RICKY MAY

Ricky May was born 22 November 1943 in New Zealand in Onehunga, Auckland of Māori descent. His father, Keith May, was a jazz band leader and played alto saxophone. May grew up with siblings and from the age of 15 he performed at Picasso, a café, night club in Auckland. Apart from vocals, May played drums and piano but generally worked as a variety entertainer. He would introduce unconventional vocalisations, improvisation and the spoken word into performance.

In 1961 jazz pianist, Ronnie Smith, set up a group to play at the Sorrento Club, Wellington. Smith's group had Tommy Tamati on bass guitar and May joined on drums and backing vocals. May become a regular with the group and sometimes provided lead vocals. Bruno Lawrence, an English-born jazz musician, who was regularly in the audience, often got up to play the drums when May sang lead. The group worked for about a year and toured southern North Island.

At the end of 1961 May returned to Auckland and signed with Harry M. Miller's La Gloria label, which released his debut single in 1961, a cover version of "Let's Twist Again". He followed with "I Could Have Danced All Night" in 1962. During that year he relocated to Sydney and primarily worked in cabaret. He recorded compositions of Nat King Cole and appeared on Australian TV shows The Don Lane Show, Farnham and Byrne (co-hosted by John Farnham and Debra Byrne), and regular appearances on The Midday Show.

In 1966 May released another single, "This Little Boy's Gone Rockin'", via RCA (Bluebird Records). From March of that year he hosted the Sydney teen pop music TV series, Ten on the Town, on TEN-10. It ran in direct competition with Bandstand on TCN-9 and Col Joye on ATN-7. Walter Learning of The Canberra Times compared the three shows, which "vie for the younger audience" and found that "Bandstand must win hands down" as Col Joye "has no life" and May's show, "suffers from over effort on the part of all concerned."

His next single released in 1970 on CBS was ''Summer In Sydney / Just Too Late''. Both sides were composed May. In 1980 J&B released an album titled 'Ricky May' which contained jazz standards, disco and pop. In 1983 a double album, with the Julian Lee Orchestra, 'Fats Enough', was released on ABC records. In the same year he issued a duet single with Jonathan Coleman, "Built for Comfort (I Ain't Built for Speed)", as the Big Boys. In 1984 ABC decided to release a second double album, 'Just Foolin' Around – A Tribute to Louis Armstrong'. In 1986 RCA released a Christmas album, 'It's the Christmas Man'. Beyond this he concentrated on live cabaret performances and television work. He later appeared regularly on Hey Hey It's Saturday.

In 1988 May received the Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, the highest honour available to a New Zealand variety entertainer. May was the composer of the team song for the Newtown Jets Rugby League football club. He wrote a tribute song for Hey Hey It's Saturday and performed it with the show's band: it was often played over the final credits. On 1 June 1988 Ricky May had a fatal heart attack at the Regent Hotel, Sydney, after getting a standing ovation on the opening night of a new cabaret show. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital. He was 44 years of age.

SINGLES 
''This Little Boy's Gone Rockin' / Spanish Harlem'' 1966 Bluebird

''Summer In Sydney / Just Too Late'' 1970 CBS
''Built For Comfort (I Ain't Built For Speed)'' [with Jonothan Coleman] 1983 WEA
''A World Without Music'' 1985 Festival

ALBUMS 
'Ricky May' 1980 J & B
'Fats Enough' 1983 ABC
'Oh What A Feeling' 1986 Festival
'It's The Christmas Man' 1986 Festival
' Just Fooling Around - A Tribute to Louis Armstrong' [with Bob Barnard] 1987 ABC
'The Joint Is Jumpin' 1992 ABC
'A Tribute To The Greats' 1995 ABC

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_May