James Vivian Alfred Doyle (14 October 19455 May 2006) was an Australian musician, radio presenter and songwriter. He was the founding mainstay guitarist in

Ayers Rock Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Springs. ...

(1973–81), a jazz fusion,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band. As a member of Ayers Rock, Doyle appeared on all three of their studio albums, ''Big Red Rock'' (1974), ''Beyond'' (1976) and ''Hotspell'' (1980). They toured both nationally and internationally including through the United States, where they supported

Bachman–Turner Overdrive Bachman–Turner Overdrive, often abbreviated BTO, were a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded by Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner in 1973. Their 1970s catalogue included five top-40 albums and six US top-40 sing ...

(July 1975) at a stadium concert with an audience of 35,000 people in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. For the group's third album, ''Hotspell'', Doyle wrote or co-wrote four tracks.

Biography

Doyle's musical career began at the age of 15, spanned 45 years, and covered a wide range of music from blues to pop rock to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. He was musical director and guitarist for

Winifred Atwell Una Winifred Atwell (27 February or 27 April 1910 or 1914There is some uncertainty over her date and year of birth. Many sources suggest 27 February 1914, but there is a strong suggestion that her birthday was 27 April. Most sources give her ye ...

, for two years, and a member of the backing bands for the Delltones, and Dig Richards. Doyle was a member of the Soulmates (1967), Col Nolan and the Soul Syndicate, Aesop's Fables (1968–69), and Moonstone (1970). Aesop's Fables had formed in 1968 in Sydney as a pop vocal group with Doyle on guitar (ex-Telstars), Sheryl Blake on lead vocals,

Russell Dunlop Russell James Dunlop (21 October 194516 May 2009) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer-engineer. From the late 1970s he collaborated with Bruce Brown in a production company for albums and singles by Australian perfo ...

on drums, Michael Lawler on bass guitar and Gary Moberly on organ (ex-Ramrods, later worked with Bee Gees). In September 1970 King Harvest were formed as a progressive rock group with Doyle on guitar, Leo de Castro, on vocals and guitar, Mark Kennedy on drums (ex-

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

Duncan McGuire Duncan Hazlett McGuire (ca. 194310 July 1989), was an Australian musician, songwriter, recording engineer and producer. McGuire was a founding member of the jazz fusion band, Ayers Rock from 1973 until he left in 1976. As a bass guitarist he ...

on bass guitar (ex-Phantoms, Epics, Questions, Doug Parkinson in Focus, Rush) and Steve Yates on keyboards (Rush, Expression). Doyle was soon replaced by Billy Green (ex-Doug Parkinson in Focus). Doyle was the founding mainstay guitarist of

, a jazz fusion,

band, which formed in August 1973 in Melbourne. Over the following years other members included Burton, Kennedy, McGuire, Col Loughnan (on trumpet) and Dunlop. The group released three studio albums, ''Big Red Rock'' (November 1974), ''Beyond'' (February 1975) and ''Hotspell'' (May 1980) before disbanding in 1981. For the group's final album Doyle wrote or co-wrote four tracks. Leon Isackson, in his book ''Behind the Rock and Beyond'' (2010), recalled that "Jim was a young 'Humphrey Bogart look-alike' with an excellent style on Gibson guitar. His suave appearance ... earned him the salubrious nickname of 'Diamond Jim'". Elvin Bishop, a United States blues musician, was backed by Doyle during Bishop's first tour of Australia in 1986, "Jimmy Doyle is a hell of a guitar player — I love him". Later in that decade, touring English jazz singer and keyboardist,

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

, invited Doyle to join the Aussie Blue Flames, which were Fame's backing band on his Australian tours. Doyle later presented a regular radio program, ''In the Deep with Jim'', on North Shore's FM99.3 (2NSB), a community radio station in Sydney. Jimmy Doyle musician 1990

Death

Jimmy Doyle was diagnosed with liver cancer and died on 5 May 2006, at the

Prince of Wales Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital is a large of Tertiary referral hospital and large of teaching hospital from Faculty of Medicine in Chinese University of Hong Kong in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong.. Named after Charles, Prince of Wales (now ...

, Sydney. A tribute concert in his honour, on 26 May, raised money for his family. Musicians performing included Billy Field, Col Loughnan (ex-Ayers Rock) and Mother Earth featuring lead vocals by

Renée Geyer Renée Rebecca Geyer (born 11 September 1953) is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with " It's a Man's Man's ...

References

;General * * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Jimmy 1945 births 2006 deaths Australian rock guitarists Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in New South Wales 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century guitarists Ayers Rock (band) members Musicians from Sydney