JAMES WRIGHT GROUP / JAMES WRIGHT BAND

The James Wright Group were a rock/soul band in Adelaide who grew in prominence in the latter half of the 1960's culminating in two huge local hit records.  Starting out as The Big Apple the original members were Bill O'Grady (guitar/vocals), John Carlini (bass/vocals) and Bobby Bishop (drums/vocals). Their debut gig was at the Octagon Ballroom at Elizabeth, and they soon secured a residency at Big Daddys Discotheque in 1967. At that club they played nightly, sharing the stage with interstate and local acts like The Valentines, The Twilights, James Taylor Move, The Blues Syndicate, Chain Gang and others. Later that year they added Jamie Swan on vocals and Chubby Carlini on sax and changed their name to Jame's Riot. They played regularly at The Princeton Club (Burnside Town Hall), St Clair Youth Centre (Woodville), Salisbury Youth Centre (Salisbury) and The Octagon to huge crowds.

By 1968 the band had a new singer in Dave Taylor who joined after Jamie Swan left suddenly for family reasons. The name was changed to The James Wright Group. For the next two years they played residencies to enthusiastic crowds at the 20 Plus Club, Head Quarters, Sgt Peppers, The Largs Pier, The Princeton, University campuses, Fiesta Villa, Winston Charles, Sergios, Caesars and Snoopy's Hollow. They shared the billing with Max Merritt and The Meteors, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, Levi Smith Clefs, The Mixtures, Y4, The Twilights and others. During this time, they also performed as backing band for Johnny Farnham, Ronnie Burns, Jeff Philips, Liv Maesson, Rim D Paul, Mike Furber, Johnny Young and others when they visited Adelaide.

They were approached by Max Pepper from Pepper Records (a local studio of Milton Ingerson Productions in Moger Lane Adelaide) and subsequently recorded six tracks for release on his new record label. (Planning to take advantage of the ban on imported records that was in place at the time) ''Louise / Good Times Together'' was released in 1970. The first run sold out quickly, entering the local charts and after rising steadily reached #2. In the 26 November 1970 issue Go Set Magazine listed "Louise" at #15 in the top 20 Australian singles chart for that year. In 1970 they were the first rock group ever invited to play at Adelaide's Carols By Candlelight and they played "Louise" along with several Christmas carols also backing Ronnie Burns and Liv Maesson for their performances. In 1970 James Wright Group spearheaded the promotion for Adelaide's 1st Festival of Fashion releasing a promotional single called "Festival Girl" and appearing on a cover of the special liftout section on the Festival in The Advertiser.

In 1970, Radio 5AD Programme Manager, Trevor Cowling picked ''Louise'' as one of the three noteworthy Australian singles of the year. He visited American record producers offering the singles for an American release. RCA expressed a desire to release "Louise" internationally and requested the master tapes however Pepper Records refused to release the tapes. While ''Louise'' was still in the charts they released ''Never Had A Girl / Half A Minute''. The second single entered the charts (for a while The James Wright Group had two singles in the Adelaide radio charts at the same time), rose to #7 and then succumbed to the flood of imported international records as the import ban was broken.

James Wright Group were regulars on Move (hosted by Vince Lovegrove, NWS9's four-hour rock marathon aired on Saturday afternoons) and ZAP! (SAS10's Saturday Morning Rock show with Ron Kosmider) often playing live to air, also making guest appearances on Adelaide Tonight (NWS9's Weekly Variety Show with Ernie Sigley). After two eastern states tours, Pepper records decided not to release the third single "Lawdy Lawdy" and closed their doors. The James Wright Group disbanded in late 1971.

Bill, John and Chubby formed The James Wright Band in 1974 to capitalize on their local profiles adding John Fraser (guitar) and John Swan (drums). Through John Swan they became friends with his brother Jimmy Barnes and the early Cold Chisel. On hearing Cold Chisel live at The Lord Melbourne Hotel, Bill O'Grady recommended them to his friend Vince Lovegrove who then became their manager.

The James Wright Band played at The Festival Theatre (Little River Band's first appearance), supported Osibisa at Apollo Stadium, opened for Bad Company at Memorial Drive, appearing at Countdown Nightclub (Hindley St. Adelaide), Woodville Town Hall (Headlining with the fledgling Cold Chisel as support act),The Arkaba, The Largs Pier and many other Adelaide rock pubs. John Swan was replaced by John Haffert on drums late in 1974 and the band toured to Canberra (supporting Maria Muldaur), Sydney, Brisbane (Residency at The George Hotel) and The Gold Coast (performing at The Playroom at Tallebudgera). While in Sydney they met Bernie Cannon, who produced GTK (a national 10-minute daily rock segment on ABC TV before the news), recording six tracks to be aired on the programme. Their videos were among the last episodes of the show. The James Wright Band disbanded in late 1975.

Members

Bill O'Grady (guitar/vocals), John Carlini (bass/vocals), Bobby Bishop (drums), Jamie Swann (vocals), Charlie Carlini (sax), Dave Taylor (vocals), John Fraser (guitar), John Swan (drums), John Haffert (drums)

SINGLES

''Louise (#73) / Good Times Together'' 1970 Pepper
''Never Had A Girl / Half A Minute'' 1971 Pepper

References

http://jameswrightband.blogspot.com.au/