Rolf Harris
Rolf was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Welsh parents in
1930. At the age of 15 he won the Junior Backstroke Swimming
Championship of Australia. He moved to England aged 22 as an art
student and found work as a TV cartoonist, storyteller and artist
who, in 1956, had his work exhibited at the Royal Academy.
But when Rolf was homesick he became a regular at the Down
Under Club in London, where he began singing, playing his piano
accordion and wobbling a warped Masonite board to create strange
noises.
Rolf's 1960 single Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport made
Number One on the Australian charts, Number Nine in the UK, and
peaked at Number Three in the USA. His original version was first
recorded in his bathroom with a tiny tape recorder.
Originally entitled Kangalypso, it was Rolf's tribute
to Harry Belafonte, whose hit Hold 'Em Down included the
lines "Don't tie me donkey down there, let him bray, let
him bray". Rolf turned the donkey into a kangaroo and
created an Australian calypso which became a worldwide hit
and was covered by an American artist called Arthur 'Guitar
Boogie' Smith under the title Tie My Hunting Dog Down,
Jed .
In October1962 Rolf released the single Sun Arise - apparently
the record which persuaded Leo Sayer he wanted to enter
showbiz, and which was (bizarrely) covered later by Alice Cooper.
In 1970, his single Two Little Boys became one of
the fastest selling singles in English music history, having
notched up sales of more than one million in just 15 weeks. If the
record seemed inescapable, it's because it stayed in the charts
for 24 weeks.
Luckily Rolf had no ambition to be a hit machine, contenting
himself with popping up in surprising places, like Kate Bush's
experimental LP, The Dreaming. He was also a pal of four
up-and-coming lads from Liverpool, via their shared producer,
George Martin - although they didn't invite him to guest on their
experimental LP Sgt Pepper!
Although his music was frequently laughed at or ignored, Harris
retained a frightening ability to persuade Brits to buy
Stylophones, didgeridoos or wobble boards (55,000 sold after his
first hit in 1960).
In the 1990s, Rolf enjoyed an unexpected new lease of life
thanks largely to his bizarre (but brilliant) cover version
of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, even
playing at the famed Glastonbury Festival twice.
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