JOHNNY REBB

Johnny Rebb was born Donald James Delbridge on March 20, 1939. He became an apprentice butcher and moonlighted as a country & western singer. In 1955 he saw the film Blackboard Jungle and was converted to rock 'n' roll by Bill Haley's ''Rock Around The Clock''. His vocal range suited rock. He could growl, shout, sob and croon. He cut a swathe through local talent quests and soon had a manager, Syd McDonagh. Syd set about finding Delbridge a band, a record contract and a stage name.

He approached ace keyboard player/music arranger John Charter to form the band. Charter agreed, if a record contract was in the offering. Ken Taylor from Festival Records passed on a contract but supplied the name Johnny Rebb, based on Johnny Reb, the name for Confederate soldiers in America's civil war. EMI expressed interest; John Charter arranged a stride piano version of ''Johnny B Goode''. It wasn't a hit but promoter Lee Gordon noticed and signed Rebb to his Leedon label. Charter rearranged the country ditty ''Hey Sheriff'' as a belting rock number and suddenly Johnny Rebb and The Rebels were on the charts in 1958 and on national tour with one of Lee Gordon's many Parades of Stars. "We did a dozen Lee Gordon shows," said Charter. "For two years the hits kept coming and the screaming never stopped. There was Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joye, us, Johnny Devlin and Dig Richards. We were the Big Five of Australian rock." 

The Rebels were killer musicians. They should have been famous in their own right but McDonagh kept them under wraps. "Our first recording session," said John Charter, "Johnny O'Keefe stole Bob Birtles, our sax player. That made Syd very suspicious of losing us. He never passed on offers for us to record by ourselves or to back other artists." Charter was further disenchanted when he got a writing credit, but no royalties for Rebb's biggest hit, ''Pathway To Paradise'' in 1959. One by one the Rebels slipped away. In 1960, Charter turned up for a recording session to find jazz supremo's Don Burrows and George Golla on hand, but The Rebels absent. The song, ''Think Me A Kiss'', was Rebb's last hit to reach the Top 40 and the last time Charter played with him. Rebb relocated to America where he recorded and played but gained no traction.

He and Syd returned in 1964, again in search of a band. They found The Atlantics, who'd won international recognition for their surf instrumental, ''Bombora''. "We were playing a rock festival in Lane Cove National Park," said Bosco Bascano, The Atlantics bass player. "Syd McDonagh asked us to back Johnny. Afterwards he suggested we join forces." The union resulted in a series of indie singles now regarded as classics. Most exceptional was ''Come On'', which now sells for over $1000.

Not far behind in price or status is the Rebb/Atlantics' thunderous ''I Put A Spell On You'', which charted. "We played shows and Johnny tore the place apart," said Bosco. "But everything was stacked against indie bands. Radio didn't want to know. We couldn't get good distribution. We had to fight to get good pressings." Rebb and The Atlantics called it a day in 1970. Rebb continued solo till 1976. A lifelong heavy smoker, he developed emphysema and could not cash in on the rock revival circuits of the 80s, 90s and noughties. From the time he started Rebb recorded on many labels including Columbia, Leedon, London, CBS, HMV, Ramrod and Astor. He also has his records released in the USA. Japan and NZ. Rebb died in 2014.

SINGLES

''Johnny B. Good / Rebel Rock'' 1958 Columbia
''Noelene (#83) / Hey, Sheriff'' (#23) 1958 Leedon
''Say Yeah / Bluebirds Over The Mountain'' (#30) 1959 Leedon
''Highway Of Love (#19) / It Might Have Been'' 1959 Leedon
''Pathway To Paradise (#13) / Rock On'' 1959 Leedon
''How Will It End (#90) / There You Go'' 1960 CBS Coronet
''Think Me A Kiss (#21) / L-O-V-E-V-I-LL-E'' 1960 CBS Coronet
''Lonesome Road (#84) / We Belong Together'' 1960 Lee Gordon
''Two Ton Tessie / All Of Me'' (#98) 1961 London
''A Letter A Day / Billy Blue Shoes'' 1962 London
''Anytime You Want Me (#62) / She's Just Another Girl'' 1962 CBS Coronet
''Seein' Is Believin' / Ain't I'm A Dog'' (#83) 1963 CBS
''Secret / Done Got Over It'' 1963 CBS
''Hey Now Baby / If You Will Just Love Me'' 1964 CBS
''A Girl Named Sue / I Just Don't Understand'' [with The Atlantics] 1964 CBS
''Then I'll Know It's Love / Whirlpool'' [with The Atlantics] 1964 CBS
''The Girl Can't Help It / Pretty Thing'' 1965 HMV
''You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover / Dreams'' 1965 HMV
''I Just Want To Be Free, Babe / Tell Me, Please'' 1965 HMV
''I Need You / The Monkeyshine'' 1968 Ramrod
''I Just Can't Help Believing / To The Patterns On The Wall'' 1969 Ramrod
''Ding Dong / Summertime Blues'' 1971 Ramrod
''Josie / So Do I'' 1964 CBS
''Celebrating / Playing Your Game'' 1976 Astor

EPs

'Come On, Let's Go' (#53) 1959 Leedon
'Highway Of Love' 1960 Leedon
'Johnny Rebb Hits It For Six' 1960 Lee Gordon

References

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