ALAN "OLLY" OLOMAN

Australian musician, songwriter and audio engineer Alan "Olly" Oloman died in Sydney on 9 August  after a long illness. 

Alan started his music career as the singer and lead guitarist with legendary Lithgow band The Black Diamonds and wrote most of their material. The band had a large set-list that consisted almost entirely of originals, but sadly only three tracks were ever commercially recorded -- the two sides of their classic debut single "See The Way" / "I Want, Need Love You" (Festival, 1966) and the A-side of their second single "Not This Time" (Festival, 1967). They were reported to be the first pop band from country NSW to score a recording contract without having relocated to Sydney first.

The Black Diamonds played extensively around the NSW central west, and they were hailed by The Easybeats as the best support act they ever worked with. They eventually relocated to Sydney in the late Sixties, where their next recording was a version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", released under the pseudonym Love Machine. After a name change to Tymepiece, the group released three singles and one superb self-titled progressive album (Infinity, 1971)  before splitting up. 

Alan subsequently joined a later lineup of The Executives as bassist. He spent many years at EMI's Studio 301 in Sydney working on film, TV and radio projects under studio manager Martin Benge, who went on to head Abbey Rd Studios in London. Alan played in the groups Ayre and Stax in the 1980s and set up his own studio in his hometown of Lithgow.