BILL NEWMAN

 

Baritone singer Bill Newman was born in the Victorian regional town of Horsham on June 15th, 1934. He began singing in the church choir whilst studying singing in his youth and worked as a car salesman. As a young man, international operatic star Marjorie Lawrence heard Bill sing and had him trained by her teacher in Melbourne. Later an audition for theatrical impresario J.C.Williamsons won him a tour with the musical South Pacific in which he played several parts and understudied the lead. The engagement won Bill Newman the juvenile lead in Paint Your Wagon followed by the leading role in Can Can in which he toured Australia and New Zealand plus a further two-year tour playing Sid in The Pyjama Game.

In 1959 Newman journeyed to England where he auditioned and was accepted for BBC Television. He sang leading roles in two of the Men Behind The Music series. Other programmes he was heard regularly on whilst in the UK were Tuesday Tunetime, Midday Melody Hour, Showtime and At Your Request. After singing in centres around Europe Newman received an offer to return to Australia and star in Bobby Limb's long running television show The Sound Of Music. In addition to his TV duties Newman compared an ABC radio program called We Sing Your Songs during this time.

In 1964 he won a Logie for Best Male Singer On A TV Show. Newman became one of the best-known faces in the entertainment scene and made over 100 appearances on The Sound Of Music. Newman signed with Festival and recorded his first single, ''The World Is Full Of Wonderful Things'' in 1965. His recording output continued until the late 70s with the release of a number of albums. 

SINGLES
''The World Is Full Of Wonderful Things / What Kind Of Fool Am I'' 1965 Festival 
''They Call The Wind Maria / House Of The Rising Sun'' 1976 Bunyip 

EPs

'The World Is Full Of Wonderful Things' 1966 Festival
'Juanita' [with Darryl Stewart] 1967 Festival

ALBUMS 

'Christmas Magic' 1965 Universal
'A T.V. Request Programme' 1965 Festival Records
'Granada - A Dorothy Dodd Songbook' 1966 Calendar
'Bill Newman Premiere' 1968 Calendar
'The God Be The Glory' 1969 Festival
'Request Time' 1972 Summit
'Sings For His Friends' 1975 Bunyip
'20 Duet & Solo Favourites' 1976 [with Rosalind Keene] Dyna House