[2] As lead singer of his band Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, he had success in the 1960s with "Blue Day", "Poison Ivy", "Over the Rainbow", "Sick and Tired", "Baby, Hold Me Close" and "Mashed Potato"; and in the 1970s with "Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy".

[2][3] Featuring in concerts at Sunbury Pop Festivals and Myer Music Bowl in the early 1970s, the Aztecs also developed the pub rock scene and were one of the loudest groups in Australia.

He relocated to America from 1976 to 1996; after moving, he released the space opera Children of the Sun,[2] which peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard Pop Album chart in 1979.

[7][8] Thorpe also worked as a producer and composed music scores for TV series including War of the Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Columbo, Eight Is Enough and Hard Time on Planet Earth.

[2][9] Thorpe returned to Australia in 1996 and continued as a performer and producer, additionally he wrote two autobiographies, Sex and Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll (1996) and Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy) (1998).

[10][11] He died of a heart attack in February 2007 and was posthumously appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June for his contribution to music as a musician, songwriter and producer.

[12][13] Unlike multiple other Australian artists, Thorpe gained musical fame internationally in countries such as Canada and the United States.

His cult following, particularly after the aforementioned sci-fi themed album Children of the Sun came out, notably involved dramatic live performances outside of Australia such as with laser light shows playing inside multiple planetariums.

[2] US songwriters Leiber and Stoller wrote "Poison Ivy" for R&B vocal group The Coasters, but Thorpe preferred the cover version by The Rolling Stones.

[2][4] On 27 March 1966, Sydney TV station ATN-7 debuted a music show, It's All Happening!, hosted by Thorpe with the Aztecs as the house band.

[2][15] Thorpe had recorded no new material for over two years, but he emerged after a spell of bankruptcy in 1969, with "Good Mornin' Little School Girl", a Willie Dixon cover, as a single in March 1970.

[5]In 1972, the band played two pivotal gigs, first was the Sunbury Pop Festival in January,[2] which featured the debut of Thorpe's self-penned anthem,[1] "Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy".

[2][5] The second major gig was their show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl during the Moomba Festival in March, which resulted in an estimated 200,000 people filling the park,[2] and forced police to close roads around the venue.

[3] Ex-Copperwine blues singer Wendy Saddington had top 30 chart success with her 1972 solo single, "Looking Through a Window",[3] which was written and produced by Thorpe and Morgan of the Aztecs.

[20] Other Australian artists were Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Wendy Saddington, Doug Parkinson, Broderick Smith, Jim Keays, Colleen Hewett, Linda George, Ross Wilson, Bobby Bright, and Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney).

[2] By 1986, he owned a recording and production studio in Los Angeles, where he worked on musical scoring for television series, including: War of the Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Columbo, Eight Is Enough and Hard Time on Planet Earth.

[2] In 1989 Barber and Thorpe co-wrote three more stories for The Puggle Tales series: Double trouble, Flying's easy and Marco and the book of wisdom.

This was followed by the Shakin' the Cage (apostrophe included) album featuring an altered band line-up and a re-recorded version of the title track in March 1991.

[24] The Zoo toured Australia during 1991 and while in the country Thorpe was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on 25 March alongside Glenn Shorrock, Don Burrows and Peter Dawson.

[2] He had returned to live in Sydney and authored his first autobiography, Sex and Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll,[4] on his early experiences in Kings Cross and the formation of the Aztecs, which was released in November.

[2][7] On 14 November 1998, with the Aztecs, Thorpe appeared at the Mushroom 25 Concert, singing "Most People I Know" and "Ooh Poo Pah Doo"; ex-Aztec Lobby Loyde joined them on-stage on guitar.

[28] According to Chugg, an Aztec performance at Sydney's Bondi Lifesaver club in 1974 was so loud as to kill a tankful of tropical fish in an upstairs area – hence the episode title.

Thorpe suffered from chest pains at his home on 28 February 2007 and was taken by an ambulance to St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney around 2:00 am AEDT after having a massive heart attack.

His manager Michael Chugg said the death was a "terrible tragedy", as Thorpe had just finished recording a new album Tangier and was very happy after a recent acoustic tour.

[32] He was posthumously appointed a Member of the Order of Australia on 11 June 2007, with the citation, "For service to the entertainment industry as a musician, songwriter, producer, and as a contributor to the preservation and collection of contemporary Australian music".