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Sparmac Records
Sparmac (Sparmac Productions) was an Australian independent record production company and recording label of the early 1970s, best known for its association with the successful Australian rock band Daddy Cool. The company was established ca. 1969 by radio DJ (and former ''Kommotion'' host) Ken Sparkes, and John McDonald, who was then the owner of popular Melbourne record store The Disc Shop, in Bourke Street. The company name was taken from the combination of their surnames. Rick Springfield released his debut solo single, "Speak to the Sky", on the label. The song was a major hit in Australia, reaching No 5 on the ''Go-Set'' national chart in January 1972 and it became his first hit in the US, reaching No 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. As well as acting as the label's producer, Robie Porter released three solo singles on Sparmac: "Gemini" / "He Is Not Me" (August 1970), "Santa Claus" / "Funky Version" (December 1970) and a cover of the Joe Cocker-Chris Stainton song "Try to ...
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Daddy Cool (band)
Daddy Cool is an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 1970 with the original line-up of Wayne Duncan (musician), Wayne Duncan (Bass guitar, bass, vocals), Ross Hannaford (lead guitar, bass, vocals), Ross Wilson (musician), Ross Wilson (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica) and Gary Young (Australian musician), Gary Young (drums, vocals) . Their debut single "Eagle Rock (song), Eagle Rock" was released in May 1971 and stayed at number 1 on the Australian singles chart for ten weeks. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until Australian Recording Industry Association, ARIA created their own ARIA Charts, charts in mid-1988. Their debut July 1971 Long play, LP ''Daddy Who? Daddy Cool'' also reached number 1 and became the first Australian album to sell more than 100,000 copies. The group's name came from the 1957 song "Daddy Cool (The Rays song), Daddy Cool" by US rock group The Rays. Daddy Cool included their version ...
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Kommotion (TV Show)
''Kommotion'' was a popular Australian "Top 40" pop music TV show that premiered in December 1964. The program was hosted by popular disc jockey Ken Sparkes, who was one of the main presenters at Melbourne pop radio station 3UZ. In 1965, after the end of his previous series, '' Teen Scene'', pop singer Johnny Chester became the associate producer of the program. It was produced by the Willard King organisation for Melbourne TV station ATV-0 (Channel 0) and was pre-recorded on videotape at the station's Nunawading studio. It was originally seen only in Melbourne, but was later relayed to interstate stations in the newly formed 0-10 Network as they came on line during 1965–66. The ''Kommotion'' format was a fast-paced, teenage Top 40 pop music show. It was originally shown in daily half-hour episodes, Monday–Friday at 5.30 pm; an additional one-hour special on Sundays was added later in the run of the series. In August 1964 Channel 0 premiered its first pop TV progra ...
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Ken Sparkes
Ken Sparkes (20 July 1940 – 11 September 2016) was an Australian radio presenter, television personality (actor, singer, host), disc jockey and voice-over artist, he also worked as an investigative journalist, sportscaster/commentator and launched briefly a pop career and co-founded his own record label. He was a presenter of radio programs, including presenting the breakfast program on Adelaide's 5KA. His early career was at Melbourne's 3UZ, before launching a career in television in the mid-60's. He had one of the best known media voices in Australia and was known for years as the "voice of Channel 9". His voice was well known as a booth announcer for the Nine Network and Network Ten. He was host of pop music show '' Kommotion'', for the 0-10 Network, and appeared on ''Bandstand'' on the Nine Network. Sparkes died of a heart attack on 11 September 2016, while hosting a river cruise in France. His funeral was held at the Camelia Chapel in Macquarie Park Crematorium ...
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Rick Springfield
Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut single, "Speak to the Sky", which reached the top 10 in Australia in mid-1972. When he moved to the United States, he had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the US, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. He followed with four more top 10 US hits: "I've Done Everything for You", " Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and " Love Somebody". Springfield's two US top 10 albums are '' Working Class Dog'' (1981) and ''Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet'' (1982). As an actor, Springfield starred in the movie ''Hard to Hold'' in 1984 and the television series ''High Tide'' from 1994 to 1997. He appeared in supporting roles in ''Ricki and the Flash'' and ''T ...
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Speak To The Sky
"Speak to the Sky" is the debut single by Rick Springfield. It reached No. 6 in Australia, No. 8 on the Canadian adult contemporary chart, No. 10 on the Canadian pop chart, No. 14 on the U.S. pop chart, and No. 16 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart in 1972. It was featured on his 1972 album ''Beginnings''. The song was arranged by Del Newman and produced by Robie Porter. The song ranked No. 96 on '' Billboard'' magazine's Top 100 singles of 1972. Other versions *Lonnie Donegan released a version of the song as a single in 1972 in the UK, but it did not chart. * Judith Durham and the Seekers released a version of the song on their 1997 album ''Future Road ''Future Road'' is a studio album credited to Australian recording artist Judith Durham and The Seekers. It is Durham's eighth studio album and The Seekers' eleventh. The album was released in Australia in October 1997 and peaked at number 4 on ...''. *Durham released an a cappella version of the song on her 2009 alb ...
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Go-Set
''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as a pop music "bible", it became an influential publication, introduced the first national pop record charts and featured many notable contributors including fashion designer Prue Acton, journalist Lily Brett, rock writer / band manager Vince Lovegrove, music commentator Ian Meldrum, rock writer / music historian Ed Nimmervoll and radio DJ Stan Rofe. It spawned the original Australian edition of ''Rolling Stone Australia, Rolling Stone'' magazine in late 1972. History Foundation: 1964–1967 In 1964, Monash University student newspaper ''Chaos co-editors, John Blakeley, Damien Broderick and Tony Schauble, renamed the paper ''Lot's Wife (student newspaper), Lot's Wife''. Phillip Frazer was a staffer and later became co-editor with future ...
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Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States. The weekly tracking period for sales was initially Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming, is readily available on a real-time basis, is also tracked on a Friday to Thursday cycle effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021 (previously Monday to Sunday and before July 2015, Wednesday to Tuesday). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by ''Billboard'' on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday. The first number-one song of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 was " Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Ne ...
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The Loved Ones (Australian Band)
The Loved Ones were an Australian rock band formed in 1965 in Melbourne following the British Invasion. The line-up of Gavin Anderson on drums, Ian Clyne on organ and piano, Gerry Humphrys on vocals and harmonica, Rob Lovett on guitar and Kim Lynch on bass guitar recorded their early hits. Their signature song, "The Loved One", reached number two on Australian singles charts and was later covered by INXS. In 2001 it was selected as number six on the Australasian Performing Right Association's (APRA) list of Top 30 Australian songs of all time. Their debut album, '' The Loved Ones' Magic Box'', was released late in 1967 and included their other hit singles, "Ever Lovin' Man" and "Sad Dark Eyes". They disbanded in October 1967 and, although the band's main career lasted only two years, they are regarded as one of the most significant Australian bands of the 1960s. They reformed for a short tour in 1987 which provided the album ''Live on Blueberry Hill''. Humphrys lived i ...
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Soft Rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. Soft rock was prevalent on the radio throughout the 1970s and eventually metamorphosed into a form of the synthesized music of adult contemporary in the 1980s. History Mid- to late 1960s Softer sounds in rock music could be heard in mid-1960s songs, such as " A Summer Song" by Chad & Jeremy (1964) and "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles and "I Love My Dog" by Cat Stevens, both from 1966. By 1968, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre. From the end of the 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. Late 1960s soft rock artists include the Bee Gees, whose song "I Started a Joke" was a number one single in several countries; Ne ...
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Darryl Cotton
Darryl Grant Cotton (4 September 1949 27 July 2012) was an Australian pop, rock singer-songwriter, television presenter and actor. He was a founding member of Australian rock group Zoot in 1965, with Beeb Birtles, and were later joined by Rick Brewer and Rick Springfield. As a solo artist Cotton released the albums, ''Best Seat in the House'' (1980), ''It's Rock 'n' Good Fun'' (1984) and ''Let the Children Sing'' (1994). In April 1980 his biggest solo hit, "Same Old Girl", which was co-written by Cotton, peaked at No. 6 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. He acted in the TV soap opera, ''The Young Doctors'' (1979), and on stage as Joseph in the theatre production of ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat'' (1983). He presented TV shows, ''Summer Rock'' (1979 and 1980) and ''The Early Bird Show'' (1985 to 1989). In 1996 he formed Burns Cotton & Morris with fellow 1960s pop singers, Ronnie Burns and Russell Morris. In 2000 Burns retired from the trio ...
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Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles (born Gerard Bertelkamp, 28 November 1948) is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has been a member of various Australian groups including Zoot (1967–71), Mississippi (1972–74), Little River Band (1975–83) and Birtles Shorrock Goble (2002–07). He has also worked as a solo artist, including releasing an album, ''Driven by Dreams'' (2000). In 2004, Birtles and other members of the classic line-up of Little River Band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Early life Beeb Birtles was born on 28 November 1948 as Gerard Bertelkamp in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Gerard Bertelkamp, Sr (30 May 1923 – 4 May 2000), a carpenter and building contractor, and Elisabeth Hendrika (née Deubel; 8 January 1924 – 2 December 2015). He has a younger sister, Elisabeth H (born 17 September 1952). Birtles later recalled seeing his parents singing in an amateur operetta in Amsterdam, saying that "I was very young and I went with my grandparents. They ...
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