A top-five record
Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger Trinity took “This Wheel’s on Fire” to number five in the UK in 1968. It spent 16 weeks on the chart. That is the famous Julie’s résumé, not mine. Official Charts ↗
A brief name clarification
I’m not her.
There is another Julie Driscoll: the celebrated British singer with the extraordinary voice. I’m the engineering leader who builds polished interfaces. An understandable mix-up, but a consequential one.
Exhibit A · The other Julie
How this record got here
The name made it irresistible.
My family found this album at a garage sale when I was a kid. We had no connection to the singer beyond the name, but naturally the record came home with us. Decades later, it has become both a treasured bit of family lore and the color inspiration for this site.
Filed under · Julie, but not this Julie
A few facts about her.
The wheel is singular
The song is “This Wheel’s on Fire” — written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. Twenty-four years after the hit, Driscoll recorded it again for Absolutely Fabulous. Official Charts ↗
Yes, that AbFab theme
Her version with Adrian Edmondson became the unmistakable theme to AbFab, which first aired on BBC Two in November 1992. Royal Television Society ↗
More than a sixties icon
Recording as Julie Tippetts, she moved from soul, jazz, and R&B into contemporary jazz and improvised music, using her voice as an instrument far beyond conventional singing. Cafe OTO ↗