THE LIFE of a rock and roll star was every schoolboy's fantasy in the Sixties.So imagine the delight of those who managed to live the dream.

Graham Bilton, of Dringhouses, York, was only 15 when he started singing with local bands.

Getting established was a daunting task, but musicians Mal Luker and Zeke Lund, who played with The Smoke, gave him a helping hand.

"We were looking to get started playing in pubs and clubs and they were very helpful in lending us their equipment and their van, " he said.

That was about 1965. Graham started singing with a group called The Privileged, performing at The Wild Man pub on the A64 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.

"The place was heaving, " he remembers. "It was where everyone from York and Leeds seemed to go."

After that, soul music began to take over.

In 1967, Graham and his friends formed The Pete Latta Group. With the late Mick Swales on bass guitar and trumpet, the late Sid Locker on drums and Bob Holden on the guitar, Graham entertained the masses at La Bamba, in Bishophill, the Assembly Rooms and Kings Manor cellars.

On a Sunday, the "in" venue was the Tad Coffee House.

He remembers fierce competition between himself and fellow soul singers Cliff Wade and Allen Palmer to get the latest releases from America.

One of his fondest memories was of a performance at the Tad Coffee House one Sunday night.

"Allen Palmer was in the audience and he was going out with a girl from York at that time, " he said.

"We did Working In A Coalmine by Lee Dorsey and Allen was desperate to get hold of that."

Graham is full of praise for his rival groups.

"The Roll Movement were, in my mind, the best in those days, " he admits.

"Their lead singer, Cliff Wade, had a wonderful soul voice."

Later on, Graham was guest singer for a few local bands including Yo-Yo, the night they were the support band for Procol Harum. It was when they were number one with A Whiter Shade Of Pale.

He was a guest singer for Gideon's Few and then travelled to Europe with another York group, called Destiny. Alongside Mick Cundle, John Pearson, Richard G Simpson and Brian Trigg, he played in Austria and Germany.

In 1971, he returned to York and toured the northern impression circuit with the late Dustin Gee, otherwise known as Gerry B.

After that, it was time to work for a living. He went into sales, and now sells Italian furniture.

The Sixties were a special time, he said, and not just for music.

"People were sending away to Carnaby Street to buy clothes that you probably couldn't get up here.

"Hipster trousers came in and everybody latched on to that idea.

A lot of the boys who played in the bands wore high Cuban heels.

It was quite a spectacle."

In 1967, Graham made his most famous fashion faux pas.

"That was when everyone went through the psychedelic stage, " he explains.

"On one occasion, Mick Swales managed to talk me into wearing a psychedelic trouser suit for one booking."

It was about 15 different colours, he says, including purple, red, blue, green and blue.

He got so much ribbing for it that it was consigned to fashion history.

It was a friendly time, he remembers, with music rivals striking up friendships.

"People just got on with life and enjoyed it."