Johnny O'Keefe

After his second stint of National Service he began singing with Merzi two nights a week, playing at university college dances, 21st birthdays and private parties and Merzi also managed to get O'Keefe a regular spot on the 2UW live radio show Saturday Night Dancing.

Up to this point he had performed for free, simply to gain experience, but his first paid engagement as a singer was as a Johnny Ray impersonator, performing on the Bathurst radio station 2BS, for which he was paid £17 plus expenses.

John Michael O'Keefe (19 January 1935 – 6 October 1978) was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the early 1950s.

O'Keefe was born in the eastern Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction on 19 January 1935.

He was the second of three children of Raymond Moran O'Keefe and Thelma Edna Kennedy.

He was raised as a Catholic and attended the local Catholic primary school, followed by secondary schooling at Waverley College in nearby Waverley.

Johnny had a solid musical background and listened to the radio almost constantly at home although he did not often sing around the house.

His parents were both good singers.

His mother was an excellent pianist and his father occasionally played in a jazz band.

O'Keefe made his stage debut at the age of four when he played the role of 'Dopey' in the Waverley College production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".

Being unable to read or memorise the script, the young O'Keefe improvised his part.

The young O'Keefe was intelligent and perceptive, with a great sense of humour, although his school grades fluctuated due to his misbehaviour and the fact that he was easily distracted; Sydney radio personality Gary O'Callaghan, who was a classmate, later recalled that O'Keefe was often in trouble.

During his time at high school Johnny joined the school cadets, where he made good progress learning trumpet, and he (reluctantly) sang solo in the school choir.

He was also a keen swimmer, surfer and sailor and often sailed with the Vaucluse Juniors sailing club.

A strong early musical influence was the American singer Johnnie Ray, who toured Australia to great acclaim in the 1950s and O'Keefe began his singing career as a Ray impersonator.

During this period he met and became good friends with Alan Dale, also an aspiring singer, who was then employed at the O'Keefe's furniture business.

He matriculated in 1951, gaining an 'A' in French and a 'B' in English, mathematics, physics and economics.

In 1952 he enrolled in a part-time economics degrees course at the University of Sydney, but soon abandoned it and enrolled in a short course at the College of Retailing in Sydney, after which he went to work in his father's furniture store in Pitt Street, Sydney.

He had already begun performing at dances and 'socials' while at high school, but his interest in music blossomed after he left school.

In December 1952 Dale and O'Keefe were called up for National Service.

Dale went into the Army and O'Keefe went into the RAAF.

Johnny was stationed at Richmond approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) North-West of Sydney, and served his six-month period in two blocks, from December–February 1952 and December–February 1953.

The first turning point in O'Keefe's career was in early 1953, when he began singing with the quintet of jazz accordionist Gus Merzi at charity dances.

During these appearances, O'Keefe would sing his specialty, Johnny Ray's "Cry", while wearing a pair of trick glasses which would squirt water over the audience.

Radio personality Harry Griffiths, who met O'Keefe at this time, remembered him as "a bad-tempered ratbag" who often argued with Merzi, although Merzi commented that they never clashed over music.

Recognising Johnny's potential, Merzi began tutoring him on piano, encouraging him to broaden his repertoire and helping him to refine his stagecraft.

O'Keefe became a regular singer with the Merzi quintet and performed with them every Sunday at the charity shows they performed at the Bondi Auditorium.

The tenacious O'Keefe performed his routine no matter how small the audience, sometimes braving the rotten eggs and fruit thrown at him by local louts.

Johnny O'Keefe's life changed irrevocably after seeing and hearing Bill Haley singing "Rock Around the Clock" in the film Blackboard Jungle in June 1955.

He realised immediately that this was the style of music he wanted to perform, and from this point on he dedicated himself single-mindedly to becoming a rock 'n' roll singer and a star.

A pioneer of Rock music in Australia, his hits include "Wild One" (1958), "Shout!" and "She's My Baby".

In his twenty-year career, O'Keefe released over fifty singles, 50 EPs and 100 albums.

O'Keefe was also a radio and television entertainer and presenter.

Often referred to by his initials "J.O.K."

or by his nickname "The Wild One", O'Keefe was the first Australian rock n' roll performer to tour the United States, and the first Australian artist to make the local Top 40 charts.

He had twenty-nine Top 40 hits in Australia between 1958 and 1973.

O'Keefe was the younger brother of Australian jurist Barry O'Keefe (a former head of the New South Wales ICAC).

His father, Alderman Ray O'Keefe, was Mayor of Waverley Council in the early 1960s.

Through Barry, O'Keefe was the uncle of Australian television personality Andrew O'Keefe.

O'Keefe died in 1978 from a drug overdose.