Johnny Young

He was raised as the youngest son of Anna and her husband Fokke Jan de Jong (22 March 1914 – 15 July 1989), who was in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and served in Indonesia after World War II.

His half-siblings are Cornellia (born 13 February 1936), Antonia (born 22 August 1937) and Ferdinand (born 13 November 1944).

Their father was still in Indonesia from December 1946 until September 1948 when Young was one-and-a-half years old.

Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin de Jong; 12 March 1947) is a Dutch Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host.

Johnny Young was born as Johnny Benjamin de Jong on 12 March 1947 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.^{[A] He was conceived as a result of an affair between his mother, Anna Wilhelmina (20 July 1913 – 29 December 1989) and a musician, Johannes.}

Originally from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, his family settled in Perth in the early 1950s.

The family migrated to Perth, Western Australia, Fokke arrived in July 1953, and they settled in the Perth Hills suburb of Kalamunda, in the 1950s.

Fokke worked as a welder on industrial projects including the Kwinana Oil Refinery.

His mother was in a choir and inspired his early interest in music.

On 25 August 1959 Johnny, Ferdinand and Fokke were naturalised as Australian citizens.

Young's mother took him to Saturday morning radio shows for children and he would sing along.

He performed solo songs wearing a specially made jacket.

After leaving school, he worked as a trainee disc jockey and started singing at local dances.

From the age of 14, for 18 months he was lead vocalist of the Nomads, later known as the Strangers (not the Melbourne group called the Strangers), which consisted of Young, John Eddy (guitar), Warwick Findlay (drums), Don Prior (bass guitar) and Tony Summers (guitar).

Young was a 1960s pop singer and had a number-one hit with the double-A-sided single, "Step Back" and a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-lyn" in 1966.

Young's profile was enhanced by a concurrent stint as host of TV pop music program The Go!! Show.

Also in the mid-1960s, Young toured with the Rolling Stones and supported Roy Orbison.

As a composer, he penned number-one hits, "The Real Thing" and "The Girl That I Love" for Russell Morris, "The Star" for Ross D. Wyllie and "I Thank You" for Lionel Rose.

He also wrote a number-two single, "Smiley" for Ronnie Burns.

It was one of the biggest-selling Australian singles of the 1960s, behind Normie Rowe's "Que Sera Sera"/"Shakin' All Over".

In October, his EP Let It Be Me went to number four on Go-Set National Top 40.

At eighteen-years-old, Young was host of TVW-7 Perth television pop music show Club Seventeen in early 1965.

As Johnny Young & the Strangers he released two singles, "Club Seventeen"/"Oh Johnny, No" and "No Other Love"/"Heigh Ho", both on the 7-Teen label.

Young then signed with Clarion Records, a Perth-based label run by Martin Clarke.

In an interview Clarke said "We just got together and he said he wanted to make a national hit and branch out, he was very ambitious."

Clarke, armed with his recordings of Young, went to Sydney and secured a deal with Festival Records to have the Clarion label manufactured and distributed throughout Australia.

The following year, 1966, he formed Johnny Young & Kompany, As lead vocalist he was backed by Eddy (guitar), Findlay (drums), Summers (guitar) and Jim Griffiths (bass).

After performing as supporting act to the Easybeats in early 1966, Young recorded "Step Back", which was co-written by the Easybeats' members Stevie Wright and George Young (no relation).

The single was released in May 1966 as a double-A-side with his cover version of "Cara-Lyn", originally by the Strangeloves.

The release peaked at number one on the Go-Set National Top 40 in November.

Johnny Young & Kompany moved to Melbourne in mid-1966.

Mick Wade (ex-the Vibrants) joined on guitar and organ.

Young was interviewed by Go-Set writer, Ian "Molly" Meldrum for their 13 July issue.

Later that year Young compered the short-lived television pop show Too Much and in 1967 he hosted The Go!! Show, following the resignation of Ian Turpie.

He presented and produced the TV show, Young Talent Time, which screened on Network Ten from 1971 to 1988.

It launched the careers of several teen pop stars and theatre actors, Danni Minogue, Tina Arena, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali, Debra Byrne, Sally Boyden and Karen Knowles.

Typically each episode closed with a ballad style sing-along rendition of the Beatles' song, "All My Loving".

At the Logie Awards of 1990, sponsored by TV Week, Young was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association's Hall of Fame in 2010 by Arena who performed Young's song, "The Star".

He is the first person inducted into both halls of fame.