Pop star, mentor and icon, George Young was one of the most important figures in Australian pop music history. Jeff Apter reveals the little-known facts that helped create a music empire.
George Young wasn't so much on the charts for the best part of three decades: he and his musical partner Harry Vanda were the charts.
George's journey began with the trailblazing Easybeats and continued, alongside Harry, as producer/songwriter for hire with John Paul Young, The Angels, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah, Ted Mulry, Stevie Wright and, most crucially, AC/DC. George and Harry also struck gold with Flash and the Pan, almost by accident.
George Young helped create such classics as 'Friday on My Mind', 'Sorry', 'Love is in the Air', 'Evie', 'Yesterday's Hero', 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'Hey, St. Peter', 'Bad Boy for Love', 'Jailbreak' and 'It's a Long Way to the Top'.
In 2001, APRA voted 'Friday on My Mind' the best and most significant Australian song of the past 75 years.
In this long-overdue book, the first to focus exclusively on the life and work of George Young, writer Jeff Apter explores George's long and fruitful association with Harry; his rare ability to maintain a stable married life with his wife Sandra; and his handshake deal with Ted Albert that helped create a music empire.
The book also reveals such little-known events as the accident that almost killed off 'Hey, St. Peter' before its release, and the tragedy that bonded George and Harry for life.
About the Author
Jeff Apter is the author of more than 20 music biographies, many of them bestsellers. His subjects include Johnny O'Keefe, Keith Urban, John Farnham, the Bee Gees, the Finn brothers and Angus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC. As a ghostwriter, he has worked with Kasey Chambers, Mark Evans (of AC/DC) and Richard Clapton. Jeff was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years and has written about legends such as Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Chrissie Hynde and Lucinda Williams. In 2015, he worked on the Helpmann award-nominated live show A State of Grace: The Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley. Away from music, Jeff has also worked on books with soldiers and diplomats and sports greats such as Michael Slater and Tim Cahill. He lives in Wollongong, New South Wales, with his wife, two children and a cat that's so damned cool it needs no name.
ISBN: 9781760875107
ISBN-10: 1760875104
Audience: General
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 320
Available: 4th August 2020
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia
Country of Publication: AU
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.3
Weight (kg): 0.44
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Friday on my mind’: How the Easybeats’ George Young shaped Australian rock ’n’ roll.
*By Jeff Apter.
In June 1963, George Young and his family, including his kid brothers Malcolm and Angus, relocated to Australia and spent their first few months in the Villawood Migrant Hostel. It was there that George’s musical odyssey began.
That’s basically where The Easybeats started.’
George was rarely seen without his guitar. He didn’t know many people in this strange new place, and music was the perfect escape.
These lads [in the hostel] were so isolated,’ . ‘They didn’t have cars, a peer group, friends.’
One night, the three Gibb brothers – lanky Barry and twins Robin and Maurice – paid a visit to the hostel. The Gibbs were, like the Youngs, Ten Pound Poms, and had been ‘in country’ since 1958. They were living in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba and had recently signed a recording contract with Leedon Records; pop star Col Joye was their mentor.
George was killing time at the hostel when he met Harry Vanda. He was a lanky, fair-haired seventeen-year-old whose family had arrived at Villawood around the same time as the Youngs, having emigrated from The Hague. He was an only child and, like George, had few, if any, friends. (Unlike the Youngs, who would settle permanently in Australia, Harry’s people moved back to the Netherlands after a couple of years.)
Harry was strumming a guitar, which was all the encouragement George needed to start talking with him. Or to try to talk with him, because Harry’s English was still very much a work in progress – most of his English came from the lyrics of British bands that he admired.
‘I think I’m getting sunstrike,’ Harry would exclaim.
‘You mean sunstroke,’ George would correct him.
‘It’s too hot for that,’ Harry would insist. ‘I think it’s sunstrike.’
George made a mental note to work on his new friend’s English.
*This is an edited extract*
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