YA YA CHORAL

Beginning life as an experimental electronic outfit, Sydney band Ya Ya Choral became a much-admired, if commercially unsuccessful, hard rock outfit over the course of a decade. The initial lineup was: Fiona Graham on vocals/keyboards (ex-Systematics), Patrick Gibson on keyboards/vocals (ex-Systematics) and Michael Tee on keyboards/guitar/vocals. Ya Ya Choral's first release was the EP 'Such a Dutchman' on M Squared in 1982, followed by the 'What's a Quaver?' EP in July 1983. Guitarist Chris Morrow replaced Patrick Gibson for their next single, ''Two Line's', on the Red Eye label in August 1985. The next year they were featured on ABC-TV's BeatBox program and videos for ''Who's the King?'' and ''Lonesome No More'' received national airplay.

 
Although the group broke up in 1986, Fiona Graham and Michael Tee revived proceedings in 1987 with a new lineup that included Michael Filewood (ex-Systematics), on guitar, Joanna Urbanik on bass and Dave Kelly on drums. With a new sound that mixed hard rock and pop, support rose as they toured with bands such as Lime Spiders, the Radiators, and Sunnyboys. Their next EP, 'Grunts', was released on their own Maelstromm label in October 1988, later released as 'Extra Grunt'. Their debut album, 'One Small Step for Mankind', was released in March 1989. Spurred on by a positive reaction from the U.K. heavy metal press, Ya Ya Choral toured the U.K later that year. A momentary name change to Fear of Angels occurred in 1990, but they reverted to Ya Ya Choral soon after. Patrick Gibson died May 3rd, 2019 aged 57 following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Members

Patrick Gibson (guitar), Joanna Urbanik (bass), Dave Kelly (drums), Chris Morrow (guitar)
Michael Filewood (guitar), Michael Tee (guitar), Fiona Graham (vocals/keyboards)