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The following article was first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on October 7, 1978.
Flashback: Johnny O'Keefe, Australia's original rock star, dies
40 years ago Australian rock and roll pioneer Johnny O'Keefe died of a drug overdose, aged 43, ending a career spanning over 25 years.
Johnny O'Keefe, Australia's first and most enduring rock star, died in St Vincent's Hospital (Sydney) last night. O'Keefe, aged 43, collapsed after a heart attack on Thursday night at his home at Double Bay. He suffered brain damage after the heart attack. His condition remained critical during the day and deteriorated late in the afternoon. His wife, Maureen, and his parents, were at his bedside.
Brian Henderson, who was host to Johnny O'Keefe on many bandstand programs, said last night: "John was a pioneer and also a very determined man. Had it not been for O'Keefe it might have taken much longer for Australian talent to be recognised. He was a man of tremendous energy."
He was often described as Australia's answer to Bill Haley or Elvis Presley.
O'Keefe's single, "The Wild One", was the country's first truly Indigenous rock record, milking the charts in March, 1958. His career was marked with No.1 single records, including Sing, I'm Counting on You, Move Baby Move, and She's My Baby. But he also suffered a series of nervous breakdowns.
He had a bad car accident on the Gold Coast in 1960, which seemed to throw the increasingly popular young singer off his mark. His face was brutally scarred, but he continued with his television show, Six O'clock Rock.
In 1974, O'Keefe recorded his last hit record, Mockingbird, with Margaret McLaren. It was in the charts for 12 weeks. His last television appearance was shown on Friday last in TEN, Channel 10's 22 years of television, on which he sang one of his hits, "Sing". [taken from www.smh.com.au]
Since his death, O'Keefe's stature has continued to grow, and he has been posthumously accorded the recognition he did not receive in his lifetime. The first major biography on O'Keefe was published in 1982, and several others have been written since including 'The Wild One' by Damian Johnstone and Johnny O'Keefe - The Facts written in 2008 by Lonnie Lee and released by Starlite Records.
Besides being a great showman himself, he is also credited for nurturing other Australian talent, like Barry Stanton and Lonnie Lee.In 2002, Brendan Hancock published an article in the Music Magazine 'Big Beat of The 50's' that lists and discussed all of the JO'K releases that have been released posthumously, up until 2002. Interestingly enough it doesn't list this release, which is a bit strange.
You can find the article at shamanalternative.com
This post consists of FLACs ripped from my recently acquired CD release (I own the vinyl but unfortunately it isn't in the greatest condition) and thus the decision to rip from CD.
Full album artwork for both CD and LP releases are included along with label scans.
This album is jammed packed full of JO'K hits covering a time span of 1958 -1978 - not to be missed.
Tracklist
02 Mockingbird (with Margaret McLaren on vocals)
03 So Tough
04 Right Now
05 Move Baby Move
06 Come On And Take My Hand
07 She's My Baby
08 Shout
09 The Suns Gonna Shine Tomorrow
10 One Of Those Nights
11 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 12 I'm Counting On You
13 Shake Baby Shake
14 Ooh Poo Pah Doo
15 Six O'Clock Rock
16 Sing (And Tell The Blues So Long)
17 Wild One
18 She Wears My Ring
18 Rock 'N' Roll Boogie
20 Good Luck Charm
21 Don't Be Cruel
22 I Thank You
Tribute To Johnny O'Keefe 22 FLAC Link (301Mb)
Thanks greatly for this. I remember watching Sing, Sing, Sing at a young age on Saturday evenings. John
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