RONNIE BURNS

Born on 8 September 1946, Burns was raised in Melbourne, Victoria. His father was a butcher, his mother Edna was a fan of vaudeville and his brother Frank, who is five years older, was a drummer. To buy his first guitar for 10 shillings, Burns had part-time jobs selling newspapers, working in a milk bar and in a fruit shop. He joined his brother's folk music band as lead vocalist and was working in a clothes store. He transferred to the Myers Store' display window but was fired for having long hair, however he had already joined the mod band The Flies in early 1964.

They won a Moomba band competition for a group most like The Beatles. The line-up consisted of Burns (rhythm guitar, lead singer), Themi Adams (aka Themistocles Adamopoulo, bass guitar), John Thomas (lead guitar) and Hank Wallis (drums). Concert promoter Garry Spry was looking for a resident band for his new rock club, Pinocchios, which opened in March. The Flies were reputedly the first long-haired band in Australia and drew heavily on The Beatles for their musical and fashion influences and soon acquired a large local following. Their repertoire included covers of The Searchers, The Hollies and Herman's Hermits. Spry became their manager and secured a recording deal with RCA Records – they started recording their first single, "I'll Be In Love With You / Tell Her That", in Sydney, with producer-engineer David Mackay, it was released in June 1964 and was a local hit in Melbourne

Burns befriended Ian Meldrum, a university law student looking for somewhere to stay, whose two-week visit became nine years of boarding at his parents' home. Meldrum later had a career as a pop music commentator, TV personality and record producer. The two were famously ejected from The Beatles' June 1964 Melbourne concert, because Meldrum was screaming too loudly. Meldrum later promoted Burns solo career in his writing for the weekly teen newspaper, Go-Set, which became a pop music bible by the late 1960s. After August, The Flies started appearing on television pop music show The Go!! Show on ATV-0 – initially broadcast only in Melbourne but later extended to Sydney on TEN-10.

After six months residency at Pinocchios, Spry started booking The Flies into Sydney where they were arrested for vagrancy for having hair over their shoulders, but it was great publicity making all the papers. Back in Melbourne, Spry employed Carole West to organise a publicity shoot for TV and press to display his band having their long hair done at a women's hair salon in South Yarra. During the shoot, Burns sang with his guitar and was joined by apprentice hairdresser Lynne Randell – who was promptly signed by Spry and managed by West. In January 1965, they supported The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison on their first Australian tour.

In May 1965, The Flies embarked on their own six-week tour of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, becoming one of the first Australian beat groups to mount an extensive national tour. The Flies recorded their second single "Doing the Mod / Ain't That Just Like Me", in Sydney, which was released in June and was a hit in both there and Melbourne and became their signature song. Aside from The Go!! Show the band also appeared on the related ATV-0 offering, Kommotion. This show also included local artists miming to international hits. One of the dancers / mimers on Kommotion was Maggie Stewart, she also danced on ABC TV's Dig We Must where Burns introduced himself, the couple married in 1970. Another mimer on Kommotion was Burns' friend Ian Meldrum. During The Flies national tour a third single "Can't You Feel / I'll Pass On By" – composed by Burns and Thomas – became a minor national hit. By this time The Flies, alongside Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, had become one of the most popular bands in the country.

In September 1965, Burns decided to leave The Flies to go solo – his place was taken by Peter Nicoll from The Wild Colonials. Promoter Jeff Joseph who ran Pinocchios Promotions – the booking agency for Spry's artists – left and took over as Burns' manager. An EP was released in 1967 by RCA consisting of four tracks from their singles, but was attributed to The Flies, vocal by Ronnie Burns.

As a solo artist, Burns became one of Australia's most popular male pop singers from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. His first single, "Very Last Day" was released in June 1966 on Spin Records and peaked at #12 on Melbourne's Top 40 singles chart. His second single, "True True Lovin" followed in August and reached #15. Go-Set published their inaugural pop poll on 5 October, Normie Rowe won 'Australian Male Vocal' of the year – he was later called 'King of Pop' – with Burns second and Johnny Young third. Also in October, Go-Set published Australia's first National Top 40 singles chart, Burns' third single, "Coalman", which was released in January 1967, peaked at #6. Another Top 20 single was "Exit, Stage Right" in June. In August, Burns topped the Go-Set pop poll for 'Top Male Singer' and ABC-TV broadcast a documentary, The Life of Ronnie Burns. Over the next four years, he consistently finished third on the Go-Set pop poll.

Burns had several minor national hits – "We Had a Good Thing Going" (October 1967), "When I Was Six Years Old" (March 1968), written for him by Brian Cadd and Max Ross of The Groop, and "Age of Consent" (January 1969), written by Terry Britten of The Twilights. Most of Burns' 1967 material was written by The Bee Gees, the tracks appeared on his first solo album 'Ronnie' (Spin, July 1967). The Bee Gees had written and recorded them in Sydney in late 1966, which included their breakthrough hit "Spicks and Specks". Shortly afterward the group left Australia to return to the UK. The tracks were intended for a planned album which was not released, so they were sent to Burns who shared the same recording management. Burns provided his own vocals over The Bee Gees' backing tracks. The original versions were eventually issued by Festival Records on The Bee Gees compilation albums, including a 2-CD set 'Brilliant from Birth' (2000).

In 1968, Burns appeared on Once Upon a Twilight, the pilot for a projected TV series starring The Twilights, he performed the Barry Gibb song 'In The Morning' with the group and comedian Mary Hardy but plans for the series were scrapped after the sponsor withdrew support. Late that year, former pop star Johnny Young was writing "The Real Thing" as a ballad and intended to offer it to Burns. Young was practising it in a dressing room while TV pop show Uptight was being recorded. Meldrum happened to walk by and wanted it for his newly managed artist, Russell Morris (ex-Somebody's Image). Morris recorded it as his debut solo single with Meldrum's production turning it into a six-minute-long psychedelic pop song – it became a national #1 hit in May 1969.

"Smiley", Burns' biggest hit, reached #2 on the Go-Set National Top 40 in February 1970. It was also written by Johnny Young, who was later involved in television production. Young revealed that the song was inspired by the experiences of fellow pop star, Rowe, whose music career ended in late 1967 when he was drafted into the Australian Army, and he was sent to fight in the Vietnam War. It is one of the first Australian pop singles released in stereo and features a lavish orchestral and vocal arrangement by John Farrar (ex The Strangers) who went on to write and/or produce many hits for Olivia Newton-John.

In the early 1970s, Burns had moved from pop to more adult contemporary music, he toured the club and cabaret circuit. Further Young-penned singles were "Prophet" in January 1971 and "If I Die" in 1972. He appeared on variety TV shows including as a judge on Young Talent Time, where Maggie Burns was a choreographer. Burns' last single, "Brand New Number One" was released in 1980 on Fable Records. Burns later supported touring artists such as Peter, Paul & Mary, and The Bee Gees. In 1996 he formed a trio with fellow Australian 1960's pop singers Russell Morris and Darryl Cotton (ex Zoot) called Burns, Cotton & Morris which toured for several years and released a self-titled album. He retired from performing in 2000 – his place was taken by former Masters Apprentices lead singer Jim Keays with the trio renamed as Cotton Keays & Morris.

In 2011 Ronnie Burns won the John Campbell Fellowship Award at the Mo Awards.On 10 June 2013 Burns was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia with the citation "For significant service to the community, particularly to children recovering from illness and trauma, and to the entertainment industry".

SINGLES

''Let It Be Me / Very Last Day'' (#45)1966 Spin
''True, True Lovin' (#50) / Too Many People'' 1966 Spin
''Coalman (#6) / All The King's Horses'' 1967 Spin
''Exit Stage Right (#23) / In The Morning' 1967 Spin
''We Had A Good Thing Goin' (#33) / Can't You Feel'' 1967 Spin
''When I Was Six Years Old (#30) / So Good Together'' 1968 Spin
''Age Of Consent (#18) / Picadilly Pages'' 1968 Spin
''How'd We Ever Get This Way (#82) / Harry The Happy Hooligan'' 1969 Spin

''Smiley (#2) / Jodie'' 1969 Spin
''Prophet (#30) / Maggie Mine'' 1971 Spin
''One Bad Thing (#76) / A Thousand Years'' 1971 Festival
''If I Die / Such A Girl'' 1972 Spin
'Changes / Mix Me Up Another Drink'' 1974 L&Y
Brand New Number One / I Want You'' [with the Class of 66] 1980 Fable

EPs

'This Is Ronnie Burns' 1966 Spin
'Coalman' 1967 Spin
'Exit Stage Right - In The Morning' 1967 Spin
'We Had A Good Thing Goin' 1967 Spin
'When I Was Six Years Old' 1968 Spin
'Age Of Consent' 1968 Spin
'Smiley' 1970 Spin
'Prophet' 1971 Spin

ALBUMS

'Ronnie' 1967 Spin

'Smiley' 1969 Spin

'Virgo' (#26) 1971 Spin

'We've Only Just Begun' 1972 Festival

'Listen to the Band (Volume 2)' [with The Kinderplay Rockettes] 1977 John Bye Productions

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Burns_%28singer%29

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