P. J. Proby (born James Marcus Smith; November 6, 1938)[1] is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.

[4] His father was an affluent banker;[4] at nine, his parents divorced and as part of the custody deal, Proby was sent to military school.

By the time Proby left school, he had already wanted a career "in the movies" and moved to California to become an actor and recording artist.

[5] Given the stage name Jett Powers by Hollywood agents Gabey, Lutz, Heller, and Loeb,[6] he took acting and singing lessons and played small roles in films.

[5] After a number of unsuccessful singles, in 1962 Proby began writing songs and recording demos for artists such as Elvis Presley, Bobby Vee, and Johnny Burnette, who had his final UK chart success with the song "Clown Shoes", credited to Proby's real name.

As a result, Proby was banned in every major theatre in Britain, plus appearing on the BBC and ITV television channels.

[4] The incident scandalised the British press and public, causing Proby's career to lose momentum.

[9][10] Minor hits in 1966 were followed by flops, and in March 1968, "It's Your Day Today", gave Proby his last UK chart entry for nearly 30 years.

[citation needed] In 1967 Proby scored his only Billboard Hot 100 top forty hit with "Niki Hoeky".

[citation needed] In 1971, he appeared as Cassio in a rock musical of Shakespeare's Othello, Catch My Soul.

[13] The pair got the singer to record covers of various songs for their label Savoy Records, including "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, "Anarchy in the UK" by The Sex Pistols, "Sign o' the Times" by Prince, and "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.

[citation needed] In the early 1990s, Proby reappeared on stage as himself in the musical Good Rockin' Tonight, followed by playing Roy Orbison in Only The Lonely.

[24] Proby collaborated with Savoy Books, reading for a 1999 audiobook of David Britton's formerly banned novel Lord Horror.

This featured his singles, eight rarities that debuted on the CD format, and two unreleased recordings (Les Reed and Barry Mason's "Delilah"; and Jim Ford's "I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind").

"[32] In a March 2019 interview, he said he had married former wives Marianne Adams when she was 16 and he was 24, Judy Howard when she was 17 and he was 28, and Dulcie Taylor when she was 21 and he was 37.

In another interview, he mentioned that he had not been in a relationship for over twenty years due to him knowing that his preference on underage girls is illegal.