There is an irony in the fact that Australian entertainment royalty in John Young shares a name with a US astronaut. Both men’s careers have been focused on ‘the stars’ albeit a different definition of those stars!. I spoke to the ‘Aussie’ John Young last week about a career with the stars and the present tour celebrations of the 50th anniversary of ‘The Go Show’ which John hosted in it’s original format and will be bringing in it’s updated version to Tasmania in July.
John is a regular visitor to Tasmania, it’s a place he has visited many, many times. John says Tasmania gives him a’ mystic feeling of the early days of Australia’.
Ties with Tasmania are close, owing to the re-location of friend and colleague Ronnie Burns ( for whom he wrote ‘Smiley’ ) and Ronnie’s wife Maggie (a choreographer on YTT) to Tasmania to open Appen Hall, a place devoted to healing of children.
While he’s here, John would like to reacquaint himself with the subject of the ‘meet the meat first bite’ slogan of National Pies, well remembered from previous visits.
John migrated from the Netherlands to Australia as a youngster and says that he is definitely an Aussie, testament to this is the fact he was cheering on Australia when they played the Netherlands in the recent soccer world cup.
With five gold records to his credit, John first experienced a love of music from his mother who sang in a choir.
John fronted his first band ‘Johnny and the Strangers’ when he left school. The band was rock and roll, more ‘Rolling Stones’ than ‘The Beatles’ John says. The first hit record came at age 17 and also his first television show. John was always interested in being part of the entertainment in an ‘eclectic sense,’ because he says it’s necessary to be multi-talented to succeed in an unpredictable industry.
Another string to John’s bow is his work as a radio personality in Melbourne for over 20 years.
In 1967 John stayed in England with Barry Gibb and his wife and was learnt about song writing, which he calls the ‘4th string to his bow’. He would later go on to write ‘The Real Thing’ for Russell Morris among other hits songs like the afore mentioned ‘Smiley’.
John talks about the ethereal nature of song writing and going from the paper process to the demo and performance and then the hand over point, where producers and musicians take over and the song is no longer under your control. He remembers the week of his writing of ‘The Real Thing’ and how it evolved from a simple guitar/band song to undergo some tinkering by Molly. He remembers crying at the mammoth 7 minute songs completion and his happiness at seeing Molly keep the song’s integrity with some skilful additions.
It is perhaps ‘Young Talent Time’ which holds a special place in John’s heart and for which John is most well-known. Young Talent Times 19 years of sustained excellence was rewarded with a Logie and it should be mentioned that John is the only person to be inducted in both the ARIA and Logie hall of fame.
John fondly remembers Young Talent Time as a mix between an Aussie kids show and ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’.
John still stays in touch with many of the original team, some of whom like Jane Scali and Tina Arena he calls ‘mates’. Vince Deltito works in Entertainment Management, Greg Miles who was a regular team member began writing music, Philip Gould lives in London and has performed in 42nd street, Nicky Cooper has worked in acting behind the scenes as a writer.
Music continues to amaze John for instance the fact that Mozart before writing a symphony could visualise it all in his head before writing it down.
John is interested in the impact of music on people, an example being the part classical music plays in mathematical development.
A case in point being the evolution of the career of someone he admires, Paul Keating, from his early work in the rock and roll group ‘The Ramrods’, Paul Keating went on to become a convert to classical music, coinciding with his career as treasurer.
John has a theory that music is integral to us from birth evidenced by the fact that the sound of the heartbeat in utero resembles the beat of rock and roll music!
Although he’s a fan of and watches music talent shows such as ‘The Voice’, ‘X-Factor'(but not the ‘cattle calls’), Spicks and Specks’ and ‘RocKwiz ‘ he is not comfortable with comments on contestants personal appearances, a thing he would never do. John champions the way ‘Young Talent Time’ spent mentoring a child for six or seven years.
John’s latest project is being producer to Colleen Hewett’s new album ‘Blood and Bones’ which will be half covers and half original songs, some written by John.
For John the saying ‘Art is Close to Your Heart’ has been his mantra ever since he was 14 years old and perhaps always will be even if the creative arts may leave one open to being hurt.
You can see John Young and the ‘Go Show’ Golden Anniversary concert gang including, The Masters Apprentices, Mixtures, Ronnie Burns, Normie Rowe, Ross D Wylie, Ronnie Charles, Tony Worsley and Colleen Hewett at Wrest Point Casino on Saturday 26 July
Paula Xiberras
