James Oswald Little, AO born in1937 was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales. At the age of 13, Little was given a guitar and within a year he was playing at local concerts. When 16 years old he travelled to Sydney to perform on a radio programme, Australia's Amateur Hour. In 1955 Little left home to live in Sydney and pursue a career in country music, his mellow style earned him the nicknames of "the Balladeer", "Gentleman Jim" and "the Honey Voice".
Little signed with Regal Zonophone Records in 1956 and released his first single, "Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz". In 1958, Little married fellow singer, Marjorie Rose Peters. By late 1959, Little was living in Granville with his wife and their daughter Frances Claire – he released the single, "Frances Claire", when she was 18 months-old. It was issued on EMI's Columbia label and was soon followed by "The Coloured Lad", which had been written by his father – the first song released in Australia referring to indigenous issues and first both written and recorded by indigenous musicians. He worked at a towelling factory and supplemented his income with performances at concerts and dances, and TV appearances on Bandstand. Little signed with Festival Records and in September 1959, he had his first charting single, "Danny Boy", from the extended play, 'Jimmy Little Sings Ballads with a Beat', which peaked at #9 in Sydney.
In February 1960, his next single was "El Paso", which reached #12 in Sydney. Little made his acting debut in the Billy Graham evangelical feature film Shadow of the Boomerang the same year. Little had the role of Johnny, a devout stockman on a cattle station where his American employer's son Bob refers to him as "that nigger". After Johnny dies, while saving Bob's life, from being gored by a wild boar, Bob has a religious conversion to Graham's cause. Little issued the title song as a single backed by "Little by Little". In September 1961, he appeared on the radio program, Col Joye Show, with fellow Bandstand regulars, Patsy Ann Noble and Judy Stone. By 1962, Little joined a touring stage production, All Coloured Show produced by Ted Quigg, and gained wider public exposure. In July 1963, he toured north west New South Wales with Rob E.G., Noleen Batley and Lonnie Lee and was personally booked out till November.
In October 1963, after 17 singles, Little issued his biggest hit with the gospel song, "Royal Telephone", based upon the Burl Ives' version. In November it peaked at #1 in Sydney and #3 in Melbourne. The following month Australian Women's Weekly's music writer, Bob Rogers described it as "a sincere ballad with a religious feeling" and that in only three weeks the record was rising to the top all over Australia, one of the fastest-selling records of the year". It was awarded 3× Gold certification by Festival Records and "Best Male Vocal Disk" (1963) in "The Tunetable Awards", Australia's first disk awards from a major radio source for home-produced disks. In March 1964 the Barry Gibb-penned "One Road" reached #19 in Sydney and #30 in Melbourne. Gibb was 17 years old when he wrote "One Road" and Little became one of the first artists to record a Gibb song. The magazine Everybody's named him Australian Pop Star of the Year. Little was backed by the Jimmy Little Trio which had an all-indigenous line-up of Cyril Green, Doug Peters and Neville Thorn.
Little's final hit of the era came in September 1974 with "Baby Blue" which peaked at #8 in Melbourne and #37 in Sydney. Further non-charting singles were released until 1978's "Beautiful Woman". From the end of the 1970s, Little turned from his musical career to focus on his family and becoming qualified as a teacher. Little had turned to full-time acting by the 1980s, making his theatre debut in Black Cockatoos before appearing in director Wim Wenders' 1991 film Until the end of the World. As well as appearing in Tracey Moffatt's Night Cries and Andrew Schultz's opera Black River, his teaching and community work earned him the title of NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year in 1989. After winning that award Little returned to working in the music industry.
In 1992, Little performed at the Tamworth on Parade and Kings of Country roadshows before releasing his 14th album, 'Yorta Yorta Man', in 1994. The same year, he was inducted into Australian Roll of Renown, the highest honour an Australian country music artist can achieve. 'Messenger', a collection of contemporary songs reinterpreted through Little's smooth vocals, was released in June 1999 and peaked at #26 nationally, selling over 20,000 copies. It had been organised by Brendan Gallagher (from Karma County) and featured covers of well-known songs by Australian artists: "(Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?" by Nick Cave, "The Way I Made You Feel" by Ed Kuepper and "Randwick Bells" by Paul Kelly.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 'Messenger' won the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Little was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. At The Deadly Awards of 1999 – the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Awards – he won Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Single Release of the Year. By 2001 'Messenger' was certified by ARIA with a gold record for shipments of 35,000 units. Little returned in September 2001 with 'Resonate', an album featuring songs written by Paul Kelly, Don Walker, Bernard Fanning (from Powderfinger), Brendan Gallagher and Dave Graney. In 2002 Little won the Golden Gospel Award at the Australian Gospel Music Awards for his lifetime support of Australian gospel music. He also sang "Happy Day" with Olivia Newton-John that year. In 2000 he was a guest of The Wiggles on their children's DVD It’s A Wiggly Wiggly World.
Little released the album 'Down the Road' for ABC Country in 2003. In 2004 he released his 34th album, 'Life's What You Make It', a collection of distinctive and poignant versions of songs by contemporary artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen. At The Deadly Awards, from 2005, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, was named the Jimmy Little Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music. In 2010 Little retired from performing. On 2 April 2012 Little died of natural causes in Dubbo, aged 75 years. He is buried in Walgett, NSW. The town has a tall water tank with a picture of him painted on it.
Little signed with Regal Zonophone Records in 1956 and released his first single, "Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz". In 1958, Little married fellow singer, Marjorie Rose Peters. By late 1959, Little was living in Granville with his wife and their daughter Frances Claire – he released the single, "Frances Claire", when she was 18 months-old. It was issued on EMI's Columbia label and was soon followed by "The Coloured Lad", which had been written by his father – the first song released in Australia referring to indigenous issues and first both written and recorded by indigenous musicians. He worked at a towelling factory and supplemented his income with performances at concerts and dances, and TV appearances on Bandstand. Little signed with Festival Records and in September 1959, he had his first charting single, "Danny Boy", from the extended play, 'Jimmy Little Sings Ballads with a Beat', which peaked at #9 in Sydney.
In February 1960, his next single was "El Paso", which reached #12 in Sydney. Little made his acting debut in the Billy Graham evangelical feature film Shadow of the Boomerang the same year. Little had the role of Johnny, a devout stockman on a cattle station where his American employer's son Bob refers to him as "that nigger". After Johnny dies, while saving Bob's life, from being gored by a wild boar, Bob has a religious conversion to Graham's cause. Little issued the title song as a single backed by "Little by Little". In September 1961, he appeared on the radio program, Col Joye Show, with fellow Bandstand regulars, Patsy Ann Noble and Judy Stone. By 1962, Little joined a touring stage production, All Coloured Show produced by Ted Quigg, and gained wider public exposure. In July 1963, he toured north west New South Wales with Rob E.G., Noleen Batley and Lonnie Lee and was personally booked out till November.
In October 1963, after 17 singles, Little issued his biggest hit with the gospel song, "Royal Telephone", based upon the Burl Ives' version. In November it peaked at #1 in Sydney and #3 in Melbourne. The following month Australian Women's Weekly's music writer, Bob Rogers described it as "a sincere ballad with a religious feeling" and that in only three weeks the record was rising to the top all over Australia, one of the fastest-selling records of the year". It was awarded 3× Gold certification by Festival Records and "Best Male Vocal Disk" (1963) in "The Tunetable Awards", Australia's first disk awards from a major radio source for home-produced disks. In March 1964 the Barry Gibb-penned "One Road" reached #19 in Sydney and #30 in Melbourne. Gibb was 17 years old when he wrote "One Road" and Little became one of the first artists to record a Gibb song. The magazine Everybody's named him Australian Pop Star of the Year. Little was backed by the Jimmy Little Trio which had an all-indigenous line-up of Cyril Green, Doug Peters and Neville Thorn.
Little's final hit of the era came in September 1974 with "Baby Blue" which peaked at #8 in Melbourne and #37 in Sydney. Further non-charting singles were released until 1978's "Beautiful Woman". From the end of the 1970s, Little turned from his musical career to focus on his family and becoming qualified as a teacher. Little had turned to full-time acting by the 1980s, making his theatre debut in Black Cockatoos before appearing in director Wim Wenders' 1991 film Until the end of the World. As well as appearing in Tracey Moffatt's Night Cries and Andrew Schultz's opera Black River, his teaching and community work earned him the title of NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year in 1989. After winning that award Little returned to working in the music industry.
In 1992, Little performed at the Tamworth on Parade and Kings of Country roadshows before releasing his 14th album, 'Yorta Yorta Man', in 1994. The same year, he was inducted into Australian Roll of Renown, the highest honour an Australian country music artist can achieve. 'Messenger', a collection of contemporary songs reinterpreted through Little's smooth vocals, was released in June 1999 and peaked at #26 nationally, selling over 20,000 copies. It had been organised by Brendan Gallagher (from Karma County) and featured covers of well-known songs by Australian artists: "(Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?" by Nick Cave, "The Way I Made You Feel" by Ed Kuepper and "Randwick Bells" by Paul Kelly.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 'Messenger' won the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Little was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. At The Deadly Awards of 1999 – the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Awards – he won Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Single Release of the Year. By 2001 'Messenger' was certified by ARIA with a gold record for shipments of 35,000 units. Little returned in September 2001 with 'Resonate', an album featuring songs written by Paul Kelly, Don Walker, Bernard Fanning (from Powderfinger), Brendan Gallagher and Dave Graney. In 2002 Little won the Golden Gospel Award at the Australian Gospel Music Awards for his lifetime support of Australian gospel music. He also sang "Happy Day" with Olivia Newton-John that year. In 2000 he was a guest of The Wiggles on their children's DVD It’s A Wiggly Wiggly World.
Little released the album 'Down the Road' for ABC Country in 2003. In 2004 he released his 34th album, 'Life's What You Make It', a collection of distinctive and poignant versions of songs by contemporary artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen. At The Deadly Awards, from 2005, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, was named the Jimmy Little Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music. In 2010 Little retired from performing. On 2 April 2012 Little died of natural causes in Dubbo, aged 75 years. He is buried in Walgett, NSW. The town has a tall water tank with a picture of him painted on it.
SINGLES
"Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz" 1956 Regal Zonophone
''Sweet Mama / A Fool Such As I'' 1956 Regal Zonophone
''Francis Claire / Waiting For You'' 1958 Columbia
''Sweet Mama / A Fool Such As I'' 1956 Regal Zonophone
''Francis Claire / Waiting For You'' 1958 Columbia
''The Coloured Lad / Oh Lonely Heart'' 1958 Columbia
''The Grandest Show Of All / Silver City Comet'' 1959 Columbia
''Danny Boy (#18) / That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)'' 1959 Festival
''The Last Rose Of Summer / El Paso'' (#21) 1960 Festival
''The Bells Of St. Marys / Going My Way'' 1960 Festival
''Somebody's Pushing Me / No One Will Ever Know'' 1960 Festival
''Kissing Someone New (#97) / Mary Said'' 1961 Festival
''Silent Night / Christmas Roses'' 1961 Festival
''Little Green Valley / It's Worth Any Price You Pay'' 1962 Festival
''Shadow Of The Boomerang / Little By Little'' 1962 Festival
''Pledge Of Love / Long Time To Forget'' 1963 Festival
''Royal Telephone (#10) / Hornets'' 1963 Festival
''Lifeline / Lead Kindly Light'' 1964 Festival
''One Road (#31) / Just A Closer Walk With Thee'' 1964 Festival
''Smile / Eternally'' (#99) 1964 Festival
''Ring, Bells, Ring / There's Gonna Be A Jamboree'' 1965 Festival
''His Faith In Me / The Richest Man In The World'' 1965 Festival
''Secretly / Bimbombey'' 1965 Festival
''Too Many Times / Too Many Twisted Trails'' 1967 Festival
''Molly / My Country'' 1968 Festival
''I Can't Stop Loving You / By The Time I Get To Phoenix'' 1969 Festival
''There's A Heartache Following Me / Back In The Race'' 1973 Festival
''Baby Blue (#24) / Australia Down Under'' 1974 Festival
''Ain't It Good (To Feel This Way) / Love Is Here'' 1975 Festival
''Dance With Me (Just One More Time) / Goodbye Isn't Really Good At All'' 1975 Festival
''Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day / Travellin' Minstrel Man'' 1976 Festival
''May The Force Be With You Always / Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends'' 1978 Festival
''Beautiful Woman / Is This Love'' 1983 Festival
''Danny Boy (#18) / That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)'' 1959 Festival
''The Last Rose Of Summer / El Paso'' (#21) 1960 Festival
''The Bells Of St. Marys / Going My Way'' 1960 Festival
''Somebody's Pushing Me / No One Will Ever Know'' 1960 Festival
''Kissing Someone New (#97) / Mary Said'' 1961 Festival
''Silent Night / Christmas Roses'' 1961 Festival
''Little Green Valley / It's Worth Any Price You Pay'' 1962 Festival
''Shadow Of The Boomerang / Little By Little'' 1962 Festival
''Pledge Of Love / Long Time To Forget'' 1963 Festival
''Royal Telephone (#10) / Hornets'' 1963 Festival
''Lifeline / Lead Kindly Light'' 1964 Festival
''One Road (#31) / Just A Closer Walk With Thee'' 1964 Festival
''Smile / Eternally'' (#99) 1964 Festival
''Ring, Bells, Ring / There's Gonna Be A Jamboree'' 1965 Festival
''His Faith In Me / The Richest Man In The World'' 1965 Festival
''Secretly / Bimbombey'' 1965 Festival
''Too Many Times / Too Many Twisted Trails'' 1967 Festival
''Molly / My Country'' 1968 Festival
''I Can't Stop Loving You / By The Time I Get To Phoenix'' 1969 Festival
''There's A Heartache Following Me / Back In The Race'' 1973 Festival
''Baby Blue (#24) / Australia Down Under'' 1974 Festival
''Ain't It Good (To Feel This Way) / Love Is Here'' 1975 Festival
''Dance With Me (Just One More Time) / Goodbye Isn't Really Good At All'' 1975 Festival
''Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day / Travellin' Minstrel Man'' 1976 Festival
''May The Force Be With You Always / Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends'' 1978 Festival
''Beautiful Woman / Is This Love'' 1983 Festival
''The Ballad Of Bobby White And Billy Black / Man Of Peace'' [with Tammy Worth] 1988 Bunyip
'A Fool Such As I' 1960 Festival
'Whispering Hope' 1961 Festival
'The Way Of The Cross' 1962 Festival
'A Man Called Peter' 1962 Festival
'Jimmy Little's Big Four' 1962 Festival
'Royal Telephone' 1963 Festival
'Old Time Religion' 1964 Festival
'One Road' 1964 Festival
'Eternally' 1965 Festival
'Lifeline' 1965 Festival
'Ring Bells, Ring' 1965 Festival
'Goodbye, Old Rolf' 1971 Festival
EPs
'Jimmy Little Sings Ballads With A Beat' 1959 Festival'A Fool Such As I' 1960 Festival
'Whispering Hope' 1961 Festival
'The Way Of The Cross' 1962 Festival
'A Man Called Peter' 1962 Festival
'Jimmy Little's Big Four' 1962 Festival
'Royal Telephone' 1963 Festival
'Old Time Religion' 1964 Festival
'One Road' 1964 Festival
'Eternally' 1965 Festival
'Lifeline' 1965 Festival
'Ring Bells, Ring' 1965 Festival
'Goodbye, Old Rolf' 1971 Festival
ALBUMS
'You'll Never Walk Alone' 1961 Festival
'You'll Never Walk Alone' 1961 Festival
'A Tree In A Meadow' 1961 Festival
'Sing To Glory' 1963 Festival
'You'll Never Walk Alone' 1963 Festival
'By Request' 1963 Festival
'Encores' 1964 Festival
'Onward Christian Soldiers 1964 Festival
'You'll Never Walk Alone' 1963 Festival
'By Request' 1963 Festival
'Encores' 1964 Festival
'Onward Christian Soldiers 1964 Festival
'Royal Telephone & Other Songs Of Faith' 1965 Festival
'New Songs From Jimmy' 1967 Festival
'Ballads And Strings' 1967 Festival
'Country Boy Country Hits' 1968 Festival
'My Country' 1968 Festival
'I Can't Stop Loving You' 1969 Festival
'Goodbye Old Rolf' Universal Summit1970
'Jimmy Little Sings The Country And Western Greats' 1971 Karussell
'Waltzing Matilda' 1972 Horizon
'Winterwood' 1972 Festival
'The Country Sound Of Jimmy Little' 1972 Universal Summit
'All For Love' 1975 Festival
'Travellin' Minstrel Man' 1976 Festival
'An Evening With Jimmy Little Live At The Sydney Opera House' 1978 Festival
'Yorta Yorta Man' 1995 Monitor
'Messenger' 1999 Festival
'Resonate' 2001 Festival Mushroom
'Down The Road' 2003 ABC Country
'New Songs From Jimmy' 1967 Festival
'Ballads And Strings' 1967 Festival
'Country Boy Country Hits' 1968 Festival
'My Country' 1968 Festival
'I Can't Stop Loving You' 1969 Festival
'Goodbye Old Rolf' Universal Summit1970
'Jimmy Little Sings The Country And Western Greats' 1971 Karussell
'Waltzing Matilda' 1972 Horizon
'Winterwood' 1972 Festival
'The Country Sound Of Jimmy Little' 1972 Universal Summit
'All For Love' 1975 Festival
'Travellin' Minstrel Man' 1976 Festival
'An Evening With Jimmy Little Live At The Sydney Opera House' 1978 Festival
'Yorta Yorta Man' 1995 Monitor
'Messenger' 1999 Festival
'Resonate' 2001 Festival Mushroom
'Down The Road' 2003 ABC Country
'Life’s What You Make It' 2004 Festival Mushroom
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Little
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Little
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
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