Kevin Nicholas Borich (born 27 October 1948,

Huapai Huapai is a locality north-west of Auckland, New Zealand. State Highway 16 and the North Auckland Railway Line pass through it. Kumeū is adjacent to the east, Riverhead is to the north-east, and Waimauku to the west. History The area was ...

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, New Zealand) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of

The La De Das The La De Da's were a New Zealand rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in New Zealand in 1963 as the Mergers, they had considerable success in both New Zealand and Australia until their split in 1975. In Australia the band is proba ...

, the leader of Kevin Borich Express, and a founding member of

The Party Boys The Party Boys was an Australian rock supergroup with a floating membership commencing in 1982. Created by Mondo Rock's bass guitarist, Paul Christie with founding member Kevin Borich (ex– La De Da's, Kevin Borich Express) as a part-time v ...

, as well as a session musician for numerous acts. Borich wrote "Gonna See My Baby Tonight" for The La De Das, which became a top 10 hit in 1971 on the Australian singles chart. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...

in mid-1988. He performed at some of Australia's biggest rock events including the 1972

Sunbury Pop Festival Sunbury Pop Festival or Sunbury Rock Festival was an annual Australian rock music festival held on a private farm between Sunbury and Diggers Rest, Victoria, which was staged on the Australia Day (26 January) long weekend from 1972 to 1975. It ...

and the late 1970s Rockarena tours with 60,000 people, featuring

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

and

The Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums rea ...

. He played in two New Year's Eve celebrations at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

with 70,000 people as well as support shows for international acts including

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

and

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

. Australian rock music historian

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

has described Borich as "one of the most celebrated guitar players in the history of Australian rock. He also remains an underrated songwriter, and his live reputation has rarely been reflected in record sales". His son

Lucius Borich Lucius Borich (born 1971) is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer for the band Cog, and previously the drummer in funk metal band Juice and in The Hanging Tree as well as Floating Me. He currently plays and is working on new rock ...

joined Kevin Borich Express as a drummer and was later a member of Sydney-based

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. Init ...

band Cog.

Early years

Kevin Borich was born in 1948 in

north west of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on New Zealand's

. He attended secondary school at Rutherford High School (Te Atatū) in

Te Atatū Te Atatū (from the Māori : "the dawn") is the name of two adjacent suburbs in West Auckland, New Zealand: ''Te Atatū Peninsula'' and ''Te Atatū South''. They are located next to each other some 10 kilometres to the west of the Auckland city ...

, a suburb of Auckland. In 1961, at the age of 12, Borich recorded a private single on

Astor Records Astor Records was an Australian recorded music manufacturer and distributor that operated from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Astor was the trade name of the consumer electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation Pty. Ltd, a division of Electron ...

with sisters Judi and Sue Donaldson (later as New Zealand duo The Chicks). As a guitarist, Borich formed The Mergers in late 1963 with fellow students Brett Neilsen on drums and Trevor Wilson on bass guitar. Initially they performed covers of

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

' material as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

band after school and on week-ends. Borich is of Croatian descent.

1964–1975: The La De Das

With the addition of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Phil Key, The Mergers with Borich on lead guitar/vocals, Neilsen on drums/vocals and Wilson on bass guitar, were eventually renamed as

in 1964 in Auckland, New Zealand. In June 1965 they recorded their debut single, "Little Girl", and later that year added Bruce Howard on keyboards. From 1966 to 1967 they had five New Zealand top 10 hits, "How is the Air Up There?", "On Top of the World", "Hey Baby", "All Purpose Low" and "Rosalie". By 1968 they were based in Sydney and recorded their

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, '' The Happy Prince'', in 1969 on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. Line-up changes occurred, with Borich and Key joined by Peter Roberts on bass guitar and Keith Barber on drums by 1971's Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

top 10 hit single, "Gonna See My Baby Tonight". It had been written by Borich, who had established a reputation as "Australia's guitar hero supremo" and regularly performed "

All Along the Watchtower "All Along the Watchtower" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his eighth studio album, ''John Wesley Harding'' (1967). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. The song's lyrics, which in its original vers ...

" using

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

' interpretation of the

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

song to close The La De Das' live set. In late January 1972, they appeared at the inaugural

and featured on the subsequent double album, ''Sunbury'', released in October by EMI/

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

. The La De Das recorded further albums and singles and despite critical acclaim had little chart success. Only Borich remained throughout until he disbanded the group in 1975. After The La De Das, Borich toured with John Paul Young & the Allstars for some months before forming a new band.

1976–1989: Kevin Borich Express to The Party Boys

Kevin Borich Express was formed in early 1976 by Borich on lead guitar, lead vocals and occasional flute with Harry Brus on bass guitar (ex-

Blackfeather Blackfeather are an Australian rock group which formed in April 1970. The band has had numerous line-ups, mostly fronted by founding lead singer, Neale Johns. An early heavy rock version recorded their debut album, ''At the Mountains of Madness ...

) and Barry Harvey on drums (Wild Cherries, Chain). They recorded a track, "The End of Me", before Brus and Harvey were soon replaced by Reuben San Fiansco on bass guitar and Gil Matthews on drums. Subsequent line-ups were typically a three piece with a succession of bass guitarists and drummers. They released their debut single, "Goin' Somewhere", in October using Fiansco, and John Annas on drums ( Wendy Saddington Band). Following in March 1977 was their debut album, ''Celebration!'' with Annas, and Tim Partridge on bass guitar (

Mighty Kong Mighty Kong were an Australian 'supergroup' successor to Daddy Cool, which broke up in August 1972. It was also the fifth (and technically the last) in the line of groups that featured singer-songwriter Ross Wilson and guitarist Ross Hannaford, ...

, The Johnny Rocco Band). The album was favoured by critics and peaked in the top 30 on the Australian albums charts. In early 1977, Borich supported the tour by UK rock guitarist

. Mid-1977 saw the release of the band's follow-up album ''Lonely One''. This was followed in October by supporting the Rockarena tour with

and

Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums rea ...

; Borich was invited on-stage to jam with

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

. In May 1978, the band toured the US in support of Australian heavy rockers

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, with Annas, Paul Christie on bass guitar and

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

Tim Shafer ( Gary Wright Band). This line-up recorded ''No Turning Back'' which was released in March 1979. By mid-year, Partridge had returned with both Christie and Shafer departing, and together with Annas, Borich recorded ''Live!'', using the 2JJ mobile studio equipment over performances in Melbourne and Wollongong. ''Live!'' contains one of the most incendiary and atmospheric versions of "Little Red Rooster" ever recorded, along with a number of Borich standards. In July, Kevin Borich Express appeared on

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 Worl ...

's album ''Blues License''. A European tour by Kevin Borich Express resulted in a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

being released in Germany. After the tour, John Watson (Heavy Division) replaced Annas on drums and the band recorded ''Angel's Hand'' in November 1979. Similar line-up changes continued into the early 1980s with Michael Deep replacing Partridge in April 1980. This line-up collaborated with solo artist

Dutch Tilders Dutch Tilders (29 August 194123 April 2011), born Mattheus Frederikus Wilhelmus Tilders, anglicised as Matthew Tilders, was a Netherlands-born Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performed and released material as a solo artist ...

to record ''Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock'n'Roll'' in 1981 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 ...

. Kerry Jacobsen (

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

) replaced Watson on drums for the ''Shy Boys Shy Girls''

mini-LP A mini-LP or mini-album is a short vinyl record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A ...

in late 1981. By mid-1982, Annas returned on drums, with Steve Balbi on bass guitar, and Andy Cowan on keyboards. Later that year, Borich on guitar joined

which was formed by previous band member Paul Christie (now ex-

Mondo Rock Mondo Rock are an Australian rock band, formed in November 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria. Singer-songwriter Ross Wilson founded the band, following the split of his previous band Daddy Cool. Guitarist Eric McCusker, who joined in 1980, wrote man ...

) on bass guitar, drums and backing vocals, Harvey James ( Sherbet) on guitar and

Graham Bidstrup Graham Leslie "Buzz" Bidstrup (born 30 August 1952) is an Australian musician, songwriter, music producer and talent manager. He was a member of the Angels (1976–1981), the Party Boys (1983–1984) and Gang Gajang (1984–1987, 1993–1996, ...

( The Angels) on drums. Initially a side-project, The Party Boys, had top 10 success with singles "He's Gonna Step on You Again" (#1, 1987) and "Hold Your Head Up" (#7, 1987), and albums ''Live at Several 21sts'' (#9, 1983) and ''

'' (#1, 1987). Consequently, Kevin Borich Express output and touring was reduced during the 1980s. In 1989, Borich left The Party Boys and appeared in Jimmy Barnes band for the 1990 Two Fires tour. Borich won 'Best Guitarist' at the 1977 and 1978 Australian Rock Music Awards.

1990–present

Borich continues to perform at Australian and international events, in 2011 featuring long time friend

Harry Brus Harry Brus (born April 1949, in Graz, Austria) is an Australian bass player and guitarist, best known for his work with Matt Finish, Kevin Borich, Renée Geyer, Australian Crawl, Leo Sayer, Marcia Hines, Jimmy Barnes, Ross Wilson and Billy T ...

on bass and his son Lucius Borich on drums. This lineup released a double CD and DVD under the banner Borich X Borich Live at the Basement. Borich still utilises a spectrum of Australia's best musicians at different times, including John Annas returning on drums with Ian Lees on bass guitar (ex- Moving Pictures), and with two former members John Watson and Harry Brus. He released the CD/DVD package of ''Live at the Big Kahuna'' in 1995. A studio album was released in 1998, ''Heart Starter'', with

of Cog on drums and Ben Rosen on bass guitar touring to promote it. At the ''

Gimme Ted ''Gimme Ted'', or more fully ''Gimme Ted – The Ted Mulry Benefit Concerts'', is an Australian 2×DVD video and tribute album by Various Artists, which was released on 19 May 2003. It was recorded at two eponymous benefit concerts on 9 and 10 ...

'' benefit concert on 10 March 2001 Borich performed three songs. Over the 15 years since, he has continued to perform the Australian tour circuit and festivals with various line-ups, and released albums ''Nomad'' and ''Borich X Borich'', recorded live at Circular Quay's The Basement. His latest studio album is ''Totem''. Borich won the Heritage Award at the 1999 Australian Blues Music Festival and was inducted into the Australian Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2003.

Cultural influences

Australian band

TISM TISM (an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) are a seven-piece anonymous alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia on 30 December 1982 by vocalist/drummer Humphrey B. Flaubert, bassist/vocalist Jock Cheese and keyboardist/vocalist Eu ...

, on their 1990 album '' Hot Dogma'', have tracks called "Kevin Borich Expressionism" Parts 1, 2 and 4. On the '' Collected Recordings 1986-1993'' Box Set there is a track called "Kevin Borich Expressionism". BlueMountainRock MusicFest

Private life

Borich has been married twice and has six children, the youngest three with his second wife Melissa Borich. He was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in May 2005 and undertook radiation and chemotherapies. The treatments resulted in the loss of his salivary glands and some hearing.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Kevin Borich official website

Kevin Borich YouTube channel

Kevin Borich on Facebook

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borich, Kevin 1948 births Living people Australian blues guitarists Australian male guitarists Australian male singers Australian people of Croatian descent Australian people of New Zealand descent New Zealand musicians New Zealand people of Croatian descent The Party Boys members People educated at Rutherford College, Auckland