 Ted Mulry Gang
When the Ted Mulry gang formed in 1972, Mulry was already a well-known pop balladeer.
His backing band was drawn from the remnants of suburban dance band The Velvet Underground. (The band claimed complete ignorance of the famed
US band of the same name). Between 1974 and 1980, the band racked up seven best-selling albums of good-time pop
'n' boogie. During that time the band also undertook some of the most extensive national tours ever by an Australian band. Even when the
band's hits dried up during the 1980s the Ted Mulry Gang machine rolled on with regular tours of the pub circuit. The Ted Mulry Gang issued their debut album, Here We Are, on the Alberts label in November 1974.  The album originally sold only moderately until 1975 when Alberts released Jump In My Car as a single. A month later it had shot to number one on the national chart. By 1976, the band were rubbing shoulders with the likes of
Sherbet, Skyhooks,
Hush and Ol' 55 as darlings of the Australian pop scene. That year they issued not one, but two best-selling albums;
Struttin' and Steppin' Out, plus three hit singles; Darktown Strutters Ball (a remake of the 60 year old song), Crazy and
Steppin' Out. Jamaican Rum provided the band with their 5th consecutive hit. In April 1977 the band left Alberts and signed to the Mushroom label, changing their name from the Ted Mulry Gang to plain TMG and issuing a new album The TMG Album which produced two hit singles, My Little Girl and Naturally. Their 1978 release, Disturbing the Peace included the singles Lazy Eyes, Heart of Stone and (You've Got) The Devil In You. In April the band set off on a three month tour (supported by
Feather) and at the end of 1978 signed an American deal with
Atlantic.  Their records were also released in New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, New Guinea and South East Asia. The TMG Live album featured one of the
band's stage favourites, a ribald version of the bawdy Dinah.
("Dinah Dinah show us yer leg, a yard above your knee"). The Locked In album included three singles, Save Me, Can't Take It All and Captured but none were successful. Thus ended
TMG's love affair with the pop charts, but their place in Oz music history was assured. A reunion album (called oddly enough Re-Union) produced the single Old Habits In February 2001 Ted Mulry revealed he was suffering from brain cancer. He passed away on 1 September 2001, just one day short of his 50th birthday. Go well, Ted. 
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