Compensation for his earlier car accident was received by 1969, which enabled Wilson to travel to England with Pat. He had been invited by friend Brian Peacock (bass guitar) to join his band Procession. Whilst there, Wilson married Pat, recorded an album Procession with the band and wrote the song "Eagle Rock". Wilson returned to Australia later that year and formed Sons of the Vegetal Mother (1969–70), again including Hannaford and Rudd. In 1970 Sons of the Vegetal Mother formed a side-project called Daddy Cool. The original members were Wilson, Hannaford (vocals and guitars), Gary Young on drums (ex-Rondells) and Wayne Duncan bass (ex-Rondells), other members that joined, included saxophonist Jeremy Noone and guitarist Ian Winter.
Known for their "good time" image, Daddy Cool's repertoire mixed covers of 1950s R&B and doo-wop classics with original compositions mostly written by Wilson and influenced by the work of Frank Zappa. The band signed to the independent Sparmac label, co-owned by producer and former child prodigy guitarist Robie Porter. Daddy Cool became very popular in Australia and their records also gained a following in the USA and Canada in the early 1970s. They scored a nationwide #1 hit in Australia in mid-1970 with the single "Eagle Rock" and their debut LP, 'Daddy Who? Daddy Cool', also reached #1 to set a record as the biggest selling Australian album to that time. The "Eagle Rock" promo was directed by Chris Löfvén who had earlier that year directed the video for Spectrum's single "I'll Be Gone".
Around this time Ross and wife Pat both appeared naked in a short film directed by Chris Löfvén titled The Beginning which is an extra on the DVD release of Oz. After Daddy Cool broke up late in 1972, Wilson and Hannaford formed the short-lived Mighty Kong which included former Spectrum drummer Ray Arnott and Company Caine guitarist Russell Smith. They recorded only one LP, 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock' released on Porter's new label Wizard Records, but the band broke up soon after. Whilst performing with Mighty Kong, Wilson was impressed by a fledgling Melbourne band called Skyhooks and signed their main songwriter Greg Macainsh to his publishing company.
Daddy Cool made a surprise reformation for the January 1974 Sunbury Pop Festival and remained together until late 1975. Also performing at Sunbury in 1974 were Skyhooks and, despite being booed off stage, Wilson recommended the band to Mushroom Records boss Michael Gudinski. In June / July 1974 Wilson took time off from Daddy Cool and produced Skyhook's breakthrough debut album 'Living in the Seventies', which overtook Daddy Cool's first album to become the biggest-selling Australian LP. He went on to produce their next two albums, 'Ego is not a Dirty Word' (1975) and 'Straight in a Gay Gay World' (1976), both of which were also successes in Australia.
Contractual problems with Porter's Wizard label, to whom Wilson was signed at the time, forced him to wait out the end of his recording contract. He turned to producing records for Skyhooks on Mushroom Records and Company Caine on his own label Oz Records. When his contractual obligations ended, Wilson also scored Chris Löfvén's 1976 film, Oz, inspired by The Wizard of Oz but set in Australia. Wilson performed "Livin' in the Land of Oz" (also released as a single), "The Mood", "Greaseball", "Who's Gonna Love You Tonight" and "Atmospherics", with fellow ex-Daddy Cool members Gary Young and Wayne Burt; he produced the soundtrack which also featured the film's stars Joy Dunstan and Graham Matters singing a track each and two tracks by Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons. Jo Jo Zep, containing Young and Burt, were also signed to Oz Records and released the single "Beating Around the Bush" from the soundtrack.
His next venture, Mondo Rock went through several incarnations but the best known line-up included bassist Paul Christie (ex-Kevin Borich Express, later in The Party Boys), guitarist and songwriter Eric McCusker, (ex-The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band), drummer John Hackett (ex-Stars) and James Black on keyboards and guitar. Wilson produced the band's first single in 1978 "Fugitive Kind" and first album, 1979's 'Primal Park' for his own Oz Records label. Greatest singles success was with 1980's "State of the Heart", 1981's "Chemistry" and "Cool World" all from their award-winning second album 'Chemistry' released in 1981 on Avenue Records. 1980s teen-idol Rick Springfield recorded "State of the Heart" in 1985, making the U.S Top 40. McCusker had written "State of the Heart", co-written "Chemistry" with Christie, and Wilson had written "Cool World". Mondo Rock released 'Nuovo Mondo' in 1982 which included their track "Touch of Paradise" written by Wilson and Gulliver Smith (aka Kevin Smith, ex-Company Caine) this became a 1986 hit when covered by Australian pop singer John Farnham (ex-Little River Band).
In 1983, Wilson wrote a song, "Bop Girl" for his then wife Pat Wilson aka "Mummy Cool" when writing for Go-Set magazine back in 1971–1972. As a single, it featured Ross on backing vocals, and became an Australian #2 hit and even gained recognition internationally. It also had a video directed by Gillian Armstrong, which featured not only Ross, but the actual screen debut of Nicole Kidman. Mondo Rock released further albums including 'The Modern Bop' in 1984, which had their best charting single "Come Said the Boy" (#2 on National singles chart) and "The Modern Bop"; and 'Boom Baby Boom' in 1986, 'Aliens' (EP) in 1987 and 'Why Fight it?' in 1990. The later albums and singles had little chart success. Wilson's most successful solo release was 1989's "Bed of Nails" which reached #25 on the National singles charts. It was released from his July 1989 solo album 'Dark Side of the Man' on WEA.
Wilson returned to performing in the late 1990s and he has released two albums of new material plus a two-CD retrospective covering his entire career, including many rare tracks.) He has also collaborated with children's group The Wiggles, singing on their re-recording of "Eagle Rock" and playing the part of "King Mondo" in the video "Space Dancing". Wilson also appeared as "King Mondo" on the 2004 video "Santa's Rockin'!" singing This Little Baby Is Born Again. In 1996 Wilson was part of the pre-game entertainment at the ARL Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium, with other famous Australian music acts, The Del Tones, Glenn Shorrock, Christine Anu and Kate Ceberano. Wilson sang "Eagle Rock", which would ironically later be adopted by the winners of the Grand Final, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, as their team anthem.
Wilson was approached in early 2006 by St Kilda Football Club president Rod Butterss to re-write the St Kilda theme song "When The Saints Go Marching In". Ross Wilson has appeared as a judge on the Seven Network celebrity reality singing competition It Takes Two in both 2006 and 2007 series, and was featured in the ABC interview series Talking Heads with Peter Thompson on 9 July 2007. In 2008, Wilson was invited to Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California to perform the song "Eagle Rock" at the Eagle Rock Music Festival. In August 2009 Wilson celebrated 45 years in music with the commemorative "5 Decades of Cool" concert at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda, Melbourne.
SINGLES
Living in the Land of Oz
| 23 AUG '76 | #46 |
Bed of Nails
| 12 JUN '89 | #25 |
Dark Side of the Man
| 28 AUG '89 | #57 |
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Wilson_(musician)
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