Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum
AM (born 29 January 1943)
is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent co-ordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular music program ''
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' (1974–87) and is widely recognised for his trademark
Stetson
Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, in particular, in Scouting.
John B. Stetson gained inspiration for his most famous hats when he ...
hat, which he has regularly worn in public since the 1980s (it is commonly mistaken for an
Akubra
Akubra is an Australian hat manufacturer. The company is associated with bush hats made of rabbit fur felt with wide brims that are worn in rural Australia. The term "Akubra" is sometimes used to refer to any hat of this kind, however the compa ...
).
Meldrum has featured on the Australian music scene since the mid-1960s, first with his writing for ''
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 ...
'' (1966–74), a weekly teen newspaper, then during his tenure with ''Countdown'' and subsequent media contributions. As a record producer he worked on top ten hits for
Russell Morris
Russell Norman Morris (born 31 July 1948) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who had five Australian Top 10 singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recog ...
("
The Real Thing The Real Thing or Real Thing may refer to:
Film and television
* The Real Thing (film), ''The Real Thing'' (film) or ''Livers Ain't Cheap'', a 1996 American film
* ''The Real Thing'', a 1980 television documentary by James Burke (science historian) ...
", "Part Three into Paper Walls", both 1969),
Ronnie Burns ("Smiley", 1970),
Colleen Hewett
Colleen Hewett (born 16 April 1950) is an Australian singer and actress.
Hewett's top 40 singles on the Kent Music Report include " Super Star", " Day by Day" (both 1971), " Carry That Weight" (1972), "Dreaming My Dreams with You" (1980) ...
("
Day by Day", 1971),
Supernaut ("I Like It Both Ways", 1976) and
The Ferrets ("Don't Fall in Love", 1977).
Meldrum hosted
Oz for Africa
Oz for Africa was an Australian concert held on 13 July 1985 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It was organised by Bill Gordon who also organised the EAT Concert held at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne at the end of January 1985. That event was ...
in July 1985, the Australian leg of
Live Aid
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...
. In January of the following year he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, with the citation for "service to the fostering of international relief and to youth". Meldrum has earned a reputation as a champion of Australian popular music both in Australia and internationally; his contributions have been acknowledged with an
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
(ARIA)
Award
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An awar ...
for
Special Achievement in
1993, and the "
Ted Albert
Edward Frank Albert (1937 – 11 November 1990) was an Australian early pioneer independent record production and founder of Albert Productions (part of his great grandfather's company Albert Music). In recognition of his contribution to the mus ...
Award" in 1994 at the
Australasian Performing Right Association
APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...
(APRA)
Awards.
Music journalists
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
,
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell (born 21 May 1955) is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of ''Rolling Stone'' (Australia) and a founding editor of '' Juice''.
In 1986, he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book, ''Too Mu ...
and Samantha Chenoweth describe him as "the single most important person in the Australian pop industry for forty years" in their 2006 book, ''1001 Australians You Should Know''. In
2014, Meldrum was inducted into the
ARIA Hall of Fame
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 ...
, together with his TV show, ''Countdown;'' he became the first non-artist to receive the accolade. Earlier that year he published his autobiography, ''The Never, Um... Ever Ending Story: Life, Countdown and Everything in Between''.
On 15 December 2011, Meldrum had a life-threatening fall from a ladder in the backyard of his Melbourne home. He was placed under intensive care in a critical condition at the
Alfred Hospital and had surgery for his head and spinal injuries. By April 2012 he had recovered enough to give interviews and resume work duties.
Early life
Ian Alexander Meldrum was born in
Orbost
Orbost is a historic early settlers town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, east of Melbourne and south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about from the surf and fishing seaside town of Marlo on th ...
, Victoria, on 29 January 1943.