Keith Glass

Keith Robert Glass (born 17 September 1946) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, musical theatre actor, record label owner, producer and journalist.

Keith Robert Glass was born on 17 September 1946, and he received guitar lessons at Lou Toppano's Music School on his Maton Alver acoustic guitar.

From 1958 Glass attended Brighton High School.

In 1963 The Rising Sons were formed as a R&B band in Brighton with Glass on lead guitar, and three Brighton Grammar School students: Clive Davies on rhythm guitar, Dennis "Fred" Foster on drums and Russell Naughton on bass guitar.

Their first gig was a dance for Brighton Grammar School.

They played cover versions of instrumentals by The Ventures, Duane Eddy and The Shadows.

They recorded material but none was released.

Glass attempted first year of a law course at University of Melbourne but transferred to RMIT and starting a design course.

By late 1965 The Rising Sons had disbanded.

In 1966 Glass and Foster formed a folk, baroque rock group, Eighteenth Century Quartet, with Frank Lyons on bass guitar; Hans Poulsen on guitar, vocals, bouzouki and mandolin; and John Pugh on guitar, violin, autoharp, harmonica and backing vocals.

After issuing their debut single, "Rachel" in October, Poulsen left for a solo career.

Glass wrote and sang lead on their second single, "Am I a Lover?"

(December).

Their live work "bore no relationship to the earlier folk-rock trappings" and they "began playing more uptempo soul/R&B/rock material".

In April 1967 he formed a soul music group, Cam-Pact, which released four singles and an extended play, Something Easy.

The group disbanded in March 1967.

In April 1967 Glass and Pugh formed a soul music group, Cam-Pact, with Mark Barnes on bass guitar, Bob Lloyd (aka Bob Tregilgas) on drums, and Chris Stockley on guitar.

They released four singles, "Something Easy" (March 1968), "Drawing Room" (May), "Good Good Feelin'" (September) and "Potion of Love" (June 1969) and an extended play, Something Easy.

In late 1968 Barnes had left and Glass took on bass guitar before he and Stockley also left by mid-1969.

He left by June 1969 to appear in the Australian stage production of Hair as Berger (replaced by Reg Livermore in 1970).

Stockley joined Axiom and from June that year Glass appeared in the Australian stage production of Hair as Berger (replaced by Reg Livermore in 1970) starting an 18-month run in Sydney.

In 1970 after finishing Hair, Glass returned to Melbourne and formed country rock group, Sundown, with Barnes (ex-Cam-Pact); Broderick Smith on lead vocals and harmonica, Kerryn Tolhurst on guitar; (both ex-Adderley Smith Blues Band); and Barry Windley on drums (Chessmen, Cherokees, Quinn).

In 1971 Glass and David Pepperell (journalist, and vocalist of The Union) founded the Melbourne Import record store, Archie & Jughead's, which specialised in imported albums from Europe and America.

The group only issued one single, "This Country of Mine" (June 1972), before disbanding.

The track was written by Glass and was later recorded by Slim Dusty.

In September 1973 Glass travelled to the United States to make business contacts for the store and with a view to getting his own songs published.

In 1977 Glass and David Pepperell founded Missing Link Records, the following year he signed and managed The Boys Next Door, a punk band, featuring Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert and Tracy Pew.

Since 1977 he has pursued an intermittent solo career generally as a country musician.

One such project was Keith Glass Band, an R&B and country rock group, which included Wayne Duncan on bass guitar (ex-Daddy Cool), Robert Souter on drums and Les Stacpool on guitar.

With the addition of Wayne Burt (Daddy Cool, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons) on guitar in October that year, the group's name changed to The Living Legends.

In 1977 Glass and Pepperell had also founded an independent record label of the same name.

In 1978 the retail store was renamed Missing Link Records.

Pepperell departed in 1978 and Glass signed The Boys Next Door, a punk band featuring Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert and Tracy Pew, for whom Glass was also the manager.

Missing Link issued the band's first EP, Hee Haw (1979) and the album, The Birthday Party (November 1980).

Glass co-produced the album with The Boys Next Door and Tony Cohen.

By the time of its release the group had relocated to London and renamed themselves as The Birthday Party.

In May the label issued Ed Kuepper's alternate jazz-rock group, Laughing Clowns's debut eponymous EP, which was also engineered by Cohen.

Glass co-produced the group's 1980 album, The Birthday Party, before they relocated to London and changed their name to match its title.

In October 1981 Australian music journalist, Glenn A. Baker, described the Missing Link label in Billboard which was "recognised for the cornerstone upon which much of Australia's new wave music movement has been built ... [Glass'] understanding and appreciation of the grass roots level of rock music is considered impeccable".

As a solo artist Glass released country and R&B albums, Going Over Old Ground (1989), Living Down My Past (1991), Smoke and Mirrors (1997), Southerly Buster (3 May 1999), Australian Soul (19 July 2001) and Miss Ala (26 October 2005).