Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Today we share a recent chat with Annas from Harry M Miller's Australian production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber music Jesus Christ Superstar, John Paul Young, AKA Squeak AND JPY.
We talk everything from the head advisor to the high priest to heart throb guest presenter on ABC's Countdown, to his resurgence with Australian hit movie, Strictly Ballroom, touring with APIA and now his 50 Years Young tour.
Includes Songs:
John Paul Young - Yesterdays Hero
John Paul Young - Love Is In The Air
John Paul Young - Standing In The Rain
Jesus Christ Superstar Cast Recording - Superstar
What's John Paul Young up to at the moment?
Let's find out .....
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Today we share a recent chat with Annas from Harry M Miller's Australian production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber music Jesus Christ Superstar, John Paul Young, AKA Squeak AND JPY.
We talk everything from the head advisor to the high priest to heart throb guest presenter on ABC's Countdown, to his resurgence with Australian hit movie, Strictly Ballroom, touring with APIA and now his 50 Years Young tour.
Includes Songs:
John Paul Young - Yesterdays Hero
John Paul Young - Love Is In The Air
John Paul Young - Standing In The Rain
Jesus Christ Superstar Cast Recording - Superstar
What's John Paul Young up to at the moment?
Let's find out .....
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That radio chick, cheryl Lee, here with you. Welcome to the Still Rocking at Podcast where we'll have news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Today I share a Zoom room chat I had recently with John English Young, scottish-born Australian pop singer, better known as John Pull Young, jpy or Squeak to his friends, aria Hall of Famer, middle of the order of Australia recipient and, more importantly, back in the day, regular guest presenter on ABC's favourite music show, countdown, from the Albert's Productions stable to Jesus Christ Superstar stage show to hit Aussie classic music Strictly Boreum and everything in between. What's John Pull Young being up to lately? Let's find out. Welcome to the Zoom room. You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick, and today I can't believe we've got John English Young, aka Squeak, or John Pull Young, in the Zoom room with us. Thank you so much for joining us today, john.
Speaker 2:No problem at all, Cheryl.
Speaker 1:Like a lot of our fabulous entertainers, you're not Aussie-born. We inherited you from Scotland.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:When did you come over?
Speaker 2:We arrived on Australia Day 1962 on the Canberra.
Speaker 1:So that would be your parents.
Speaker 2:Yep, and my brother and my two assistants. Yeah, that was only its second ever voyage.
Speaker 1:Well, we're so glad you came to Australia. You've had some fabulous hits and we'll talk about those. But perhaps I can just ask you a little bit about the early days. When did you realise that music was going to be your destiny, that music was your thing?
Speaker 2:Well, I never had that moment as such, because I was very reluctant. I didn't want to be on stage. I mean, I was happy singing songs, but I had no ambition to get on stage. It was my friends who decided to form a band and they pushed me into it and I'm eternally grateful for them for pushing me into it and then things just started to happen. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time quite a few times and that basically led to where I am.
Speaker 1:So very lucky that your friends maybe saw something you knew that you didn't see in yourself. Was that at school? Was that after school that you joined the band?
Speaker 2:It was towards the end of school, I think. This happened when I was about 16 and a half, something like that, just when I got my licence, I think that's when it was and I used to go and visit them in Liverpool, the suburb of Liverpool that I was living in, fairfield Western. So it was a case of me catching up with them every weekend. One weekend they said we want to form a band and I said yeah, ok, have a nice time. And they just pushed me and said, no, no, you've got to be in the band. And I soon realised that if I didn't go along with their idea that I'd lose my mates. So I went along with it and I was not very happy about it originally, but it all grew on me.
Speaker 1:Are any of your siblings musical Like? Is it in your DNA family or it's just completely come sideways out of the blue?
Speaker 2:I think it's in the DNA. My son is a musician and a singer and he's good at the production side of things in studio work. So, yeah, you know my daughter can sing as well, so I think it's there.
Speaker 1:So someone saw some talent there. One thing I didn't know, because, of course, the first time I saw you was with Molly on Countdown. I didn't realise that prior to that you were actually a star on the stage as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was in Jesus Christ Superstar I played one of the high priests and that's where I met Molly. I met Molly on opening night of Superstar. We were quite friendly for a while. It was sort of his met again, being in the right place, right time and having a new song out and Molly being because he didn't want to be the host of Countdown. That's just the way it turned out. So when he became host he got me involved on one of the earlier shows and yesterday's hero and again, the rest is history.
Speaker 1:Yeah, still off in the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. Before we go any further, I think we should play yesterday's hero. This is actually from the classic Countdown CD collection, disc 1. John Paul Young, yesterday's hero. He performed this on Countdown in 1975. Back more with Squeak after this Countdown, countdown.
Speaker 2:Countdown, countdown, countdown, countdown. When I walk down the streets, See the people who stop and stare and say Haven't I seen that face somewhere a long time ago?
Speaker 1:So you started out? You were actually in a small Melbourne production of Jesus Christ the Revolution and again, somebody saw some talent in you, didn't they? Jim Sharman, asked you to audition for the role in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. I was very lucky that he happened to be in the audience, so he was out there looking for a particular voice and he figured I might have had it, and so I was really lucky. I was one of the last to be cast.
Speaker 1:There was some fabulous Australian talent that you were with John English, doug Parkinson, stevie Wright, marsha Hines, reggie Livermore. It's sort of gone full circle, hasn't it? Because you're still touring with some of those people, or have been until COVID with the Arpia Tour and probably will again. How great is it, all these years later, to still be performing with these guys, who've probably become great mates.
Speaker 2:It is quite unbelievable and it's amazing to think that all this time later we can still be out there doing it. So it's a real thrill.
Speaker 1:It's fabulous the longevity to still be out there doing what you love to do. The great worldwide hit Love is in the Air has been fabulous for you, especially in 92 when it sort of got a new lease of life from Strictly.
Speaker 2:Ballroom. Yes, that was a complete surprise. I was doing what you're doing. I was working on radio at the time, and so it was a big surprise that that happened. It got me out on the road again, still off in a podcast with that radio chick, Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1:Back to speak more with John Poo Young after this from the Strictly Ballroom original soundtrack Love is in the Air. The Ballroom mix Love is in the air.
Speaker 2:Every sight and every sound.
Speaker 1:Your largest audience congratulations was in 2000, when you featured performer at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, very scary, but I got through it. I mucked up the rehearsal so I was not exactly calm when it all happened. So it was a very jittery thing because it was a nine-minute version of Lovers in the Air, so it just having the air pee and disappear in and out of the stage on a lift and watching all those people that were involved. It certainly was a scary experience as well as an invigorating one.
Speaker 1:Just also wanted to congratulate you on your induction into the Aria Hall of Fame 2009, and, three years later, a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012,. Service to performing arts as a singer and songwriter, which is obvious, but also through your support of charitable organisations. It s really great to see artists giving back and helping the way that you do.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that. Yeah, it s one way to give back to the country and it s been a delight to be able to help wherever I can with whoever needs it at the time.
Speaker 1:You ve got some exciting news coming up. You ve got a tour happening. Tell us all about that.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we ve just about gone through it actually, because that s what it s all about. It s just about my life and starting from way back in Glasgow, and we just go through it and through to my time in my band, Elm Tree, and then on to Jesus Christ Superstar, then on to my first hit, and then we just keep going and I tell stories about people in the band and you know, because we lost our long-term bass player. He passed away about 18 months ago and we miss him greatly. So we do a little tribute to him and yeah, and just play a couple of the tracks that were big when we did the Vander and Young tour.
Speaker 1:It s the 70 s pop icon, aria Hall of Famer soundtrack for the countdown generation and beyond. That is absolutely true. You know I used to run inside. You know six o'clock on a Sunday night, kick someone off the television, put it on channel to just would not miss countdown for quids. And you are such a big part of you know that whole, like it says that whole generation. You ve got your legendary stashas, as it says in Australian music folklore. You re part of the soundtrack to our lives as we grew up. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know it s astonishing. You don t think of it at the time, but that s why it is yeah.
Speaker 1:So many of your hits standing in the rain and yesterday s hero. They ve truly become sort of part of the fabric of Australian music history, haven t they?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you know it s a lot of it. Like I said, you know it s some of it was accidental. Even standing in the rain was a b-side and you know that sort of set the flavour up for lovers in the air and then that took off. So that was the big one Still off in a podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1:Let s have a listen now to that b-side standing in the rain, released in December 1977, a single from the album Jpy, written by George Young and Harry Vander. The song peaked here in Australia at number 12, remaining on the charts for 27 weeks. In Europe it reached number 2, in Belgium, number 3 in the Netherlands, number 4 in Germany and number 11 in Austria. Not bad for a b-side. Here it is, standing in the rain. Let's tell everybody where they can get their tickets to the show. It's the 50 years young, the anniversary tour. That's a nice play on words there. Yes, where can we see you? We should get onto the Googleometer to track down tickets.
Speaker 2:We've been going for about six weeks.
Speaker 1:And how's it all been going so far?
Speaker 2:Well, okay, but we've had to cancel the 27th and 28th of May or postpone them. Our drummer has an eye problem, so we've had to postpone. This was always a possibility, even, you know, because of COVID. If one of us had got COVID then we would have had to stop, so we were sort of kind of ready for it. Yes, which is when it happened.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit like that at the moment, isn't it? I think, whenever I buy tickets at the moment, I'm sort of like 50-50 and fingers crossed that it'll actually happen. Yeah, that's right, that's why it is yeah.
Speaker 1:You are coming to South Australia, to our beautiful Her Majesty's Theatre, 26th of July, so we've got plenty of time. But don't be like some South Australians and take your time getting tickets. Get onto the Googleometer now and support the artists who are out and about entertaining us. And how good is it, after sort of a two-year enforced hiatus, to be back out in front of an audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great. It's great especially to have my band back together again. It's an absolute joy to be on stage with them.
Speaker 1:We can't wait to see you in our beautiful town. I shall see you down the front.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining us today, john, and we wish you and your drummer all the best. Hope he has a speedy recovery and you get back on the road really fast.
Speaker 2:Great. Thanks very much.
Speaker 1:Thanks again and thank you to your IT guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my son, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:See ya.
Speaker 2:Bye.
Speaker 1:Still rocking a podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. As discussed with John, he played an ass for Harry M Miller's original Australian production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I thought it might be nice to go out with cast recording of Superstar You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking at podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.