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In one incredible year, Don Fardon outsold Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, the Bee Gees and Status Quo in the singles chart.
Indian Reservation was a worldwide smash in 1971, going on to sell more than three million copies.
It had already been an international hit on its initial release in 1968 but inexplicably flopped in the UK. It was only after the box office success of western Soldier Blue - which had a similar theme of the cruelty dished out to Native Americans - that Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis persuaded Fardon's record label to re-release it.
Fardon, who has been based around Leamington for the past 30 years, said: "It was a hit in 27 countries but did nothing here - it sold four copies and I bought three of them. But Dave Lee Travis somehow convinced the record company to re-release it.
"I was out in Germany or Sweden when I got this telephone call from my management telling me the record had gone straight in at number 19. I said 'what record?'
"But it's easy to explain how a song like that sells so many - it was the beat of it. I had a 43-piece orchestra behind me and it was a wonderful thumping piece of music."
Fardon went on to enjoy success with Belfast Boy , the soundtrack for a BBC documentary on George Best, and the song 'I'm Alive' (which is still a hit in the hip underground mod/psychedelic clubs around europe today), before settling in Leamington and becoming the landlord of the Plough Inn at Eathorpe.
He is now the business development manager for Cubbington-based Mayfair Security, which looks after pop stars and other celebrities, and divides the rest of his time between charity work and occasional tours.
Fardon, 62, said: "Everything a musician could want to achieve I achieved. I had a number one song, I had sell-out tours, I was in a film. There were some heady days and everything stems from Indian Reservation ."
