Australian Rock by Memorable Music

Instead of becoming a rock star Brian Cadd could have become a champion tennis player. At the age of ten his mother offered him the opportunity of taking piano or tennis lessons. Brian chose piano.
Brian Cadd had the two biggest selling Australian albums in 1973 — Parabrahm and Brian Cadd.
Brian's September, 1974 hit 'Let Go' was recorded in the U.S.A. by Gene Pitney.
Brian also composed The Pointer Sisters' 'Love Is Like A Rolling Stone'.

Pat Carroll
Pat Carroll's professional career began in her early teens when she played lead roles in the stage musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Carnival.
During the latter half of the sixties Pat Carroll teamed up with subsequent super star Olivia Newton-John in England to form a vocal duet called 'Pat And Olivia'.
In 1970 Pat Carroll married John Farrar (early member of the Strangers and Marvin, Welch and Farrar and composer of 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' from the movie Grease).

Nick Cave
Following the demise of the Birthday Party, lead singer Nick Cave performed in New York with a troupe calling itself The Immaculate Consumptive. Its members included such underground luminaries as Marc Almond, Clint Ruin, and Lydia Lunch.
One of Nick Cave's self-confessed heroes is Elvis Presley. The title of Nick's independent album The First Born Is Dead (1985) was a reference to the fact that Elvis had a twin brother who was still-born. The single lifted from the album, 'Tupelo', is also the name of Elvis' birthplace.
D In November, 1986 Nick Cave released his fourth album with the Bad Seeds, Your Funeral — My Trial. The irony of the title is that on the eve of the album's release, Nick faced a somewhat tenuous vagrancy charge in New York, and his former Birthday Party compatriot, Tracey Pew, died from a brain haemorrhage.

Chain
Blues group Chain performed with more than fifteen different line-ups during the sixteen year period spanning 1967 to 1983.
Chain's biggest hit, 'Black And Blue' (March, 1971), was originally titled 'We're Groaning'.
Chain's bass player Barry Sullivan, and drummer Barry Harvey were popularly known as Big Goose and Little Goose respectively.
On the Australia Day Weekend, 1982 the best known line-up of Chain (Matt Taylor, Phil Manning, Barry Sullivan, Barry Harvey) re-formed for the Mushroom Evolution Concert, to celebrate Mushroom Records' 10th anniversary. This line-up of the band had not played together for 10 years. They got together again in December, 1983, and stayed together long enough to record the album Child In The Street (October, 1985). and Australian Rhythm and Blues (1987)

Changing Times
Even if the Changing Times' two 1965 hits 'Mary Lou' and It Ain't So' weren't historically significant, their presentation was. The quartet sported bleached blonde hair and wore black capes.

Chantoozies
The Chantoozies' first single (March, 1987) was a cover of Redbone's 1971 hit 'Witch Queen Of New Orleans'. The Chantoozies version reached No. 4 on the national singles chart.
The film clip to accompany the single was produced by film director Peter Faiman of Crocodile Dundee fame. It was the first rock film clip he had ever made, and it was shot at Melbourne's famed Monsalvat Chateau.
Manager of the Chantoozies is former Australian Crawl guitarist Brad Robinson, son of Justice Robinson.

Cherokees
The Cherokees' biggest hit, 'Minnie The Moocher' (May, 1967) was written in 1931 by the hi-de-ho man Cab Galloway, who appeared in the 1980 cult movie The Blues
Brothers, after years out of show business.
Latter-day member of the Cherokees, Marty Van Wyak celebrates his birthday on the same day as Skyhooks' Red Symons: June 13th.

Johnny Chester
Johnny Chester's first professional engagement was with a group called the Jaywoods at a dance he had organised at St. Cecilia's Hall, Preston (Vie.) in 1959.
Johnny Chester toured Australia with the Beatles in 1964.
'The World's Greatest Mum' (August, 1973) was not only Johnny Chester's biggest selling single, but also the top selling Australian composition of 1973.
In April, 1975 Johnny Chester released an album entitled Greensborough Music.The title was derived from the outer Melbourne suburb of Greensborough where Johnny has lived with his family for two decades.
Johnny Chester was born on Boxing Day in 1941.
Choirboys
In November 1983 lead vocalist Mark Gable ruptured his vocal chords which not only put a halt to his singing, but also rendered him speechless. This effectively put the band in limbo from late 1983 until well into 1987.
Record releases were also restricted during this period. 'Boys in the Band' was issued in November 1983, but things didn't happen again for Choirboys until 'Run to Paradise' made the charts in October 1987.

Richard Clapton
Before becoming a successful singer/songwriter Richard Clapton worked as a commercial artist.
Richard spent five years in Europe, before returning home to Australia in 1972. Whilst in Berlin he worked with a group called Bitch.
Richard's first solo album, Prussian-Blue (November, 1973), documented his travels throughout Europe, and contained songs about Denmark, France and Germany.
Richard's 1980 album Dark Spaces (July) was dedicated to the memory of Stars' guitarist Andrew Durant, who died of cancer in May, 1980.
In 1981 Richard produced INXS' second album, Underneath The Colours (October).
In 1987 INXS' drummer Jon Farriss returned the favour by producing Clapton's first album in three years, Glory Road (October, 1987).
In 1983, Richard temporarily put aside his solo career to work as vocalist for the Party Boys.

Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel was formed in 1974. In 1975 lead singer Jimmy Barnes left the band to replace Bon Scott (who joined AC/DC) in fellow Adelaide band Fraternity, only to return six months later.
Cold Chisel's first hit, 'Khe Sanh' (June, 1978) was initially banned by the Federation of Australian Broadcasters. The offending lines were: 'And their legs were often open/but their minds were always closed.'
Cold Chisel's second singles chart entry was with the five track 30 cm (12") live E.P. You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful & You're Mine (December, 1978).
Cold Chisel's Breakfast A t Sweethearts (March, 1979) was the top selling Australian recorded album for 1979.
The title track to the Breakfast A t Sweethearts album was written about the popular all-night restaurant in Sydney's King's Cross, where musicians would go for a meal after late night gigs.
In August, 1979 Cold Chisel set off on a national tour billed as 'Set Fire To The Town'. In many cities during the tour, the band was slammed by the press for bad taste in the choice of a poster which depicted a burning monk.
Cold Chisel subtly addressed the social issue of abortion in the hit single 'Choir Girl' (November, 1979).
Cold Chisel's East (May, 1980) was the second biggest selling Australian recorded album for 1980 (after Split Enz's True Colours).
The first 10,000 copies of East came packaged with a bonus single featuring the band's live rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door'.
In 1980 when Cold Chisel's 'My Baby' was chosen as the band's first single in the United States, the record company, Elektra, wanted to market the disc by sending
it to radio stations wrapped in a baby's diaper (nappy).
Cold Chisel's double live set 'Swingshift' (March, 1981) debuted on the national charts at No. 2. This was an unprecedented achievement for an Australian band,
Cold Chisel had unprecedented success at the 1980 Countdown Awards (held in April, 1981). The band received awards for:
Most Popular Group
Most Popular Record
Best Australian Album
Best Songwriter
Best Producer
Best Cover Design
Outstanding Achievement Award
The band performed the finale to the awards, during which they proceeded to wreck most of the stage.
In 1982, in support of the Circus Animals' album (March, 1982), the band undertook the Circus Animals' national tour. The tour marked the first time a band had played under a big top, with circus animals as support acts.
Cold Chisel's studio album, Twentieth Century, debuted at No. 1 on the national charts in April, 1984, knocking INXS' The Swing off the top spot.
In 1983, Cold Chisel played a series of secret gigs under the name of the Barking Spiders (a reference to anal flatulence). Following the band's demise, an album called The Barking Spiders Live (December, 1984) was released. The Cold Chisel name did not appear on the album, which was packaged in the form of a seventies styled bootleg album.
Cold Chisel's 1984 feature film, The Last Stand, documented the band's final tour prior to breaking up.
Cold Chisel's principal songwriter, Don Walker, has an Honours Degree in Physics, and at one time he worked at the Weapons Research Establishment in South Australia.

Ray Columbus & The Invaders
Ray was not only famous in the mid-sixties for the No. 1 hit 'She's A Mod' (October, 1964), but he was also credited with introducing a new dance to Australia called the Mod's Nod (the main feature being to shake your hair all over your face).
In 1974, Ray was awarded an OBE for his services to entertainment.

Contraband
In February, 1978 Australian band Finch was signed by the American Portrait label for world-wide release. At the same time, because of the existence of a Dutch outfit called Finch, a name change was recommended. They chose Contraband. Unfortunately, following the change the band began a downward slide and were eventually dropped by Portrait.

Colin Cook
Colin Cook was an original member of legendary Australian band the Thunderbirds playing saxophone.
Before establishing himself as a successful soloist, Colin Cook worked as a back-up session vocalist. In fact he sang harmony backing on Frankie Davidson's 'Have You Ever Been To See King's Cross?'.

Peter Cupples
The title for Peter Cupples' album Half The Effort, Twice The Effect (July, 1984) was inspired by a famous line from actor Laurence Olivier: 'If you had given half the effort, you would have got twice the effect.'

D.D. Smash
The group's debut album, Cool Bananas, created New Zealand recording history by being the first N.Z. album to chart at number one in its first week of release.
In August, 1984 D.D. Smash released a single entitled 'Whaling'. However, many pop fans mistakenly assumed that the song supported whale hunting and expressed
their outrage. So in October, 1984 the song was released with the amended title 'Bravo Bravo'.

Daddy Cool
Daddy Cool's Daddy Who?... Daddy Cool album was the biggest selling Australian album for 1971. The album held the record for the most number of copies sold for a local album (60,000) until 1974, when Skyhooks' Living In The 70's was released.
Daddy Cool's popularity was largely boosted by the band's entertaining presentation, and outrageous stage outfits. These included a Jughead-style cap (worn by drummer Gary Young); Mickey Mouse ears (Wayne Duncan); a propeller beanie (Ross Hannaford); and a fox tail (Ross Wilson).
The biggest selling Australian single for 1971, Daddy Cool's 'Eagle Rock', became a hit all over again to a new generation of rock fans in August, 1982. Ross Wilson had been performing the song with Mondo Rock for a number of years.
Daddy Cool was one of the first Australian bands to concentrate on the vast American market (rather than going to England and starving), and during 1971/ 72 undertook three American tours.

Terry Dean
Terry Dean, who had a hit with 'It's You' (July, 1975) and later formed country-rock band Bluestone, was born on Christmas Day in 1945.

DeKroo Brothers

The DeKroo Brothers caught the public's attention by using oversized guitars.
By the mid-sixties the DeKroo Brothers were concentrating on their own musical instrument repair business and guitar school.
In February, 1965 Leo DeKroo married popular female singing star Judy Stone

Delltones
Bass singer, lan Tee Wee' Wilson, was a champion surfer and barefoot water skier in the early sixties.
The Delltones' 'Come A Little Bit Closer' (January, 1963) was the biggest selling Australian single in 1963.
After a twenty year absence from the charts the re-formed Delltones made the national Top Twenty with their Bop Til Ya Drop album (March, 1984). Their previous chart entry was the single 'Hey Girl Don't Bother Me' (October, 1964).

Denvermen
The Denvermen created Australian touring history at the time by travelling in excess of 400,000 kilometres throughout 1963.

Johnny Devlin
At the age of sixteen Johnny (who was heavily into body building) won New Zealand's Mr. West Coast title.
Johnny Devlin's first single, 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy' (a version of Lloyd Price's classic sung in an Elvis Presley style) created New Zealand recording history by selling an unbelievable 100,000 copies and being the first Gold record ever awarded there.
Johnny Devlin was dubbed the 'Satin Satan' by the media because of his penchant for technicolored suits and shiny satin shirts.
Johnny was a prolific songwriter (he wrote Patsy Ann Noble's 'Good Looking Boy' and the Denvermen's 'Surfside'), record company executive (Artist and Repertoire at RCA Records), ran his own theatrical and booking agency and provided personal management for artists such as the Denvermen.
In 1964 Johnny was one of the support acts on the Beatles' only tour of Australia.
By 1981 Johnny Devlin had record releases on no fewer than twelve different labels — Prestige, Leedon, Teen, Columbia, CBS, RCA, Bell, ATA, Festival, Music
World, Penguin and Wizard.

Divinyls
Divinyls' lead singer Chrissie Amphlett is the cousin of sixties songstress Little Pattie (surname also Amphlett).
Divinyls' original bass player, Jeremy Paul, had earlier been a member of Air
Divinyls was formed in late 1980, but first came to major prominence with an appearance in the Pat Lovell produced movie Monkey Grip (1982). Director Ken Cameron was looking for a rock and roll band that epitomized the eighties look and sound. When he spotted Divinyls, he felt they fitted the bill perfectly.
Divinyls' debut album, Desperate (January, 1983) was recorded and mixed at New York's Power Station Studios, with Australian producer Mark Opitz at the helm. This marked the first time an Australian act had taken an Australian producer overseas to record a debut album.
Divinyls' hit single, 'Pleasure And Pain' (October, 1985) was written and produced by Australian-born producer Mike Chapman (ofChinnichap fame), the man behind hits by Suzi Quatro, Sweet and Blondie.
While shooting the film clip for the 1986 single 'Sleeping Beauty', Divinyls had to have a last minute change of location. Plans to shoot in an old railway bridge
were scrapped when the film crew was informed that the band required $10 million insurance.

Dragon
In December, 1987 Dragon's lead vocalist Marc Hunter appeared in the stage play Rasputin. He took the lead role of Rasputin, as replacement for Jon English.
In 1987 Dragon became known as Hunter for the overseas market. This was to avoid any Heavy Metal connotations the name Dragon might create.
Dragon's keyboards player, the late Paul Hewson, was born on the same date as ex-Split Enz drummer Malcolm Green: January 25th.

Denise Drysdale
Denise's name was actually spelt with a 'c' (Denice) but she changed the spelling during her school years.
Denise Drysdale is probably better known as a television personality than a singer, having appeared on many shows including the Ernie Sigley Show, Beauty And The Beast, The Love Game and originally as a mimer on Kommotion.

Slim Dusty
Slim goes down in Australian music history as having sold more locally produced records in Australia than any other artist. After more than thirty years in the business Slim has sold more than 2.7 million records in Australia.
Slim Dusty was the first Australian to make the British charts when 'A Pub With No Beer' reached No. 3 in the U.K. in January, 1959.
Slim's first recording session was at the Columbia Studios, Homebush (Sydney) in November, 1946. Three 78 RPM discs were released on the Regal Zonophone label as a result. The first was 'When Rain Tumbles Down In July'/'My Faded Dream'.
Slim has toured Australia constantly throughout his professional career, averaging 30,000 miles (48,000 kilometres) a year.
In 1970 Slim was awarded an MBE for his services to entertainment.
In 1976 Slim signed an exclusive world-wide contract with EMI (Australia) Ltd. for what was reportedly the highest fee ever paid to an Australian recording artist.
Coinciding with Slim's fiftieth birthday in 1977 he received his fiftieth gold record.
Twenty-two years after 'A Pub With No Beer' made number one Slim hit the top of the national pop charts again with another drinking song called 'Duncan'. It was written by an amateur composer (Pat Alexander) who sent a tape of the song to Slim.

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