What has Don Spencer been up to lately? OR Is there a bear in there?

Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.

Ever wondered what it’s like to start a legendary music career at 21? Join us as we chat with the iconic Australian entertainer, Don Spencer, whose journey from Tamworth to global stardom is nothing short of inspiring. You'll hear about his serendipitous encounter with songwriter Roger Whittaker in Kenya that sparked his musical passion, leading to roles in beloved programs like Play School in both Australia and the UK. Don’s reflections on his career, his unwavering love for music, and his decision to never retire at 87 will leave you motivated and touched.

From hosting UK pop shows and interviewing legends like Tony Bennett to his impactful charity work with the Australian Children's Music Foundation, Don’s story is one of dedication and heart. 

Discover the vibrant tapestry of his life, including his children’s ventures into entertainment. 

This episode is not just a tribute to his remarkable achievements but a celebration of his enduring commitment to music and philanthropy. Tune in for an enriching conversation with a man who continues to inspire and give back to the community.

What has Don Spencer been up to lately?  Let's find out!!

Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!

Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au

Transcript

Cheryl Lee: 0:07

Welcome to the Still Rockin' It podcast where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Today we are chatting with legendary Australian entertainer and quiet achiever, Don Spencer. Born in 1937 in Tamworth, he has toured the world supporting acts such as the Rolling Stones, the Four Seasons, the Hollies, Marianne Faithfull, released over 40 albums. We've also seen him on screen in Bandstand, Sons and Daughters, Return to Eden, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own and, of course, he is the much-beloved children's entertainer from long-playing Australian classic children's program Play School. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to thatradiochick. com. au. You're with Cheryl Lee, that Radio Chick, and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today Donald Richard Spencer OAM. You may know the name but not quite know where from. Well, we're going to find out all about Don Spencer, who I remember very fondly from Play School. Welcome, Don. Well, lovely to see you 87 years young, you're still releasing new material. So there's no R word yet, no talk of retirement. So there's no R word, yet no talk of retirement.

Don Spencer: 1:45

No, look, I might retire in another 10 or 20 years, Cheryl. Basically I spent my life as a songwriter before I started my foundation. But when people say, why don't you retire or think about retiring, I say, well, I can't really retire because I've never had a job.

Cheryl Lee: 2:01

Love what you do and you never work a day in your life. Was that you?

Don Spencer: 2:05

I'm still doing my music. I've got two full-time jobs now at my age.

Cheryl Lee: 2:08

Maybe we could just take a little bit of a walk through the Don Spencer history, as a lot of my contemporaries, as I said, will remember you. You're an Australian singer, songwriter, musician, children's television presenter, and we would remember you from play school, and that was a pretty momentous occasion in itself in that you were on both the Australian version and the UK version, 31 years and 16 years respectively. Did you get a gold watch?

Don Spencer: 2:41

No, I didn't get a gold watch. Actually I got a glass of wine.

Cheryl Lee: 2:44

You must have loved it.

Don Spencer: 2:46

I did, I did. I always had the two careers, one for adults and one for kids, so I'm a lot better known for the children's stuff, but I'm still writing the other stuff as well. I've got a recording contract still, so I'm still bringing out music. The other main interest I've got is I started the Australian Children's Music Foundation, which is the best thing I've done. We can talk about that later if you like.

Cheryl Lee: 3:09

Absolutely. You were born in Tamworth. Being a Tamworth boy, I think music was going to happen for you. But when did you realise that you had a talent? Was it in your DNA? Were mum and dad musical?

Don Spencer: 3:22

The Country Music Festival didn't happen. I'd left Tamworth for about 15 years before that happened.

Cheryl Lee: 3:27

I didn't do the math there, did I.

Don Spencer: 3:29

It wasn't a musical town. When I was there. Also it was so long ago it was a very small town. It's a massive town now. It's a city. Of course it was dirt roads et cetera, no traffic lights, nothing like that. So the Country Music Festival had nothing to do with it.

Don Spencer: 3:46

No, I did perform at the festival years later and had a few songs to okay there, but so it wasn't Tamworth. I didn't get involved in music. Until I was 21 years old I didn't even dream of being in music. I was mainly interested in sport and school. I did okay with that stuff and it got me around Australia a bit with sporting events.

Speaker 1: 4:11

You are listening to Still Rockin' it. The podcast with Cheryl Lee.

Cheryl Lee: 4:16

We of course are going to play some grown-up songs by Don Spencer, but first let's have a little walk down memory lane and have a kids song. This is from the Cool S songs for Cool Kids albums on ABC, a great positive song for kids. Practice Makes Perfect and also care of ABC. Remember the play school theme song. And back to speak to Don after this.

Don Spencer: 5:04

I left home just after I did my national service, which we had to do in those days, travelled for five years around the world In about the second year of my travels or third, that I met a songwriter in Kenya and a wonderful guy, Roger Whittaker.

Don Spencer: 5:19

He became very famous in England and America. He's the one who got me into music, because I'd never dreamt of it. I'd been writing stupid poems home to my mother and sister, but they were just rhyming stuff. But Roger was singing in the local coffee bar. There he was with a 12-string guitar and singing with his beautiful voice and he sang a few covers. Then he said here's a song I wrote and it was beautiful and I went, wow, what would it be like to write a song? So I was 21.

Don Spencer: 5:47

Then I had written something about the recent part of my trip called Long Lonely Road, because when you're hitching around the world you can sit by the road for three days if you're unlucky. So he liked the word. So he put it to music and recorded it and they played it on the rodeo and people liked it. I thought, oh, it'd be nice to play guitar too. So for the next two years of my travel I got a guitar and I practiced and I taught myself. Of course we didn't have the internet like we have now, so I had to just listen to a song and try and play along with it. I worked on a ship for quite a while as a helmsman and then I went back to England with these songs and I thought if I get one song published, I'll be happy ever after and then I'll get on with my life.

Cheryl Lee: 6:29

So you're a late bloomer by all accounts, but Roger sounded like he lit a spark in you and inspired you.

Don Spencer: 6:37

Oh, he did absolutely. I wouldn't call it exactly an epiphany, but it was in a minor way because it took a while to get into my system. But then I eventually became a singer song and I didn't even want to be a singer when I was writing songs. They asked me to demonstrate my songs, so you had to make a demo record. I couldn't afford to pay anyone else to do it, so I sang the songs myself. Then I went to Canada and stayed a year and wrote a letter back, no phones like we have now and anything like that, and said did anything happen to those songs? I wrote and they said, oh, sent me a telegram when they got my letter and said get on a plane now you're in the hit parade and you've got to come back. We've been looking for you for six months.

Cheryl Lee: 7:20

Y ou're an accidental singer.

Don Spencer: 7:22

Do you know how funny you should say that. Somebody's writing a biography about me. Now I've called it the Accidental Career. So you're on the button there

Cheryl Lee: 7:33

I think we should have a song now from the man that was such an inspiration all those years ago to Don Spencer, from Roger Whittaker's New World in the Morning album from 1971, the Last Farewell.

Speaker 1: 7:46

And then back to speak to Don,

Cheryl Lee: 7:59

You have done so much in your life. Some pretty high rollers were lucky enough to have you support them.

Don Spencer: 8:07

Very diplomatically put there Cheryl, well done. Yes, I did. When I went to England from Canada, as I was talking about, they picked me up, took me straight into Oxford Street, London, and they fitted me out with a suit that was ready the next day. And then the next day I was on a pop tour pretending to be a pop singer. I said I'll keep doing this till they find out I don't know what I'm doing.

Cheryl Lee: 8:28

The Rolling Stones, the Four Seasons, the Hollies, Marianne Faithfull. So this was back in the 60s, but Any goss, any concert goss, or will you get killed if you tell it?

Don Spencer: 8:40

Look, if I told you what I know, you'd be off air. Well, touring with the Rolling Stones particularly. I did a couple of tours with them, or three, I don't know 40, 50 concerts with them, and that was just crazy. Because everywhere we went there were just zillion fans. And got to town they'd have to get police to control the crowds. When we'd get to the hotel they'd surround the hotel and of course, once we started the concert they'd just start screaming for the Stones and the rest of us had to battle on. But that was fun, it was great fun.

Don Spencer: 9:13

And seeing as though I didn't know what I was doing, I just watched other people and said, oh, that's it, all, right, I'll do this and do that. So, anyhow, I got through it. I kept going and then somebody else asked me to tour with them. And yeah, I toured with all of them the Hollies and Jerry and the Pacemakers and people like that. They all became friends, met the Beatles. I recorded at Abbey Road. That's where I first met the Beatles, of course, the famous Abbey Road. Yeah, I'm kind of lucky, I would say very lucky, but I'm still doing it. So I did tell my wife at the time, when I was about 38, I was doing cabaret and concerts and television and I said I'm not going to be bothered playing guitar and singing after I get 40. I'm just going to stick to songwriting. And I just did my last concert with my guitar about a week ago.

Cheryl Lee: 10:00

Yeah, like I said, the R word isn't in your vocabulary. I don't think you decided early on, though, didn't you? And this is probably why you're living proof of my theory that you know music and rock and roll is the fountain of youth. You decided early on not to get involved in the whole, you know sex, drugs and rock and roll thing.

Don Spencer: 10:21

I didn't get into any of that. It's absolute truth. I've never taken any social drugs in my life. Everybody else around me were, but I never wanted to. I never smoked, I just never wanted to take drugs. So I've often said to people you're one of them now. People should be interviewing me now because I'm one of the few people alive who remember the 60s. The other ones were all drugged out. They don't remember it.

Cheryl Lee: 10:44

That's right, so you'll be a very good and accurate source of information.

Don Spencer: 10:49

Yeah, I could. Most of it would be censored. It might be a very short book.

Cheryl Lee: 10:54

You're probably the only one that we could really believe. I reckon Yep.

Don Spencer: 10:57

You could believe me because I saw her a lot. It was very interesting.

Cheryl Lee: 11:03

An amazing life.

Cheryl Lee: 11:13

Let's have a song now from one of those iconic bands that Don Spencer toured with in the early days Wild Horses, Rolling Stones then back to chat some more to Don. There's also a lot of television work, both again in Australia and the UK. You did a pop show in the UK called Gangway.

Don Spencer: 11:42

I did quite a few different television shows. Gangway was a pop show well, a magazine pop show. We always had people on like the Animals and Engelbert Humperdinck, Spencer Davis. We always had a special guest every week and it was great fun. And I also had a radio show called Pop in', with another guy who was the main man. I was his assistant and that had everybody. I've got a photograph on my wall and in the one photograph we've got Roger Miller, Tony Bennett, LuLu, what got about eight really famous Van Do and people who maybe nowadays don't know. But but yeah, that's just one day, once a week we did that show, so everybody was on that show.

Cheryl Lee: 12:22

When is your book due out, because this is such an amazing and broad history. When can we read all about it?

Don Spencer: 12:31

There's no date for the release at the moment. It hasn't even been finished or anything. They've been talking about doing it for 10 years, but I've been too busy, so now I'm just trying to help. I don't know when it's coming out, but it's interesting. I've been forced to relive things that I'd almost forgotten. I've had some interesting experiences, saw a lot. I'd learned a lot.

Cheryl Lee: 12:51

I'm going to get you to tell us all about your charity because I know you're very proud of it. I love to hear that when people in the entertainment industry really and genuinely do give back. But I was just going to ask you. So both of your children followed you into the family business, into the entertainment business. What are they up to?

Don Spencer: 13:10

My son is not in the music business anymore, but my daughter is. I may be biased, you might say, but she has got the most exquisite voice and writes fabulous songs. She was listed when she was younger as one of the actors to watch in the future, alongside Nicole K and Naomi Watts and all those. But she married and when she got married, had the children. Her career just went on hold because you know who she married.

Cheryl Lee: 13:37

Yeah, you were Russell Crowe's father-in-law.

Don Spencer: 13:40

Yeah, Mr Crowe's father-in-law, yeah. So Russell's career was crazy won the Academy Award and all that and it was fun. But when the kids were born, got to a certain age, she said no, I'm not going to travel anymore, I've got to get the kids a normal life. So she's done that. The kids live with her, Of course she's done that the kids live with her. Of course they're divorced now, as you know. So she's given the kids a normal life of school.

Cheryl Lee: 14:01

They're both brilliant kids the best job in the world being a parent yeah, it's the most important one too exactly right no question about that. I mean family's, everything still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl lee. We might have one now from one of the guests on don Spencer's gangway pop show, the Animals their hit the House of the Rising Sun. Then back to hear about Don Spencer's wonderful musical charity after this there is a house in New Orleans they call the rising sun. The charity. Tell us all about it.

Don Spencer: 14:43

Well, how long have you got? It's called the Australian Children's Music Foundation and we provide free, permanent music education and instruments to specifically disadvantaged kids in remote areas, indigenous areas, many in Western Australia, just about everywhere. They're not all indigenous, just any disadvantaged kids and we're in juvenile justice centers and we have a national songwriting competition open for any children. It's been going for 20 years. We've discovered some amazing talent, but I started that competition to actually not necessarily find talent, just to inspire kids to use their imagination, because there's so much screen things they're watching. I was always for listening or reading, so you make up your own pictures of whatever the words say to you or whatever the voice says to you. So instead of the video style where that's the only image you're going to get and we also do music therapy in Sydney Children's Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital we provide instruments to kids who want to get into tertiary education, who can't afford it, can't afford an instrument, and we've got programs all over Australia.

Cheryl Lee: 15:55

I love that. It is so, so important. You were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2007 for services to children's music and television as a songwriter and performer. So congratulations and very well deserved.

Don Spencer: 16:13

Thank you.

Cheryl Lee: 16:13

And also I like this one as well, because I'm the fundraising coordinator for Support Act South Australia. Oh, are you, yeah, and have been the last five years and you were awarded the Excellence in Community Support presented by Support Act back in 2008. Before my time, again congratulations and well-deserved.

Don Spencer: 16:35

Yeah, do you know what was good about that? I mean, I was grateful for the award and that's a great charity you're working with and I do go to their functions. The nice thing about it was that the presentation was at Parliament House New South Wales Parliament House and it was presented by Helen Reddy, so I always was a huge fan, so lovely to meet her and we talked a fair bit before she went back to live in. She stayed in Australia for a while, then she went back to live in America, so it was nice to have her give me the award and I appreciate it.

Cheryl Lee: 17:08

Do you ever get over to South Australia at all, Don?

Don Spencer: 17:12

Yeah, I do. I haven't been for a couple of years, what with COVID, and also I burst my eardrums in planes a couple of times. So I've been banned for flying, sometimes for a year until things get better. But I'm flying again and have been for the last several years. I have been there quite a few times, but I haven't been there recently.

Cheryl Lee: 17:32

Well, we have a fundraising luncheon monthly third Thursday of every month. If you are ever in South Australia on a third Thursday, an open invitation to join us at our table for lunch.

Don Spencer: 17:46

Will you put that in writing please? We'll hold you to that.

Speaker 1: 17:50

You are listening to Still Rockin' it. The podcast with Cheryl Lee.

Cheryl Lee: 17:55

I'm going to play you an absolutely beautiful song, the single by Don Spencer from 2019, Hold On To your Dream. And then back to chat a little bit more with Don after that.

Cheryl Lee: 18:18

I've got two more quick questions for you, and then I'll let you get on with your day. One is when you can listen to whatever you like to listen to. Don what's on your playlist.

Don Spencer: 18:27

Do you know what anybody who looks at my music collection or my book collection will presume? I'm mentally disturbed. I love classical music and I love country music and I love jazz and I hate rap. But there's only two types of music. I think it was. Duke Ellington said good and bad. I like all the styles and the same with books. If I look at my book, I'm reading the Odyssey or I'm reading a cheap detective novel or I'm reading an autobiography. It varies. Everything depends on my mood. I'm moody.

Cheryl Lee: 19:06

now this one is sort of more of a rock and roll question. You have been involved in the rock and roll industry. Have you got anything on your rider? Don something that you just have to have in your green room.

Don Spencer: 19:19

No, I was never fussy about that stuff, I just had water. Sometimes I might have one glass of wine before I sing. But no, I never put down any specifications. I put down specifications at hotels. It's got to have a bathtub because I'm a freak, I love baths and I don't like showers, and a lot of places don't have baths anymore.

Cheryl Lee: 19:40

Yeah, you're right.

Don Spencer: 19:42

Yeah, I know they're building houses, apartments, without a bathtub. What the hell? Something's wrong.

Cheryl Lee: 19:48

Yeah, was there something else you'd like to mention before we go?

Don Spencer: 19:52

I just think it's so important that children have the chance of a music education because I started it 22 years ago. I didn't know, I just knew that when I had a pretty rough childhood, challenging to say the least, and music was my soulless listening, not playing, and never dreaming I would write anything, but I was listening to all types of music as my escape. But research has proven that music is incredibly important for children and improves their academic abilities by up to 30%. It helps their social skills, but it inspires creativity, imagination, discipline, working with other people, all the important skills. It crosses all barriers. It doesn't matter what your nationality is, your accent, your looks, your colour. Music gets over all that stuff. The whole point of the program Australian Children's Music Foundation is to bring joy and hope to children.

Cheryl Lee: 20:53

And what's the website if people want to get involved and help?

Don Spencer: 20:57

It's just acmfcomau. Yeah, it'd be lovely if people want to get involved. We're a charity, of course, so we have to always, like you do with art support, we have to keep raising money for our programs, but we're going well, it's good.

Cheryl Lee: 21:12

All the best with that and all your future endeavours, and I'll see you next time you're in Adelaide.

Don Spencer: 21:19

I'll do that, cheryl.

Cheryl Lee: 21:20

Okay, thank you so much for spending some of your precious time with us today. Thank you, Don Spencer.

Don Spencer: 21:27

My pleasure, bye.

Cheryl Lee: 21:29

Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick Cheryl Lee. Let's go out today with Donald Richard Spencer's first single from 1963, fireball Theme tune to UK TV science fiction series Fireball XL5, and reach number 32 on the UK singles chart.

Don Spencer: 21:51

My heart would be a fireball a fireball Every time I gazed into your starry eyes You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick.

Cheryl Lee: 22:04

Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.