Johnny O'Keefe
Johnny O'Keefe produced more Top 40 hits than any
other Australian recording artist. He had a total of 29 hits spanning
1958 - 1974, five Number One's and another eight in the Top 10. He
also released more records than any other Australian rock artist - 53
singles, 52 EPs and 65 albums (he appeared on 111 LPs all together).
O'Keefe made his stage debut at the age of four when
he played the role of Dopey in the Waverley College production of Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs. John was unable to read or memorize
the script and so improvised his way through the entire play.
In January 1957, Johnny O'Keefe formed his backing
group The Deejays and together they became Australia's first genuine
professional rock act. Never short of confidence, Johnny bluffed
his way to his first recording contract with Festival Records. Out of
frustration at not being signed, Johnny began telling people he had
signed with the label and 'leaked' the story to Valda Marshall, a
columnist at the Sydney Sun Herald.
Ken Taylor of Festival Records read the story and
tauntingly telephoned Johnny 'congratulating' him on supposedly being
signed to the label. The conversation did lead to an audition and
Johnny was eventually signed to Festival, and became the first
Australian to make the local charts in March 1958, with Wild One.
 O'Keefe's
second single, Love Letters In The Sand, was so bad that he had
Festival delete it from their catalogue, and for many years denied its
existence. The disc became a collector's item selling for hundreds of
dollars.
On June 27th, 1960, Johnny's red Plymouth Belvedere
collided head on with a truck on the highway near Kempsey. His car was
virtually demolished and at first it was feared Johnny's injuries
would be fatal. He eventually made it out of hospital in just over two
weeks.
In January 1960, O'Keefe hit Number One with She's
My Baby, and the following year I'm Counting On You became
the biggest selling single of 1961. Also in 1961, John wound up in a
Tooting Bec (London) mental asylum after an abortive American tour.
Johnny O'Keefe died on October 5th, 1978. His last
public appearance was on the Seven Network's Sounds program
taped on September 30th.
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