You Believe as a lost 1968 baroque-psych pop masterpiece. It details Immediate Records’ collapse, the album’s delayed official release, and contributions from Small Faces members. The sound is compared to Pet Sounds with rich brass and keyboards. The title track and It Brings Me Down are singled out as standouts.