MARTY RHONE

Marty Rhone was born as Karel (or Karl) Lawrence van Rhoon on 7 May 1948 in Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies. Rhone was taught piano by his father, but he preferred singing. In August 1959, aged 11, he first performed publicly at Darwin's Mitchell Street Town Hall in Around the World in 80 Minutes – a charity variety concert – alongside his father on piano and his mother. After he finished primary school, the family moved to Sydney, where he attended Crows Nest Boys High School. In mid-1961 he appeared on a talent quest segment of ATN7-TV series, Tarax Show, and was offered a singing spot on a children's show, Kaper Kabaret.

In late 1965 he formed a band, The Blue Feelings, and they auditioned for an appearance on Saturday Date, a teen music show. After the audition Spin Records owner, Nat Kipner, signed Rhone to a recording contract and the label issued his debut single, "Nature Boy / Every Minute Of You", in February the following year. For his next two singles, "Thirteen Women" (April) and "I Want You Back Again" (June), Rhone was backed by Spin Records label mates, The Soul Agents, a beat pop group. They had formed in 1964 and by 1966 consisted of Jerry Darmic on bass guitar, Roger Felice-Andrews on drums, John Green on guitar and Barry Kelly on organ. 

Rhone's fourth single, "She Is Mine", included the self-penned B-side, "Village Tapestry", which appeared in September. None of these singles charted on the Go-Set National Top 40, however Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described "Village Tapestry" as being "highly regarded among 1960s aficionados". In Iain McIntyre's book, Tomorrow Is Today: Australia in the Psychedelic Era, 1966-1970 (2006), the track was listed by Ian D. Marks as one of the 'Top 7 Proto-Psychedelic Australian Tracks from 1966'. Marks described it as "completely out of left field. With a gentle, almost medieval lilt, autoharps a-strumming and a charming spoken word verse—there was nothing like this released in Australia at the time. Melodic, evocative and delicate". During 1966 Marty Rhone and The Soul Agents supported The Rolling Stones on the United Kingdom rock group's tour of Australia. They also performed on the bill of the P.J. Proby Show at the Sydney Stadium with Wayne Fontana, Eden Kane and The Bee Gees appearing.

Rhone went solo and moved to Melbourne and released five more singles on Spin Records ''Tell Me Love / No, No, No, No, No'' (May 1967), ''Green Mansion / Lonely Too Long'' (Nov 1967) ''She's Coming Home / Hurry, Poor Working Man'' (Mar 1968), ''Ruby With The Red Hair / Appeal'' (Aug 1969) and ''So You Want To Be A Pop Singer / As The Sun Goes Down'' (1970) but had limited success. By March 1970 Rhone was conscripted for National Service until 1972. During his service he attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon, as a member of their band, for 18 months. From April 1972 to July 1973, he acted in the Australian stage version of Godspell at The Richbrooke, Sydney with Rod Dunbar, Peita Toppano and John Waters. The Australian cast soundtrack album was issued as 'Godspell: a Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew' on HMV. He attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and in July 1973 he released a new single, "Goodbye in May".

He composed the music for Ruzzante Returns from the Wars, which starred Ivar Kants and ran at the Parade Theatre, Kensington from May to June 1974 as a one-act play. It is based on the text of Angelo Beolco's Il Parlamento de Ruzante, originally written in Italy during the mid-16th century. As a double bill at the same venue, Rhone performed the music he had composed for La Mandragola, a satirical play by another 16th-century Italian, Niccolò Machiavelli. It had roles by Reg Gillam, Pamela Stephenson and Ingrid Mason. Rhone followed with appearances on TV soap operas, Number 96 (1974) and Class of '75 (1975).

By mid-1975 Rhone had signed with M7 Records and issued his next single, "Denim and Lace", which peaked at #8 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. This single was also released in the USA and NZ. It was promoted on the Class of '75 soundtrack album. It was co-written by L Lister (aka Jack Aranda) and F Lyons (aka Shad Lyons). Lister and Lyons also produced Rhone's debut album, 'Denim and Lace', recording at Alberts Studio 139. At the end of the year "Denim and Lace" was the second highest selling single in Australia. His next single, "Star Song", reached the Top 50, the next two were less successful, while the last one for the year, "On the Loose" reached the Top 40. Of the four singles, "On the Loose (Again)" – co-written by Brian Dawe and Steve Groves (ex-Tin Tin) – was used by Rhone to win the 1976 Australian Popular Song Festival. In June 1977 he had another hit with "Mean Pair of Jeans", which reached #10. This single was also released in Germany. In July that year he issued his second album, 'Marty Rhone'.

In July 1978 Rhone relocated to London. In June the following year he took the role of Lun Tha in the London Palladium presentation of The King and I alongside Yul Brynner and Virginia McKenna.  In May 1988 Festival Records issued a ten-volume album series, Festival File, including 'Village Tapestry: The Festival File Volume 9' by Marty Rhone and The Soul Agents. Stuart Coupe reviewed the collection for The Canberra Times, "Never a big pop star, Marty Rhone will be remembered for a number of outstanding singles, a number of which were very advanced in style and production". 

Commencing in 2007, Rhone has performed a repertoire of tracks by Cliff Richard; a gig at the Crown Casino, Melbourne, in late 2008 was filmed and broadcast in February the next year as Marty Rhone: A Tribute to Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

In 2009 he worked with fellow local artists, Ray Burgess, Tommy Emmanuel, John St Peeters and John "Swanee" Swan to release a single, "Legends of the Southern Land". From April to July 2009, he continued the Richard tributes with The Dream Tour, which had Dean Bourne as US singer Roy Orbison; An album titled 'Born to Rock' was released digitally in May 2010. In May 2011 on the Cliff & Dusty presentation he performed with Sheena Crouch as UK pop singer Dusty Springfield; and in June 2012 with his own "musical theatre fantasy" covering Richard's and The Beatles' material in Cliff Joins The Beatles. In August 2016, Rhone released '50th Anniversar Album, a career spanning compilation album. In March 2017, Rhone released a new single titled "Graceland on the Line", commemorating 40 years since the death of Elvis Presley.

SINGLES

''Nature Boy / Every Minute Of You'' 1966 Spin
''Thirteen Women / I Can Tell'' [with The Soul Agents] 1966 Spin
''I Want You Back / What More Can I Do'' [with The Soul Agents] 1966 Spin
''She Is Mine / Village Tapestry'' (#72) 1966 Spin
''Tell Me Love / No, No, No, No, No'' (#60) 1967 Spin
''Green Mansion / Lonely Too Long'' 1967 Spin
''She's Coming Home (#99) / Hurry, Poor Working Man'' 1968 Spin

''Ruby With The Red Hair (#73) / Appeal'' 1969 Spin
''So You Want To Be A Pop Singer / As The Sun Goes Down'' 1970 Spin
''Don't Look Back / The Day The Letter Came'' 1972 Warner Bros
''Goodbye In May / 115 Sweet (Instrumental)'' 1973 Spiral
''Denim And Lace (#8) / Take Me'' 1975 M7
''Star Song (#44) / Little Miss Demeanour'' 1976 M7
''Take Away (#99) / Instant Coffee, Instant Tea'' 1976 M7
''On The Loose (#33) / You Can't Have Me'' 1976 M7
''A Mean Pair Of Jeans (#10) / I'm Gone Again'' 1977 M7
''Things We Did Last Night / Dial A Dream'' 1977 M7

EPs

'Marty Rhone And The Stars Of "Godspell" 1973 EMI

ALBUMS

'Denim And Lace' (#98) 1976 M7

'Marty Rhone' (#94) 1977 M7

'First Love' 1998 Massive

'Jealous Of The Sky' 2019

'Born To Rock' 2023

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Rhone

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/