Harry Vanda and George Young are without question one of the most successful writer-producer teams of our time, ranking alongside great names like Lieber & Stoller. Since the mid-Sixties they have written, performed and/or produced more hit singles and albums than anyone else in Australian music. Through their work as writer-performers in The Easybeats, and then as writers and staff producers for Albert Productions in the Seventies and beyond, they have been one of the major forces in Australian popular music for almost forty years. 

Their stellar career began in 1964 with the meteoric rise of the now-legendary Sydney-based pop group The Easybeats. Netherlands-born Harry and Scottish-born George met and became lifelong friends in early 1964 when their families were residents at Sydney's Villawood Migrant Hostel. Inspired by The Beatles and other 'beat' groups emerging from the UK, they formed The Easybeats at Villawood with bassist Dick Diamonde, Liverpool-born drummer Snowy Fleet and London-born singer Stevie Wright.

From their first single George showed himself to be a gifted and inventive writer and arranger, with a near-flawless ability to craft hit pop material. Harry was already an accomplished guitarist, but was still learning English when he joined the band, so the lyrics for all the early hits were co-written by George and Stevie Wright. 

The Easybeats shot to the top of the Australian charts during 1965, beginning a run eight consecutive Top Ten singles; by 1966 they were the biggest band in Australia. By this time Harry had become sufficiently fluent in English to begin writing lyrics, and by the time they arrived in the UK at the end of that year, Harry and George had formed an indivisible writing and production unit that endured for the next four decades. They co-wrote their classic Friday On My Mind, which was an international hit in 1967. Between them, the pair could also play most standard rock instruments and many of the demos they made in the late 60s were produced and performed entirely by them. 

Their first known production (credited to The Easybeats) was Johnny Young's breakthrough 1966 single Step Back / Cara-Lynn, for which they also wrote the A-side. However, until the end of 1967 all the Easybeats' material was produced by other people. All their Australian releases in 1965-66 were produced by Ted Albert, with Tony Geary. The first few UK singles including Friday were produced by Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks) and the Vigil LP and the aborted Good Times album were produced by Glyn Johns. But by the time they released their ska-influenced single The Music Goes Round My Head in November 1967 Harry and George had taken over as producers and they produced all the Easybeats' material from that point on, except for their last single, St Louis, which was produced by Ray Singer.

After the band split at the end of '69, Harry and George returned to England where they worked freelance, producing, writing and recording under a variety of pseudonyms. They eventually returned to Australia in late 1973, enticed back by their former producer Ted Albert. They established themsleves in partnership with Ted as the in-house writer-producers for Albert Productions. Their first project was the album Tales of Old Grandaddy , credited to the Marcus Hook Roll Band. to oversee the relaunch of Stevie Wright's solo career. They wrote and produced the massively successful Evie Pts 1, 2 & 3, Stevie's acclaimed 'comeback' LP Hard Road and the follow-up Black Eyed Bruiser. 

Operating from their inner sanctum at Albert Studios in central Sydney, with house engineer Bruce Brown, they became the dominant force in Australian popular music for the next five years. They produced and/or wrote a string of classic rock and pop albums and singles for John Paul Young, Bobbi Marchini, Ray Burgess, Allison McCallum, William Shakespeare, Cheetah, Rose Tattoo, The Angels. They also produced the first six albums for AC/DC. They also had considerable commercial success and critical acclaim in their own right in the late '70s and into the '80s, recording under the pseudonym Flash & The Pan. 

1967

Johnny Young
Step Back / Cara-Lynn

The Easybeats
The Music Goes Round My Head / Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia
(single, Nov.) 

1968

The Easybeats 
Falling Off The Edge Of The World / Hello, How Are You?
(single) 
Lay Me Down And Die / See Line Woman (single, Nov.) 

1969

1970

The Easybeats 
Friends / Rock And Roll Boogie (single) 

Paintbox 
Get Ready for Love / Can I Get to Know You
[Youngblood YB 1013] 
*UK pseudonym single 

Tramp 
Vietnam Rose / Each Day
[Youngblood, YB 1014] 
*UK pseudonym single

1971

Grapefruit 
Sha-Sha / Universal Party
[Deram, DM 343] 
This UK band included George's older brother Alex. V&Y produced and contributed backing vocals. It was released as Grapefruit, although the group had split in 1969. 

Haffy's Whiskey Sour 
Shot in the Head (vocals by Harry) / Bye Bye Bluebird
[Deram DM 345] 
*UK pseudonym single, Nov. 1971 

Vanda & Young 
Lazy River / Free and Easy
[Albert Productions/EMI, AP-9710, Nov. 1971) 

1972

Moondance 
Lazy River / Anna St. Claire
[AMS 792] 
*UK pseudonym single 

Band of Hope 
Working Class People / Stay On My Side
[Decca(?), unreleased] 
*UK pseudonym single 

Marcus Hook Roll Band 
Natural Man / Boogalooing Is for Wooing
[Regal Zonophone RZ 3061, 8/8/72] 
*UK pseudonym single 

1973

Marcus Hook Roll Band 
Louisiana Lady / Hoochie Coochie Har Kau [Regal Zonophone RZ 3072, 3/72] 
*UK pseudonym single 

1974

AC/DC
Can I Sit Next To You Girl? / Rockin In The Parlour

Jackie Christian and Flight 
Love / 

Marcus Hook Roll Band 
Can't Stand the Heat / Moonshine Blues [EMI 2119, 4/3/74] 
*UK pseudonym single 

Marcus Hook Roll Band 
Tales of Old Grand-Daddy (EMI EMA-2518, Mar. 1974) 
*Australian pseudonym LP; generally believed to be the first commercial recordings made by Malcolm and Angus Young, who had just formed AC/DC. 

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (LP)

John Paul Young
Bad Trip / It's Only Love (single, Mar. '74)

Stevie Wright
Hard Road [Albert APL-005] 
LP, May 1974; Vanda and Young also wrote five tracks 

1975

AC/DC 
Love Song (Oh Jene) / Baby Please Don't Go (Mar 75) 
High Voltage / Soul Stripper (Jun 75) 
It's A Long Way To The Top / Can I Sit Next To You Girl (Dec '75) 
High Voltage Albert/EMI APLP 009 (Feb 75) 

Stevie Wright
Blackeyed Bruiser [Albert, ALPA-012] 
LP, May 1975; Vanda and Young wrote seven of the nine tracks. 

John Paul Young 
Yesterday's Hero/The Next Time (single, Mar. '75) 
Hero (LP, Mar. '75) 
The Love Game / St Louis (single, Aug. '75) 

Jonas Warstad
Vanda-Young Discography
http://www.algonet.se/~jonwar/vanda-young-index.html