BRYAN BROWN - THOUSANDS MOURN THORPE IN AUSTRALIA

Australian rock legend BILLY THORPE was laid to rest on Sunday (04MAR07) with more than 7,000 people attending his memorial service in Sydney. The mourners crowded into the Sydney Entertainment Centre to pay their final respects to the rocker who died from a heart attack on 28 February (07). Thorpe earned great success in the 1960s as a clean-cut pop idol and later gained fame in the 1970s as the lead singer of the hard rock band BILLY THORPE + THE AZTECS. Flanking Thorpe's casket were 13 of his favourite guitars, which were taken off the wall of his recording studio, where they were normally displayed. Among the thousands of fans at the memorial service were former MIDNIGHT OIL frontman PETER GARRETT, Australian rocker JIMMY BARNES and BREAKER MORANT star BRYAN BROWN. OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, who grew up on stage and screen in Australia with Thorpe, sang OVER THE RAINBOW, which the rocker regularly sang throughout his four-decade career.