John Williamson (singer)

John Williamson (2012)

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	Country album of the year
1989	Warragul	AU1 × 2 Double platinum (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 Triple platinum (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

1. ^ Entry in the Honor Roll of the Order of Australia from January 26, 1992
2. ^ ARIA Hall of Fame. Australian Recording Industry Association , accessed August 6, 2017 . 
3. ^ ^{A b c d} John Williamson in the ARIA award database
4. ^ Past Award Winners , Country Music Association of Australia, accessed November 12, 2018
5. ↑ ^{a b} John Williamson in the Australian charts (Top 50, from June 1988)
6. ↑ 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)