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45 Things You Might Not Know About Ross Wilson
Monday, July 27, 2009
Jeff Jenkins goes fact finding on the legend celebrating five decades of cool.
The one and only Ross Wilson is celebrating 45 years of making music with a special 5 Decades Of Cool concert at The Palais, St Kilda, on Friday, August 14. So we pay tribute to Ross the Boss.
Ross Andrew Wilson was born in Melbourne on November 18, 1947. He grew up in Hampton.
His initials formed the name of his early ’90s funk outfit, RAW.
Ross’ first rock ‘n’ roll experience was seeing Johnny O’Keefe, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly at Festival Hall when he was 11. “After that show, I used to have fantasies about being on stage.”
Ross was still at Haileybury College when he formed his first band in 1964, featuring a chubby 13-year-old named Ross Hannaford on guitar. Their manager planned to call them ‘Pink Thinks,’ but they were later advertised as ‘The Pink Finks’ and the name stuck. Their first gig was at the Anglican Church Hall in Marriage Road, East Brighton.
The Pink Finks’ first single, a cover of ‘Louie Louie,’ became a Top 20 hit in Melbourne in 1965. The band’s drummer was Richard Franklin, who later became a movie director (Patrick, Psycho II).
When he was 16, Ross was hit by a car, injuring his leg. This kept him out of the Vietnam draft. “I’m forever grateful for that.”
After The Pink Finks, Ross formed The Party Machine, a band that later featured Spectrum’s Mike Rudd.
The Party Machine’s songbook was seized by the Victorian vice squad, who deemed it ‘obscene and seditious.’ It featured Ross’ song, ‘I Don’t Believe All Your Kids Should Be Virgins.’
Ross went to the UK in 1969 to sing with Procession.
Ross started writing ‘Eagle Rock’ in Surrey in England. He was inspired by a photo in The Sunday Times, showing people dancing at a juke joint in America. The caption said: ‘Some Negroes doing the Eagle Rock and Cutting the Pigeon Wing.’
Ross debuted ‘Eagle Rock’ with his experimental outfit Sons Of The Vegetal Mother at Brunswick Street’s T.F. Much Ballroom (which stood for ‘Too Fucking Much’). But it became a hit for Daddy Cool.
Eagle Rock was 1971’s biggest-selling Australian single.
The ‘Eagle Rock’ clip – which cost $300 to make – was directed by Chris Lofven (Cam-Pact’s bass player), who later made the movie Oz, featuring Ross’ first solo single, ‘Living In The Land Of Oz.’
Ross also started a record label called Oz, with Glenn Wheatley.
Aussie Burgers, which pops up at the end of the ‘Eagle Rock’ clip, is now the McDonald’s opposite Luna Park. The clip’s main location was the Dolphin Café in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. It’s now a shoe shop.
‘Eagle Rock’ inspired Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock.’ Elton’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin, is wearing a ‘Daddy Cool’ badge on the cover of Elton’s 1973 album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player.
Jimmy Barnes says: “Eagle Rock is one of my favourite songs and the great Australian rock ‘n’ roll song. It’s timeless.”
The song inspired ‘the Eagle Drop.’ When it comes on, people drink beer, dance like eagles and drop their pants. The ritual is particularly big in Queensland and Canberra. There’s even a Facebook group, ‘I Drop My Pants When Eagle Rock Is Playing.’
Cashing in on DC’s success, Adelaide band Drummond (featuring Graeham Goble, who would later form LRB) also covered the Daddy Cool song (originally recorded by US doo-wop group The Rays in 1957). It went to number one in 1971.
During the DC days, Ross’ then wife, Pat, had a column in Go-Set called ‘Mummy Cool.’
DC were the first Aussie band that Tim Finn saw. “They showed us what Australian rock ‘n’ roll was all about,” Tim later said. “Soulful and funky, with a lead singer who moved like he was riding a wave. It was a friendly wave, everyone was welcome.”
DC went to the US in August 1971. “We loved America,” Ross says, even though he suffered from stage fright at the band’s first big US gig, at LA’s Whisky a Go Go. DC got a record deal with Reprise and returned to the US, where they toured with Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac.
Until Skyhooks’ Living In The 70’s, DC’s debut album – recorded in two-and-a-half days – was Australia’s biggest-seller. A gold album back then was 10,000 copies. The DC album sold 60,000 copies.
After DC broke up, Ross formed Mighty Kong. In July 1973, they were doing a gig at Melbourne Uni’s cafeteria, supported by a new band called Skyhooks. “I thought they were great,” Ross recalls.
Ross produced Skyhooks’ first three albums.
Ross also signed Skyhooks bass player and songwriter Greg Macainsh to his publishing company, Doo Dah Music.
Ross produced Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons’ first two albums. He also produced The Johnnys’ two albums.
Mondo Rock played their first gig in 1976 at the Astor Theatre, to promote the movie Oz.
The Farnham hit ‘A Touch Of Paradise’ was the first song Ross wrote for Mondo Rock (it ended up on the Nuovo Mondo album). Ross wrote the song with Gulliver Smith (ex-Company Caine).
Rick Springfield covered Mondo Rock’s ‘State Of The Heart,’ taking it to number 22 in the US.
Ross wrote ‘Bop Girl,’ a Top 5 hit for Pat Wilson in 1983. Nicole Kidman, 16, appeared in the ‘Bop Girl’ clip, directed by Gillian Armstrong.
The rooArt label planned a Ross Wilson tribute album at the start of the ’90s. Skyhooks planned to cover ‘Bop Girl.’ Greg Macainsh recalls: “It just seemed to be right, especially for Shirl’s voice. And we could see the TV Week headline: ‘Bop Shirl.’
Ross wrote Mondo Rock’s ‘Cool World’ the same night he wrote ‘We’re No Angels,’ which was on John Farnham’s Age Of Reason album.
Ross’ 2003 album, Country & Wilson, featured the song ‘(I Was On) MTV In The 80s.’ “I was on MTV in the ’80s,” Ross says, “the real one in the US.”
Daddy Cool planned to do a joint tour and album with Skyhooks in 1994. But the plans were shelved when the first single, Skyhooks’ ‘Happy Hippy Hut’ and DC’s ‘Ballad Of Oz,’ peaked at number 35.
DC ended up re-forming for the Tsunami Benefit Concert at the Myer Music Bowl in 2005. It was their first live appearance in 30 years.
DC released just two studio albums – 1971’s Daddy Who? Daddy Cool! and 1972’s Sex, Dope, Rock ‘n’ Roll: Teenage Heaven (re-titled simply Teenage Heaven in the US) – until their comeback album, 2006’s The New Cool, which included the seven tracks intended for the joint album with Skyhooks.
Ross was ‘King Mondo’ when he did Eagle Rock with The Wiggles.
Cricketer Brett Lee also covered ‘Eagle Rock’ with his band, Six & Out.
When Mondo Rock is inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Ross will become our first triple Hall of Famer (he was inducted solo in 1989 and with DC in 2006).
When DC toured with the Beach Boys in 2007, Ross joked: “There are more Wilsons in Daddy Cool than there are in the Beach Boys.”
Ross is kind of the step step-dad of Holly Valance. Ross’ wife, Tania, was married to Holly’s dad.
Ross is a judge on the celebrity singing series It Takes Two. He says All Saints star Jolene Anderson has been the standout contestant.
Everyone at the 5 Decades Of Cool concert will get a special compilation called Hell Of A Time. Ross originally did the title-track as an acoustic duet on Jimmy Barnes’ 1993 album, Flesh and Wood. The new version will also be on Ross’ next album, to be released early 2010.
Ross turns 62 this year, but has no plans to retire. “The role model in Australia is Slim Dusty – you die with your boots on.”
JEFF’S ROSS WILSON FAVES
‘Louie Louie’ - The Pink Finks
‘For You’ - Daddy Cool
‘Hard Drugs’ - Mighty Kong
‘Cool World’ - Mondo Rock
‘If You Ever Come Back’ - Ross Wilson
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