John Howard "Johnny" Chester (born 26 December
1941) is an Australian singer-songwriter, who started his career in October
1959 singing rock'n'roll and in 1969 changed to country music.
John Howard Chester was born on 26 December 1941 and grew up
in Melbourne's suburb of Preston. Chester attended Bell Primary and followed
with Preston Technical School. At the age of 14-years-old he left school and
worked as a brake specialist for his father. He had learned to play the drums,
from the age of six, and guitar. In October 1959 Chester formed a band, The
Jaywoods, and organised dances at a West Preston church hall.
The Jaywoods' rehearsals were attracting a crowd to St.
Cecilia's Hall in West Preston, which turned into regular Saturday night
dance". By 1960 The Jaywoods became Johnny Chester and The Chessmen with
Chester on lead vocals. Chester was also backed by The Thunderbirds, which were
an instrumental group formed in 1957. Both backing bands maintained independent
careers, released their own material and backed other artists. In April 1961
Chester's first stadium performance was supporting Connie Francis and Johnny
Burnette.
One of Chester’s early fans was radio DJ, Stan Rofe, who
introduced him to the A&R manager of Melbourne’s W&G records. Chester
signed with the label and issued his debut single, "Hokey Pokey", in
May 1961 with backing by The Thunderbirds.
The track became a top 10 hit in Melbourne and a series of 9 more hit singles followed, establishing him as a teen idol, in Melbourne. He had also issued his debut album, Wild and Warm in 1963 and two extended plays, Johnny Chester's Hit Parade and My Blues and I, with W&G. In February that year he started hosting his own TV show, Teen Time on Ten, on a regional Gippsland channel.
He recorded further material for W&G on their sub-label,
In Records but none charted and by mid-1966 he parted with the W&G and The
Chessmen. He then formed the Johnny Chester Trio. As well as maintaining his
musical career, for eight years, Chester was a DJ on Melbourne's radio station,
3UZ. In May 1968 Chester formed a new backing band, Jigsaw who also had an independent career. His last pop
single, "Heaven Help the Man", appeared in 1968 on Astor Records. In
1969 his first two country music singles, "Green Green" and
"Highway 31", were issued on Phillips Records. Johnny Chester and
Jigsaw signed to Fable Records, owned by Tudor (ex-W&G Records).
In August 1970 Jigsaw, without Chester, had a number-one hit
with a cover version of United Kingdom group, Christie's "Yellow
River", it was co-credited with Sydney-based band Autumn which also
covered the track. With Chester, they had five hit singles on the Go-Set
National Top 40: "Gwen (Congratulations)" (No. 26, October 1971),
"Shame and Scandal" (No. 13, February 1972), "Midnight Bus"
(No. 25, December), "The World's Greatest Mum" (No. 9, August 1973)
and "She's My Kind of Woman" (No. 19, June 1974).
Chester has won Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards
of Australia for best selling track in 1975 In 1977 Chester toured nationally,
backed by the Blue Denim Country Band, and also compared Country Road for
ABC-TV. In 1979 he formed Hotspur and continued to issue country music singles
and albums into the 1980s.
From 1981 to 1983, at three successive Tamworth Country
Music Festivals, he won Male Vocalist of the Year. In 1994 he was awarded the
Songmaker of the Year Award from the Tamworth Songwriters Association.
In October 1964 Johnny Chester married Larraine
"Liz" Isbister, a stenographer. Liz had attended the same primary
school and their grandparents were neighbours. The couple had begun dating in
September 1959 – to the Royal Melbourne Show. As from October 2012 they have
three daughters, eight grandchildren and live in Rosebud. (Info edited from
Wikipedia)
1 comment:
For “Johnny Chester..The Rock and Roll Years 1961 – 1966” go here:
CD1
https://mega.nz/#!ZNEkFYjb!MInOwHtF-U2_3PNkz4_ENGADdQYMvVKsvgKQ7IBuApM
CD2
https://mega.nz/#!0ItH3bLC!A5DC6TshCTuoGzc7oZh2FlZUoHx8om5nuw7RBMUhFww
D1T1 (Let's Have A )Party (Live) 2:22
D1 T2 (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care 1:49
D1 T3 C'Mon Everybody 1:54
D1 T4 Shop Around 2:51
D1 T5 Over You 2:27
D1 T6 Miss Ann 2:10
D1 T7 Something's Got A Hold on Me 2:50
D1 T8 My Blues and I 2:33
D1 T9 Hey Little Girl (In The High School Sweater) 2:50
D1 T10 Johnny B. Goode 2:14
D1 T11 Blue Moon Of Kentucky 2:27
D1 T12 Summertime Blues 2:01
D1 T13 Shakin' All Over 2:42
D1 T14 Butterflies 2:24
D1 T15 Shy Away 2:12
D1 T16 What A Night 2:54
D1 T17 California Sun 2:19
D1 T18 Can Can Ladies 2:28
D1 T19 Hokey Pokey 2:00
D1 T20 Let's Dance 2:09
D1 T21 Do The Stomp 2:56
D1 T22 A Funny Little Feeling 2:31
D1 T23 Hey Little Baby 2:51
D1 T24 Nick Nack Paddy Wack 2:40
D1 T25 Teeny 2:25
D1 T26 Unless You Care 2:05
D1 T27 That's How It's Gonna Be 1:48
D1 T28 I Love Mary 2:13
D1 T29 When Will I Be Loved 1:53
D1 T30 Do You Love Me 2:25
D2 T1 Steppin' Out 2:08
D2 T2 Forty Days 3:10
D2 T3 The Old Copper Kettle 2:16
D2 T4 Bye Bye Johnny 2:05
D2 T5 My Babe 2:46
D2 T6 It'll Be Me 1:58
D2 T7 Milk Cow Blues 2:20
D2 T8 I Feel Good All Over 1:47
D2 T9 Lonely Weekends 1:48
D2 T10 Irene Goodnight 4:30
D2 T11 Unchained Melody 3:06
A big thank you to Marty @ http://theaussiemusicblog.blogspot.co.uk for the links.
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