Alison MacCallum (born 7 April 1951), also written Alison McCallum, is an
Australian rock
Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock and Aussie rock, is rock music from Australia. The nation has a rich history of rock music and an appreciation of the roots of various rock genres, usually originating in the United ...
singer from the late 1960s and 1970s. Her two studio albums are ''
Fresh Water'' (March 1972) and ''
Excuse Me'' (October 1975). In March 1972 she issued her most successful charting single, "Superman", which peaked at No. 12 on ''
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 ...
''s National Top 40. In August that year MacCallum provided lead vocals for the
Labor Party's campaign theme song, "
It's Time", for the
1972 election. By the late 1970s, she had concentrated on session work and then "disappeared from public view". According to Australian
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...
,
Ian McFarlane, MacCallum was "a soul/blues stylist of considerable flair and passion". In September 2014 Sony released a 2× CD compilation album, ''The Essential Alison MacCallum''.
Early career
Alison MacCallum was born on 7 April 1951 and raised in
Maroubra, a Sydney suburb.
She began her music career in 1967, at the age of 16, as the singer in a succession of Sydney bands.
Her influences include
Ma Rainey
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey ( Pridgett; April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an American blues singer and influential early blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of s ...
,
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...
,
Clara Ward
Clara Mae Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973) was an American gospel singer who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. A gifted singer and arranger, Ward adopted ...
and Marianne Williams.
She began with the Geoff Bull Jazz Band, and the York Gospel Singers.
She soon joined the Big Apple Union, a soul band, which evolved into Dr Kandy's Third Eye,
in which she shared lead vocals with
Gulliver Smith
Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith (born Kevin Gullifer Smith; c. 1950
– November 2014), who performed as Little Gulliver and Gulliver Smith (also styled as Gullifer Smith), was an Australian singer and songwriter from the early 1960s to mid-2000s. ...
, (later of
Company Caine
Company Caine, also styled as Co. Caine and Company Kane, were an Australian progressive rock band. They were formed in March 1970 by Ray Arnott on drums (ex-Chelsea Set, Browns, Cam-Pact), Cliff Edwards on bass guitar (ex-Cam-Pact), Jeremy Noo ...
).
In June 1969, MacCallum joined a seven-piece
blue-eyed soul band, This Hallelujah Chorus, sharing lead vocals with Ed Mayne. Also during that year she recorded a cover version of
The Bee Gees
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
track "
To Love Somebody" with
Tully for the
ABC-TV show ''Fusions''.
However, it was not released commercially until 1979 on the various artists' compilation album, ''Alberts Archives'', selected by
Glenn A. Baker
Glenn A. Baker (born 28 July 1952) is an Australian journalist, commentator, author, and broadcaster well known in Australia for his vast knowledge of Rock music. He has written books and magazine articles on rock music and travel, interviewed ...
.
At the end of 1970 MacCallum joined Freshwater, a soul-pop band, which had formed in New Zealand in 1968.
They had achieved notoriety for their controversial May 1970 single, "Satan" / "Satan's Woman" – about the
Sharon Tate murders.
Initially sharing lead vocals with Ian Johnson, by September 1971 she was sole lead vocalist alongside Tony Bolton on drums, Rod Coe on bass guitar, David Fookes on keyboards, and Murray Partridge on lead guitar and backing vocals.
In November 1971 the band's final single, "I Ain't Got the Time", was issued – featuring MacCallum's first released appearance – which reached the top 20 in the local charts and peaked at No. 30 on the
Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
After the demise of Freshwater in that month,
she briefly joined
Ray Brown's band, One Ton Gypsy, before going solo in early 1972.
Solo career
In March 1972 Alison MacCallum issued her first solo single, "Superman", on
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
which was written by
Harry Vanda
Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is a Dutch Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Ea ...
and
George Young (both ex-
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They enjoyed a level of success that in Australia rivalled The Beatles. They became the first Australian rock act to score an international hit, with the 1966 sing ...
).
It reached No. 12 on ''
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 ...
''s National Top 40 and No. 8 on the Kent Music Report.
The B-side was a
Ted Mulry
Martin Albert Mulry (2 September 19471 September 2001) professionally known as Ted Mulry, was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. As a solo artist, his second single, "Falling in Love Again" (February 1971 ...
( Martin Mulry) composition "Take Me Back".
Also that month she released her debut solo album, ''
Fresh Water'',
a reference to her former band. It was produced by United Kingdom producer
Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Robert Napier-Bell (born 22 April 1939) is an English record producer, music manager, author and journalist. At different times, he has managed artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Japan, London, Ultravox, Bon ...
, who had worked with
The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...
and
T.Rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
.
John Tait described Napier-Bell's work as re-invigorating
Vanda & Young
Vanda & Young were an Australian songwriting and producing duo composed of Harry Vanda and George Young. They performed as members of 1960s Australian rock group the Easybeats where Vanda was their lead guitarist and backing singer and Young wa ...
's songwriting career "Ted Albert assigned him the task of finding artists to record some of the songs Harry and George were sending over from London. The most notable of these demos was a rock tune called 'Superman' ...
ematched the song up with the soaring voice of session singer Alison MacCallum, added some brass to the original arrangement and suddenly they had a hit on their hands".
Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane, noted ''Fresh Water''s "mix of rock, jazz and blues material proved to be a fine showcase for her expressive voice".
In March 1974 it was re-released as, ''Any Way You Want Me''.
In August 1972 MacCallum provided lead vocals for "
It's Time", which was written and produced by
Pat Aulton.
The concept and words were by Paul Jones the Creative Director of the campaign. It was used as the theme on
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
's TV and radio ads during
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...
's 1972
federal election campaign,
making MacCallum a famous name through saturation radio and TV airplay, despite the single failing to chart.
According to James Cockington "even though Labor was not credited on the label nor mentioned in the lyrics, most radio stations were reluctant to play the song, sensing its party-political roots".
MacCallum was joined in the TV ads with a variety of celebrities including
Bert Newton
Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer and radio, theatre and television personality and presenter. Newt ...
,
Col Joye
Colin Frederick Jacobsen (born 13 April 1937), better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning some sixty years. Joye was the first Australian rock and ...
,
Judy Stone
Judith Anne Stone AM (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian pop and country music singer. For much of the 1960s she was a regular performer on the music variety ''Bandstand'', Stone's top 20 singles on the national charts are "I'll Step ...
,
John Dease,
Hazel Phillips
Hazel Julia Phillips () (born 17 November 1929)[Ted Hamilton
Edward Leslie "Ted" Hamilton ( OAM) (born 1937), is an Australian singer, composer, playwright, entrepreneur, and actor. He is known for playing the Pirate King in ''The Pirate Movie'' and police constable Kevin Dwyer in ''Division 4'' (1969– ...]
, ''
Bellbird'' cast members, and
Bobby Limb
Robert "Bobby" Limb AO, OBE (10 November 1924 – 11 September 1999) was an Australian-born entertainment pioneer, comedian, band leader and musician and legend of radio, television and theatre of the 1960s and 1970s, he also founded the film a ...
.
Some of the celebrities suffered a negative backlash from appearing in the ads, Stone recalled "we didn't get paid for it, but we certainly lost a lot of work over it ... Some of us were black banned from clubs, and I had garbage thrown all over my lawn. And I wasn't the only one singled out".
MacCallum released three more singles on RCA: "Ol' Rock'n' Roll Boogie Woogie Blues" (July 1972), "Would You Believe?",
and a cover of
Rotary Connection
Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966.
In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album '' Rotary Connection'', the band is notable as the backing band for Muddy Waters on his 196 ...
's 1968 single, "Teach Me How to Fly" (1973), previously an Australian hit for local artist,
Jeff St John and Copperwine in 1970.
In 1973 MacCallum travelled to Europe to perform, and she showcased "Superman" at the eighth
Midem
Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...
International Music Trade Fair in
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...
.
She returned to Australia and in October 1974 signed to
Albert Productions
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent record labels to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1963 by Ted Albert, whos ...
. MacCallum collaborated with two fellow singers, Bobbi Marchini (ex-Freshwater) and Janice Slater as the Hooter Sisters, to release a cover of the
Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
-written single, "
To Know Him Is to Love Him
"To Know Him Is to Love Him" is a song written by Phil Spector, inspired by words on his father's tombstone, "To Know Him Was to Love Him." It was first recorded by the only vocal group of which he was a member, the Teddy Bears. Their recording ...
", originally performed by his band,
The Teddy Bears
The Teddy Bears were an American pop music group. They were record producer Phil Spector's first vocal group.
History
Following graduation from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California, Phil Spector became obsessed with "To Know Him Is t ...
.
In October 1974 MacCallum released her next solo single, "Excuse Me", which peaked at No. 29 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart and spent 41 weeks in the top 100.
It was followed by her second solo album, ''
Alison'' a.k.a. ''Excuse Me'', in July 1975 which spent two weeks on the Kent Music Report Top 100 Albums Chart.
It provided two more singles, "Her Kind of Guy (Hot Burrito)" (September 1975) and "Love Grows Cold" (February 1976).
During the late 1970s she appeared on the satirical comedy, ''
The Naked Vicar Show
''The Naked Vicar Show'' is a satirical Australian radio and television series. The classic Australian sitcom ''Kingswood Country'' was spawned from sketches in the series.
Production
The series was written and produced by Gary Reilly and ...
'', both on radio (Series 2 Episodes 1 and 2, November 1976) and on TV (Series 1 Episodes 1 and 9, May and September 1977).
Post solo career
In the late 1970s Alison MacCallum concentrated on session work, providing backing vocals on John Robinson's ''Pity for the Victim'' and for other artists:
Billy Thorpe
William Richard Thorpe AM (29 March 1946 – 28 February 2007) was an English-born Australian singer-songwriter, and record producer. As lead singer of his band Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, he had success in the 1960s with "Blue Day", " Poison Iv ...
,
Doug Parkinson
Douglas John Parkinson (30 October 1946 – 15 March 2021) was an Australian pop and rock singer. He led the bands Strings and Things/A Sound (1965), the Questions (1966–1968), Doug Parkinson in Focus (1968–1970, 1971), Fanny Adams (1970†...
and
Mark Holden
Mark Ronald Holden (born 27 April 1954) is an Australian singer, actor, TV personality, record producer, songwriter, and barrister. He was a pop star in the 1970s and had four top 20 hit singles, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (May 1976 ...
. In 1979 her 1972 single, "Superman", was re-released by RCA together with a compilation album of the same name to cash in on the then-popular 1978 ''
Superman'' movie.
According to McFarlane, MacCallum had "disappeared from public view", and that she was "a soul/blues stylist of considerable flair and passion".
After the advent of CDs, only two of her solo tracks, "Superman" and "Excuse Me", were released on various artists' CDs, until September 2014 when
Sony Music Australia
Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...
issued a 2× CD compilation album, ''The Essential Alison MacCallum''.
It was compiled and annotated by Glenn A. Baker.
Discography
Albums
;Solo
Other appearances
* 1979 – ''Albert Archives – The Best Kept Secrets of Albert Productions 1965–76'' – "To Love Somebody" (Albert Productions, credited as Alison McCallum &
Tully)
* 1999 – ''Live, Loud and Sweaty: Australia's Live Music Scene of the Seventies'' – "Together Till the End of Time" (Canetoad, credited to Freshwater)
Awards and nominations
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, ''
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 ...
'' and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
, -
, 1972
, herself
, Female Artist
, 4th
, -
References
;General
* Note: Archived
n-linecopy has limited functionality.
* Noel McGrath's Australian Encyclopedia of Rock & Pop - Rigby Publishers - 1978 -
*
*An Australian Rock Discography 1960-1989 - Chris Spencer - Moonlight Publishers - 1990 -
;Specific
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacCallum, Alison
1951 births
Living people
Singers from Sydney
MacCallum, Alison