JEFF PHILLIPS
Perth/Melbourne, 1960s-1970s
Adapted from the Wikipedia article
created by Terry Stacey
Jeff
Phillips gained national renown in the early Seventies as the host of
the 0-10 Network's weekly Saturday-morning pop show Happening '71 / Happening '72,
but
he also had parallel career as a popular singer and recording
artist. Although
not well-known for his songwriting, Jeff composed several songs that
appeared on his various singles, and although national chart success
eluded him
after his first hit in 1968, he had a remarkably long recording
career, with nineteen singles issued on various
labels between 1968 and 1981.
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Jeff first came to
public attention in his home state when he took over from Johnny Young as compere
of Perth TV pop show, Club 17 in 1966. After moving
to Melbourne ca. 1967,
he signed with the Festival
label for whom he recorded three singles, and he made appearances on TV
pop shows like Uptight.
Jeff's
only hit was his 1968 debut single, a cover version of The
Shirelles hit "Baby It's You", which charted wellin Melbourne
and in Brisbane, and made a single appearance at #34 on
the Go-Set
national Top 40 made the lower reaches of the Go-Set Top 40.
In 1970 Jeff was given his own shortlived ABC-TV pop
show, Sounds
Like Us, and he won the coveted George
Wallace Memorial Award for Best New Talent at the 1970 TV Week Logie Awards.
In 1971 he took over from Ross D. Wyllie as host of
the popular Saturday morning pop music show Happening '71 and
continued with
the show (which was renamed Happening
'72 the next year) until it was cancelled at the end of
1972.
Following Happening's demise he moved to
the UK where he was based for several years. During this time
he released a number of
singles, including a version of the John Paul Young, hit "Yesterday's
Hero" and became a regular act at
the famous Speakeasy Club. He then went on to achieve some success in
the
British variety field on TV Shows such as The Rolf
Harris Show and Seaside Special.
In the late 1970s Jeff re-located to Los
Angeles for a time. He returned to Australia in 1985 and
appeared in the Australian production of Cats with Debra
Byrne and on the Australian cast album. He then
moved into the club circuit. He was a minor but regular TVW Channel 7
personality, doing Cliff Richard material on the Tonight
show. Jeff made a comeback as a TV host in 1991 on the Ten
Network TV talent show Star
Search.
Discography
Singles
1968
(Festival FK-2657)
"Baby It's You" (M. David-B.
Williams-B. Bacharach) / "I Want To Meet Her" (Randazzo-Weinstein-Stollman)
Go-Set #34 (1 week), Melbourne #21, Brisbane
#11
1969 (Festival
FK-2864)
"Everything I touch turns to tears" (G.
Geld-P. Udell) / "I’m comin’ home
Cindy" (T. Lopez-P. Zeller)
1970 (Festival
FK-3574)
"Wrong or Right" / "I'm In Love With You"
1970
(Generation)
"I Want To Be Famous Like My Dad" / "A Love Of Your Kind"
1971
(Generation GE-003)
"Movement Of Love" / ?
1972 (Havoc)
"Gloria" / "Come Go With Me"
1973 (WWA)
"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" / "Billy Bullfrog"
1974 (United Artists)
"Shake A Hand" / "Watch My Baby Rock 'n Roll"
1975
"Yesterday's Hero" / "On The Road Again"
1976 (as
Jeff Phillips and Tigerwing)
"Superman (I Want To Make You Love Me)" / "The Other Side"
1976
"Crying In The Middle Of The Night" / ?
1977 (NEMS)
Here You Come Again / Lone Dancer -
1978 (RCA
Victor UK)
Jojo / I'll Be There
1977
Let Your Love Go / Saturday
1978 (RCA
UK)
Rock Me Slowly / Saturday
1979? (NEMS)
Somebody's Stolen My Thunder" / ?
1981 (Astor
A-7309) - as Jeff Philliips and Heaven
"L.A. Reggae" / "Just Another Pretty Face"
1981 (RCA)
"Desire" / "Sleep With The Angels"
EP
1968
(Festival FX-11585)
The Wonderful World of Jeff Phillips
"Baby It's You" / "I Want To Meet Her" //
"What a Wonderful World" / "By The Time I Get To Phoenix"
Video
Jeff Phillips on YouTube:
"Wonderful World" from Uptight,
1969
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLPYPK6Q5jM
"Everything I Touch Turns To Tears" (probably from Sounds Like Us,
ABC-TV, 1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIvv-HZSYpQ
References / Links
Wikipedia - Jeff Phillips
Ross Laird / Screensound
The
Sixties: Australian Rock & Pop Recordings 1964-1969
Vernon Joyson
Dreams, Fantasies & Nightmares: Australia
(Borderline Books, 1999)
Ian McFarlane
Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (Allen
& Unwin, 1999)
Noel McGrath
Australian Encyclopedia of Rock (Outback Press, 1978)
Chris Spencer,
Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry
Who's Who of Australian
Rock (Five Mile Press, 2002)
K-Tel Blogspot (includes
links for MP3 downloads of 20
Chartstoppers Vol. 1 and Vol.2)
http://kay-tel.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html