A Rockapaedia Obituary
Julie Felix
Julie Felix
died aged eighty three at home in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom on 22nd March, 2020, after a short illness.
Julie was born Julie Ann Felix in California, United States of America in nineteen thirty-eight with a mixed Native American and Mexican heritage. Her singing career was at its height in the nineteen sixties and seventies, although she performed and released records right up until her death.
In nineteen sixty Julie met Leonard Cohen on the Greek island of Hydra and they remained lifelong close friends, even recording material together such as Leonards songs "Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye" and T"he Stranger Song" amongst many other titles.
Julie moved from her native California to the UK in nineteen sixty-four and secured a recording contract with Decca Records. Within a year her career was well-established in the UK, and in nineteen sixty-five she became the first ever folk singer to appear at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In nineteen sixty-eight Julie became the resident singer on the BBC’s The Frost Report, and later that year and until nineteen seventy, she additionally presented her own TV shows, including Once More with Julie Felix.
In nineteen sixty-nine she performed at The Isle of Wight Festival for the first time and during that year she had two hit singles in the pop charts; "If I Could (El Condor Pasa)" which was her most successful 7” release, and "Heaven is Here" which was co-written by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of Hot Chocolate.
Julie was briefly married to David Evans between the years of 1966-67 but when questioned about her sexuality, Julie indicated that she was drawn towards souls rather than specific genders.
Julie went on to work with an array of well-known artists of the time including John Renbourne, Manfred Mann and The Hollies, and through the ensuing decades recorded a number of songs written by her old friend Bob Dylan.
Julie’s last single, "Freedom is a Woman" with Linda Em was released on 8th 2020, aka International Women’s Day. The song is close to Julie’s feminist ethos as it’s about celebrating all the women in the world, and also draws on Julie’s heritage with a Mexican cantina opening the song.