Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback! I'm Bill Price. During the 1960's and early 1970's, several artists that got their start in Australia, went on to enjoy successful international careers. In this episode of the series “From Down Under”, I’ll feature the The Easybeats, the Australian band that went on to achieve success in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as Australia. This is the story of The Easybeats, and their rise to international fame - on Rock and Roll Flashback.
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During the 1960's and early 1970's, several artists that got their start in Australia, went on to enjoy successful international careers. In this episode of the series “From Down
Under”, I’ll feature the The Easybeats, the Australian band that went on to achieve
success in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as Australia. This is the
story of The Easybeats, and their rise to international fame on Rock and Roll Flashback.
It may come as a surprise, that not all music groups that emerged from Australia were
native born. One such band was the Easybeats. The band consisted of Stevie Wright and Gordon "Snowy" Fleet who were born in England, George Young hailed from Scotland, Harry Vanda and Dick Diamonde were Dutch born. In the early 1960's the families of the five members emigrated from Europe to Australia.
The band was formed in Sydney in late 1964 and held their first performances at a venue called the Beatle Village, which was located in the Courthouse Hotel’s basement. The band rapidly became on of the highly popular bands in Sydney. Then the band acquired a manager by the name of Mike Vaughan, who signed them to a contract with Albert Productions, a music publishing company. Albert Productions then signed the band to a recording contract with the Parlophone label.
The band recorded several songs at that first session. "For My Woman” was selected as
their first single. It received airplay in Sydney, and managed to become a minor hit,
reaching No. 33 on the charts. Their next single, "She's So Fine", achieved better
commercial success, reaching No. 3 on the Australian charts and propelled them onto
national stardom. Their performances were routinely met with fan hysteria similar to
"Beatlemania", which the Australian press referred to the hysteria as "Easyfever".
The follow-up single, "Wedding Ring", was released on August 26th 1965, and also
became a hit, reaching No. 7. On September 23rd 1965, the first album, “Easy” was
released. It was one of the earliest albums, which contained all original compositions
written by an Australian group. The band’s members wrote all songs, with eight of the
fourteen songs co written by the band’s vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George
Young. The next single titled “ Sad and Lonely and Blue” did not make it in to the top
ten, stalling at number 21. The band’s second album “It’s 2 Easy” did include two
singles “Women “ that reached number four and “Come and See Her” that climbed to
number 3 on the Australian charts. Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all fourteen
songs on the second album.
In early 1966 the Easybeats manager Mike Vaughan, traveled to New York City hoping
to obtain a US recording contract. He was able to overcome United Artists Records
label’s lack of interest and got the band signed to the record label. Prior to moving to
London in July 1966, the band recorded a farewell television show titled “The
Easybeats”. In August an extended play disc typically referred to as an EP, was released
which contained songs the band had recorded prior to leaving Australia. The disc titled
“Easyfever” climbed to number one on the Australian charts. In November the album
“ Volume Three” was released and also climbed to the top on the charts. Wright and
Young also wrote all thirteen songs on the album.
After relocating to London, several songs were recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road studios
with producer Ted Albert. However, United Artists Records did not find any of the
recordings suitable and replaced Albert with freelance producer Shel Talmy. The band
auditioned several compositions, but the song that got Talmy’s attention was “Friday on
My Mind”. In September, The Easybeats recorded the song with Talmy at the IBC
Studios. The single was released on October 1966 and climbed to number six on the UK
charts, becoming the band’s first international hit. “Friday on My Mind” made it onto the
charts of several countries. In Australia it was number one, in Canada it peaked at
number thirteen, in the US it charted at number sixteen, and in Germany it made it into
the top ten. The single went on to sell over one million copies internationally and was
awarded a gold disc.
The next single “Who’ll Be The One” released by United Artists Records in March 1967,
failed make it on to the UK charts. In Australia however it charted at number fourteen.
Interestingly, the band was opposed to releasing the single, believing it was not a good
enough follow up to “Friday on My Mind”. Later in March they performed along with
The Rolling Stones on a European tour.
In May United Artists released the band’s first album titled “ Good Friday”. Interestingly
in the US, it was released as “Friday on My Mind”. Later in the month, The Easybeats
returned to Australia to perform on a nationwide tour. Once the tour ended, drummer
Snowy Fleet made the decision to leave the band. Since Fleet was married and had
children, he felt that he was spending too much time away from his family. The band
returned to the UK and resumed recording with session drummer Freddie Smith. The next single “Heaven And Hell” was released in June and like the previous single “Who’ll Be The One” it also failed to make it on to the UK charts. However in Australia reached
number eight. In the UK the BBC banned the single and in the US a censored version
titled “Heaven” with modified lyrics was released.
After holding several auditions for a replacement drummer, Tony Cahill joined The
Easybeats. In August they toured in the US along with headline performer Gene Pitney.
While in the US they recorded their next single "Falling Off the Edge of the World",
which achieved some air play, but it failed to chart. Upon returning to London they
resumed recording and released their next single, which was not a big hit.
In March 1968 "Hello, How Are You" was released and reached number twenty on the
UK charts. In May the second album “Vigil” was released. In the US it was released with
a title change to “Falling Off The Edge of the World”. Two singles were released “Land
of Make Believe” and “Good Times” which only charted in Australia. By late 1968,
problems were beginning to show up which included drug use and the increasing
independence of Vanda and Young in producing and recording their own material.
By 1969 the band left the United Artists label and Albert Productions then signed with
Polydor Records. In April the band recorded their first single for Polydor and released
“St. Louis” in June. In Australia it climbed to number twenty-one, but did not chart in the
UK. In September the band performed for a brief European tour. In an effort to reduce
increasing financial debts, the band accepted an offer to perform for a five week
Australian tour. Unfortunately, the tour was less than spectacular, partly due to being
booked in smaller venues such as dance halls and small clubs.
In October the band appeared at the Amoco Centre in Orange, New South Wales.
However, the performance was cancelled after twenty minuets due to hostility by
members of the audience. This was to be The Easybeats final performance, and the band members went their separate ways.
After the breakup, Vanda and Young returned to the UK for three years, concentrating on eliminating the debts that had accrued during the Easybeats’ time in the limelight. In
1973 they both returned to Australia and reconnected with Ted Albert and became
producers for Ted’s new Albert Productions record label. Vanda and Young wrote and
produced major hits for several other artists, which included “Love Is in the Air” for John
Paul Young and “Yesterday’s Hero” for The Bay City Rollers. They also produced the
first six albums for AC/DC. The band’s guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young were the
younger brothers of George Young.
Stevie Wright became a cast member of the Australian production of Jesus Christ
Superstar from 1972 –1973. He then embarked on a brief successful solo career with a
1974 hit “Evie” and an album titled “Hard Road” which was produced and written by
Vanda and Young.
The Easybeats original drummer Gordon Fleet went on to become a successful builder in the city of Perth, Western Australia and later operated a rehearsal studio in Jandakol,
Western Australia. Tony Cahill, Fleet’s replacement remained in the UK for a time then
moved to the US and toured with King Harvest.
In November 1986 the original members reunited for an Australian tour, which was well
received. By 1998 Vanda and Young resumed producing AC/DC’s album “Blow Up
Your Video”. In 2000, Young produced the AC/DC album “Stiff Upper Lip”.
Due to health issues Stevie Wright only appeared for a small number of performances in the 2000's. Then on July 2005, The Easybeats were inducted into the Australian
Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame.
Tony Cahill died in Sydney from a brain tumor on August 13th, 2014. The following year
Stevie Wright died in New South Wales on December 26 th. Two years later George
Young passed away on October 22nd.
This has been a look back at one of Australia’s most popular bands to achieve success in
the UK, US and Europe. The Easybeats ……From Down Under