During his time at high school Johnny joined the school cadets, where he made good progress learning trumpet, and he (reluctantly) sang solo in the school choir. After his second stint of National Service he began singing with Merzi two nights a week, playing at university college dances, 21st birthdays and private parties and Merzi also managed to get O'Keefe a regular spot on the 2UW live radio show Saturday Night Dancing. The promoters were obviously even more happy as refunds would not have been necessary. [citation needed] According to Ian McFarlane, Liberty offered to pay $5 to anyone who could throw further than the singer, but they had to pay out many times at one exhibition when O'Keefe turned up drunk. It was produced and broadcast by the newly-opened Channel TEN-10 and filmed at various outdoor locations around Sydney, and O'Keefe released a 'spin-off' album also titled Where The Action Is during the year, but the series was not successful and budget problems and low ratings led to its cancellation in November 1967.From 1968 onwards O'Keefe devoted most of his time to performing on the burgeoning Australian club and cabaret circuit, and aside from the 1969 live LP Live On The Gold Coast, his only album releases were compilations of past hits, mostly issued on Festival's budget label Calendar.O'Keefe doggedly continued recording new singles during the later 1960s, but only three made it into the Top 40 "Sun's Gonna Shine Tomorrow"(#38, May 1966), "Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw" (#28, August 1966) and a re-release of "She's May Baby" which reached #22 in August 1969. Dale went into the Army and O'Keefe went into the RAAF. However the follow-up single charted significantly lower, peaking at a modest #30, and titles of the two songs seemed, in retrospect, to presage the downturn in O'Keefe's career the A-side, "Rock'n'Roll Will Stand" was backed by a cover of the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Rock and roll star Johnny O'Keefe has left a lasting legacy among Australians and fans right across the world. By 1960 he had become the most popular and successful singer in Australia and a major TV star. The first turning point in O'Keefe's career was in early 1953, when he began singing with the quintet of jazz accordionist Gus Merzi at charity dances. One of the biggest personal blows O'Keefe suffered albeit one for which he was primarily responsible was the breakdown of his marriage and the bitter 1966 divorce from his long-suffering wife Marianne, whom he had married in 1958, which resulted in him being denied access to their three children.During 1969 O'Keefe toured Vietnam to entertain Australian troops stationed there. In early 1959 ABC hired Johnny O'Keefe & The Dee Jays as the resident band for its new one-hour live television show Six O'Clock Rock which featured local artists. He came to Australia under the Colombo Plan in 1952 to study Medicine at the University of Sydney. John Michael O'Keefe n le 19 janvier 1935 Bondi Junction en Nouvelle Galle du Sud et mort le 6 octobre 1978 Sydney, est un chanteur de rock 'n' roll australien. Johnny O'Keefe's life changed irrevocably after seeing and hearing Bill Haley singing "Rock Around the Clock" in the film Blackboard Jungle in June 1955. John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe (19 January 1935 6 October 1978) was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. In 2021, a clip from the film featuring O'Keefe performing 'Swanee River' was uploaded to youtube. It was produced and broadcast by the newly opened Channel TEN-10 and filmed at various outdoor locations around Sydney, and O'Keefe released a 'spin-off' album also titled Where The Action Is during the year, but the series was not successful and budget problems and low ratings led to its cancellation in November 1967. One of the biggest personal blows O'Keefe suffered was the end of his marriage and the 1966 divorce from his wife Marianne, whom he had married in 1958. Anxious not to lose face, Taylor auditioned O'Keefe and signed him to the label.[22]. Limited Marketed By - Warner Music Australia Pty. O'Keefe's tenure with Six O'Clock Rock ended in mid-1961, and in October he moved to ATN-7 as compere of the Johnny O'Keefe Show. [More] Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer. [citation needed] It was an era in which many major artists mimed songs at outdoor locations, such at Manly Beach's Fairy Bower in 1967. 4.7. They're both green, they both have fun exploring different comic tropes and clichs, and they both like to break the fourth wall in the middle of their stories - it was only natural that they cross paths eventually. O gauge 4 small straight 4-7 in. Kendra Wilkinson cuts a casual figure while out with her son Hank Jr., 13, and eight-year-old daughter Alijah This time he gets down low to divert Daniel Kerr's effort out for a 45 after a great ball in from Conor Donaghy! [citation needed], His run of Australian hits continued in spite of his mounting personal problems. The first major biography on O'Keefe was published in 1982, and several others have been written since including The Wild One by Damian Johnstone and Johnny O'Keefe The Facts written in 2008 by Lonnie Lee and released by Starlite Records. While the front of the large car bore the brunt of the very severe impact, all three were seriously injured. Skip to main content. 22 in December. While the front of the large car bore the brunt of the very severe impact, all three were seriously injured. [citation needed], Johnny O'Keefe's life story and career also inspired the stage musical, Shout! Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Peter Cox on the outlandish outfits that defined Australia's rock 'n' roll rebel. [28], In the early hours of 27 June 1960, O'Keefe, Johnny Greenan and Greenan's wife Janice were driving back to Sydney from the Queensland Gold Coast. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the . et She's my Baby [1].Au cours de ses vingt ans de carrire, O'Keefe a sorti plus de cinquante singles, 50 EP et 100 albums. O'Keefe was the younger brother of Australian jurist Barry O'Keefe (a former head of the New South Wales ICAC). Anxious not to lose face, Taylor auditioned O'Keefe and signed him to the label.O'Keefe's debut single (issued as a 78rpm record), "You Hit The Wrong Note, Billy Goat" b/w "The Chicken Song", was released in July 1957 but it failed to chart and sold poorly, as did the follow-up, "Love Letters In The Sand" which O'Keefe later described as the worst record of his career.By this time O'Keefe had become a close friend of Lee Gordon and their popularity really took off when O'Keefe and the Dee Jays were installed as the featured support act for Gordon's famous "Big Show" concert bills at the Sydney Stadium. As soon as he was released from close confinement he escaped, but by chance he was able to make contact with Lee Gordon, who happened to be in London at the time, and with Gordon's help (and that of O'Keefe's wife and his parents) he was transferred to St George's Hospital to recover, and he returned to Australia as soon as he was well enough to travel. [citation needed], In 1994, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney recognised O'Keefe's contributions in a major exhibition of Australia's rock and pop history titled Real Wild Child and a comprehensive CD-ROM based on the exhibition was later released with the same title. 2 straight and 6 curve HO Fastrack style. You Devil; Police Academy; Protocol; Repo Man; The Ratings Game; Revenge of the Nerds; Rhinestone; Romancing the Stone; Splash; Surf II; Teachers; This Is Spinal Tap; The Census Taker . JOHNNY O'KEEFE Rare 1961 Aust Only 7" OOP Leedon Single "I'm Counting On You" AU $39.95 AU $5.00 postage JOHNNY O'KEEFE Mockingbird & She's my baby 7" 45 record + juke box title strip AU $8.99 AU $6.00 postage or Best Offer SPONSORED JOHNNY O'KEEFE - SO TOUGH - 7" 45 VINYL RECORD - 1972 AU $8.00 AU $3.50 postage or Best Offer SPONSORED In his twenty-year career, O'Keefe released over fifty singles, 50 EPs and 100 albums. In December 1952 Dale and O'Keefe were called up for National Service. O'Keefe's face was smashed and Johnny Greenan was thrown out of the car, landing six metres away on the highway, causing a fractured vertebra and loss of front teeth; Janice Greenan suffered a severe concussion. In 1959, Lee Gordon contracted O'Keefe to perform and be filmed in his film 'RocknRoll', a live filming of one Lee Gordon's 'Rock'n'Roll Spectacular' shows that travelled nationally during that year. Wild One (Real Wild Child) 2. The young O'Keefe was intelligent and perceptive, with a great sense of humour, although his school grades fluctuated due to his misbehaviour and the fact that he was easily distracted; Sydney radio personality Gary O'Callaghan,[8] who was a classmate, later recalled that O'Keefe was often in trouble. However the tour eventually fizzled out in late November, as O'Keefe had behaved badly which did not endear him to Liberty Records which had spent over $17,000 promoting him. However the follow-up single charted significantly lower, peaking at a modest No. In August 1962 he suffered another breakdown and spent two months in the psychiatric ward at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney,[32] beginning what was to become a repeating cycle of much-publicised breakdowns, hospitalisation and recovery. 1 hit in August 1960 with "Don't You Know"/"Come on And Take My Hand", and the next single, "Ready For You"/"Save The Last Dance For Me", reached No. His father was a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and his uncle is an Australian rock and roll singer Johnny O'Keefe. Johnny Greenan joined the Dee Jays on tenor saxophone, replacing John Balkin. When Gene Vincent and his band were stranded in Honolulu on their way to Australia, Gordon contacted O'Keefe and asked him to fill in for Vincent for the first night of the tour in Wollongong. [citation needed]. In 1986 the Seven Network produced the successful 'docu-drama' mini-series based on his life, Shout! Johnny Keefe Johnny Keefe a life-long Brewster New York resident died peacefully Monday June 26, 2017 at Regional Hospice in Danbury, CT, with his family at his side after a long courageous battle with cancer. 2. He realised immediately that this was the style of music he wanted to perform, and from this point on he dedicated himself single-mindedly to becoming a rock 'n' roll singer and a star.Although he was perhaps an unlikely candidate for stardom, he pursued it relentlessly for the next two decades and it is a tribute to his tenacity that, in large measure, his dream was achieved: by 1960 he had become the most popular and successful singer in Australia and a major TV star. Some of the dance patrons came to blows with wedding guests in the men's toilets, and within minutes the fight had erupted into a full-scale riot that spilled out into the street, with police eventually calling in the Naval Shore Patrol to help restore order. Live performances began to taper off. Ses chansons les plus connues sont Wild One, Shout! Sing! O'Keefe was alienated by the new developments in pop music, and he later described this period as "the biggest downer in my career".Another major blow to O'Keefe was the sudden death of his partner and friend Lee Gordon, who died from a heart attack in London on 7 November 1963.O'Keefe's last major hit of the Sixties came in April 1964 (two months before the Beatles toured Australia) when "She Wears My Ring" reached #2 on the singles chart. Log In or Sign Up John Keefe See Photos John Keefe See Photos Profile @john.keefe3 Works at Keefe Clinic John Keefe See Photos John Keefe See Photos John Keefe See Photos John Keefe See Photos John Keefe Sing, Sing, Sing was eventually cancelled in October 1965. Live performances began to taper off. It was also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Everlife, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Glamour Camp, Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, Wakefield and Jet. His father, Alderman Ray O'Keefe, was Mayor of Waverley Council in the early 1960s. Their first performance was at Stones Cabaret in the beach side suburb of Coogee, and by early 1957 they were playing four dances a week and also performing on Saturdays in the interval between films at the Embassy Theatre, Manly. According to Lou Casch, on one occasion, while O'Keefe and the Dee Jays played at an upstairs dance venue in Newtown, an "Italian wedding" reception was also taking place downstairs. Up to this point he had performed for free, simply to gain experience, but his first paid engagement as a singer was as a Johnny Ray impersonator, performing on the Bathurst radio station 2BS, for which he was paid 17 plus expenses. O'Keefe also toyed with the local press, playing on Lou Casch's exotic appearance by telling journalists that Casch was the son of an Arrernte Aboriginal chieftain from Ayers Rock (Uluru) and that Casch's hand-built guitar was made from mulga wood. Johnny O'Keefe 1960s O'Keefe was charged with breaching bail after he allegedly failed a drug test . Australian rock historian Ian McFarlane succinctly described O'Keefe's qualities in his article on the singer in the Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop:"J.O'K was the first to admit that he was a limited singer, but he possessed an incredible drive, a fierce ambition to succeed, a tireless facility for self-promotion, a tremendous flair for showmanship and a larrikin spirit that was irrepressible.". Listen to Johnny O'Keefe MP3 songs online from the playlist available on Wynk Music or download them to play offline. The King Of Australian Rock 'n' Roll Johnny O'Keefe is recognised as the pioneer of Australian Rock 'n' Roll music. John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe (19 January 1935 - 6 October 1978) was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Since his death, O'Keefe's stature has continued to grow, and . Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Johnny Darrell - The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp - Pic Sleeve Only PS at the best online prices at eBay! She's My Baby 2. Often referred to by his initials "J.O.K." Many of these outfits were made for him by Sydney show business costumier Len Taylor, although one famous red suit trimmed with leopard-print velvet cuffs and lapels (now in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney) was reputedly made by his mother Thelma. Tribute To Johnny O'Keefe - 22 Golden Greats 1978 LP record excellent, cover VG. (Comfort) In My Heart 5. Popular Johnny O'Keefe songs. The Legend of The Wild One, with book by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow and featuring music made famous by O'Keefe and other hits of the 1950s. O'Keefe and the Dee Jays quickly attracted a strong local following, due in large measure to O'Keefe's magnetic personality and his dynamic stage performances.O'Keefe's 'trademark' was his flamboyant stage attire, which included gold lame jackets and brightly coloured suits trimmed with fake fur. Some of the dance patrons came to blows with wedding guests in the men's toilets, and within minutes the fight had erupted into a full-scale riot that spilled out into the street, with police eventually calling in the Navy Shore Patrol to help restore order. His parents were both good singers, his mother was an excellent pianist and his father occasionally played in a jazz band.O'Keefe made his stage debut at the age of four when he played the role of 'Dopey' in the Waverley College production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". She and their now-teen son Johnny watch as Paul auditions actresses to play the fictional version of Galina, "Talia." . The Story of Johnny O'Keefe, which starred actor-singer Terry Serio as O'Keefe.In 1986 punk legend Iggy Pop recorded a cover version of O'Keefe's signature tune "Wild One" under the title "Real Wild Child", which was included on his album Blah Blah Blah and released as a single. He returned to the US in March 1960 to complete his contract, but after one final session at Goldstar on the 17th of that month which produced 'Don't You Know' and 'Take My Hand', Liberty did not renew his contract and he returned to Australia. John O'Keefe Biographical Early Years I was born in November 1939 in Harlem, New York to Irish immigrant parents and grew up in the South Bronx. [45], The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. Discover. He was also a keen swimmer, surfer and sailor and often sailed with the Vaucluse Juniors sailing club. SPONSORED. [citation needed], In October 2010, his 1958 album, Wild One, was listed in the top40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. Since his death, O'Keefe's stature has continued to grow, and he has been posthumously accorded the recognition he did not receive in his lifetime. At that time the NZBC had a monopoly on radio, they had only one J.O'K. They commenced in 1987. 1970. [citation needed] After the second US tour collapsed, he flew to London on impulse, but he reportedly overdosed on a combination of alcohol marijuana and prescription medication in his room at the Park Lane Hotel. 32 in December 1963. According to Lou Casch, they backed acts including Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Fabian, Tab Hunter, Jimmie Rodgers and Ricky Nelson, and on his 1960 tour, Nelson was booed by fans of O'Keefe's whom he had reputedly planted in the audience. The Legend of The Wild One, with book by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow and featuring music made famous by O'Keefe and other hits of the 1950s.A portrait of O'Keefe by Australian artist Ivan Durrant, titled "A Little Bit Louder Now", is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.On Thursday 10 June 2004 a 5 metre tall Monument titled "The Wild One", created by sculptor Dr. Alex Sandor Kolozsy CDVA, was unveiled at the Coolangatta/Tweed Heads, Twin Towns Services Club in memory of the King of Australian Rock and Roll.In October 2010, his 1958 album, Wild One, was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. Film featuring O'Keefe performing 'Swanee River ' was uploaded to youtube 1952 to study Medicine at the of. Sailed with the Vaucluse Juniors sailing club bore the brunt of the very severe impact, all three seriously... The follow-up single charted significantly lower, peaking at a modest No Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer the. 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