GENE PIERSON

Gene Pierson was born Giancarlo Salvestrin (29 April 1946) in Venice. In 1949 his father, Ernesto, migrated to Australia and in January 1950, when Giancarlo was four, Pierson and his mother followed, settling in Griffith. In 1963 Pierson, under the stage name Gene Chandler, won a talent quest at Skelseys Hotel, singing "Mashed Potato", in the western suburbs of Sydney, which was the beginning of his career in the entertainment business. He was given a regular solo spot at the hotel, where he was approached by guitarist Graham Ford to become the fifth member of a western suburbs band, The Inturns. The Inturns were subsequently managed by Eileen Harrigan, the wife of John Harrigan, who owned Surf City in Kings Cross and managed a number of leading 'beat' bands in Sydney. The Inturns supported a number of popular local acts, including Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, and Ray Brown & The Whispers as well as headlining at Suzi Wong's The Beach House and Stagecoach venues. Pierson was then offered a six-month resident spot at The Bowl nightclub in Pitt Street, Sydney.

In December 1965 Pierson received news that his father, Ernesto, had a brain tumor and meanwhile Pierson was due to be conscripted into the army to serve in Vietnam. He was due to report to Duntroon military base within days however, following advice from The La De Das guitarist Kevin Borich, he travelled to New Zealand, which had no passport requirement, thereby evading his conscription. Running low on cash in Auckland, he bluffed his way into the Galaxie nightclub, saying he was Gene Chandler, a top performer from Sydney, and would do a guest spot for free entry. In the audience was Eldred Stebbing who managed and recorded Ray Columbus, Max Merritt & The Meteors and the La De Das on his Zodiac label.

Stebbing was impressed and ended up managing Pierson encouraging him to change his stage name as there was already a US singer named Gene Chandler (aka 'Duke of Earl'). The story is that Stebbing spotted a poster for Pearson's Soap over the singer's shoulder, and both agreed with a change in spelling to Pierson. After signing with Stebbing's Zodiac label, temporary accommodation was arranged and Salvestrin (now Pierson) had a regular gig and income. He also appeared regularly with Wellington group, Cheshire Katt. Pierson had success with a Bobby Hebb song, "Love, Love Love'', which become a #1 hit on the Radio Hauraki charts in October 1967. This was followed by "You Got To Me'' which reached the #2 spot. This was first time anyone had done a cover version of a Neil Diamond song outside of the US – a medal commemorating this was later presented to Pierson by Diamond's manager. Both singles were also released in Australia on the Philips label. In 1968 Pierson released, "Toyland", which originally recorded by UK group The Alan Bown featuring Robert Palmer on vocals, which was then followed later that year by "If You Only Loved Me"/"Just One Tender Look", neither of which had the same success as the earlier singles.

Pierson was featured in Playdate, Groove and a number of women's magazines, alongside the British and American pop stars of the time. He was working four nights a week, regularly appearing on television and touring with artists including Tommy Adderley, Larry's Rebels, Shane, The Chicks, Simple Image and the La De Das. 

During the recording of an album with producer and blind keyboard player Claude Papesch, Gene Pierson learned of his father's death and returned to Australia for the funeral. He quickly leveraged his New Zealand success, signing with Festival Records and releasing a psychedelic make-over of the Four Tops song "Reach Out", backed by New Zealand's Simple Image who were resident in Sydney at the time. However, a long-standing disagreement between radio stations and record labels put an end to the song's journey up the charts. It did peak at #12 on the Sydney chart. Record companies were refusing to supply free new release records unless radio stations agreed to pay a new royalty, resulting in a six-month radio ban on airplay for Australian and British recordings released by major labels.

To capitalise on that loophole he formed Chart Records which released a number of songs, including a cover by Sydney band, Autumn of Christie's "Yellow River", and their collaboration with Dave Allenby of Edison Lighthouse's "She Works in A Woman's Way", which both reached the top ten on the local music charts. Also achieving chart success was a re-release of his earlier single, "Love, Love, Love", which reached #38 on the Go-Set Australian National Charts in May 1970.

As part of his contract Pierson released "See My Way / Teach Me How To Fly" on the Infinity label in 1970, followed in 1971 by "Story / Bye Bye Love" and "Come on In / The Only Living Boy in New York". He then ended his contract with Festival and went on to co-host the nationwide weekly pop gossip programme the Today Show with Bruce Webster and Patty Lovell, which led to the first video music TV show on Channel 7 called Sounds. The same year, he also hosted his own weekly segment, Today Pop, on Channel 7’s Today Show and wrote for Go-Set pop paper. For the publication he covered Elton John's first concert at the Troubador in Los Angeles, interviewed musicians Lou Rawls and Tina Turner, and promoted his version of "The Only Living Boy in New York", taking guest spots on the casino circuit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and appearing on Metro Media TV.

In November 2007 Pierson was invited to perform at the Wild Things beat band event in Auckland, where he sang alongside Ray Columbus, The Pleazers, Chants R & B, The Breakaways, Peter Nelson & the Castaways and the Underdogs. In August 2008 Pierson finally released his debut album, the 16-track compilation 'Spinning the Moments', which he had begun in 1968. A distribution deal was signed with Sony/BMG in Australia and EMI Music in New Zealand for the album.

 

SINGLES

Reach Out

23 MAR '70

#29

Love, Love, Love

2 NOV '70

#87

References

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