John Williamson (singer)
John Robert Williamson (* 1. November 1945 in Kerang , Victoria ) is an Australian Country - singer and - songwriter . With more than 50 released albums and over five million albums sold, he is one of the most successful musicians in his country.
Career
Williamson grew up in the Mallee in northwest Victoria . He was part of a musical family on the farm at Quambatook . The adults sang or played instruments in the village community and he showed his talent early on. However, he broke off piano lessons because the instrument was too unwieldy for him. In 1960 he went to Scotch College in Melbourne as a boarding school student . The emerging folk rock movement around Joan Baez and Pete Seeger shaped him during this time and in the big city he had direct access to it. He also founded his own band with classmates.
His family moved to Croppa Creek near Moree in northeast New South Wales in 1965 . Williamson joined her after school and worked on her own farm. At the same time he continued to make music and performed folk and country songs in pubs. It took five years before he took part in a television talent show with the self-written song Old Man Emu and won. The song was released as a single and was so successful that he began a music career. He performed all over Australia and released albums regularly, but struggled to build on success.
In 1982 he wrote the song True Blue , which is about the "true Australian" with his character traits, and published it as the title track on his first best-of album. The song didn't get a lot of attention until four years later when it was used as an advertisement for the festival series Australian Made . After that, it was also used as a patriotic song by national sports federations and used at many events. After Williamson sang it at the memorial service for "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin , the song was also often performed at funerals.
True Blue was released again in 1986 on the Mallee Boy album and brought Williamson the breakthrough as an album artist. For the album he received his first of three ARIA Awards for the best country album of the year. Three years later, Warragul was his most successful studio album. It was his only number one album and went double platinum . Since then he has been regularly featured in the Australian charts. In 1995, another best-of album was released - again under the title True Blue - which over time even achieved three platinum awards. From 1995 to his 40th anniversary in 2010, all of his main releases were awarded at least gold, five of which he was able to place in the top 10 of the charts.
In 2006 he separated from his wife after 37 years of marriage. Two years later he directed a musical about his youth in Quambatook. A year later he performed his music with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra . In the same year he was also diagnosed with cancer, which he was able to fight successfully. In 2013 he married a second time.
Awards
Williamson received a high national award as early as 1992: he was appointed a member of the Order of Australia . The Country Music Association of Australia awarded him the Roll of Renown in 1997 and in 2010 he was honored with induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame . He won the ARIA Country Album of the Year award three times and the CMAA gave him a total of 26 awards in different categories.
Discography
Albums
- John Williamson (1970)
- Travlin 'Out West in Concert (Live album, 1973)
- Old Man Emu ( EP , 1973)
- From Travlin 'Out West (Live album, 1974)
- Comic Strip Cowboy (1976)
- Road to Town (1978)
- Radio Special (compilation, 1978)
- Country Greats (compilation, 1978)
- Fair Dinkum JW (1982)
- True Blue - The Best of John Williamson (Best-of-Album, 1982)
- Singing in the Suburbs (live album, 1983)
- The Smell of Gum Leaves (Live album, 1984)
- Road Thru the Heart (1985)
- Humble Beginnings (compilation, double album, 1985)
- Mallee Boy (1986, Country Album of the Year )
- All the best! (Best of album, 1986)
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
AU | |||
1988 | The Boomerang Café |
AU22 (10 weeks) AU |
|
1989 | Warragul |
AU1 × 2
(22 weeks)AU |
Country album of the year
|
1990 | JW's Family Album |
AU21st
platinum
(9 weeks)AU |
|
1991 | Waratah St. |
AU14 (11 weeks) AU |
|
1992 | Australia Calling - All the Best Volume 2 |
AU32 (9 weeks) AU |
Best of album
|
1994 | Mulga to Mangoes |
AU14 (7 weeks) AU |
|
1995 | True Blue - The Very Best of John Williamson |
AU21st × 3
(10 weeks)AU |
Best of album
|
1997 | Pipe dream |
AU6th
platinum
(13 weeks)AU |
|
1999 | The Way It Is |
AU10
platinum
(13 weeks)AU |
|
2000 | Anthems - A Celebration of Australia |
AU16
gold
(7 weeks)AU |
compilation
|
2002 | Gunyah |
AU20th
gold
(10 weeks)AU |
|
2003 | True Blue Two |
AU8th
gold
(6 weeks)AU |
Best of album
|
2005 | Chandelier of Stars |
AU11
gold
(9 weeks)AU |
|
2006 | The Platinum Collection |
AU25th
platinum
(9 weeks)AU |
compilation
|
2008 | Hillbilly Road |
AU6th
gold
(7 weeks)AU |
|
2010 | Absolute Greatest: 40 Years True Blue |
AU3
gold
(7 weeks)AU |
Best of album
|
2012 | The Big Red |
AU15 (5 weeks) AU |
|
2013 | A Hell of a Career! |
AU24 (6 weeks) AU |
Double CD compilation
|
2014 | Honest people |
AU11 (7 weeks) AU |
|
2016 | Looking for a story |
AU32 (1 week) AU |
EP
|
His Favorite Collection |
AU9 (9 weeks) AU |
compilation
|
|
2018 | Butcherbird |
AU13 (3 weeks) AU |
|
2020 | JW 50 - Winding Back 1970-2020 |
AU50 (1 week) AU |
compilation
|
More albums
- Love Is a Good Woman (compilation, 1993)
- Family Album No. 2 (1996)
- Country Classics (3-CD, 1997)
- John Williamson for Aussie Kids (live, 1998)
- The Spirit of Australia (1998)
- Boogie with M'Baby (live, 1998)
- Mates on the Road (with Pixie Jenkins & Warren H. Williams, live, 2004)
- Country Classics 2 (double CD, 2006)
- Wildlife Warriors (2006)
- Quambatook (musical soundtrack, 2008)
- John Williams in Symphony (Live DVD, with the Sydney Symphony , 2011platinum)
- Diggers of the Anzac (EP, 2015)
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
AU | |||
1989 | Rip Rip Woodchip |
AU39 (6 weeks) AU |
|
Boogie with M'Baby |
AU42 (3 weeks) AU |
More well-known songs
- Old Man Emu (1970)
- The Breaker (with Bud Tingwell , 1981)
- True Blue (1982)
- The Vasectomy Song (1983)
- I'm Fair Dinkum (1984)
- Queen in the Sport of Kings (1985)
- You and My Guitar (1986)
- Drover's Boy (1990)
- Sir Don (1996)
- Number on My Back / The Baggy Green (with Steve Waugh , 1999)
- Campfire on the Road (2000)
- Three Sons (2000)
- Raining on the Plains (with Sara Storer , 2004)
- Bells in a Bushman's Ear (2006)
- Australia Is Another Word for Free (with Warren H. Williams & Amos Morris, 2009)
- Pozie (with Sara Storer, 2014)
swell
- John Williamson sees true blue people all over the world , Chris Johnston, Sydney Morning Herald, September 17, 2014
- ^ Entry in the Honor Roll of the Order of Australia from January 26, 1992
- ^ ARIA Hall of Fame. Australian Recording Industry Association , accessed August 6, 2017 .
- ^ A b c d John Williamson in the ARIA award database
- ^ Past Award Winners , Country Music Association of Australia, accessed November 12, 2018
- ↑ a b John Williamson in the Australian charts (Top 50, from June 1988)
- ↑ Accreditations (gold / platinum awards) of the ARIA from 1997 / Annual Charts (ARIA) with awards, from 1989
Web links
- Official Homepage (English)
- John Williamson at Allmusic (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Williamson, John |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Williamson, John Robert (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian country singer and songwriter |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 1, 1945 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kerang , Victoria , Australia |