Molly Meldrum
Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent coordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular music program Countdown and is widely recognised for his trademark Stetson hat, which he has regularly worn in public since the 1980s.
Meldrum has featured on the Australian music scene since the mid-1960s, first with his writing for Go-Set, a weekly teen newspaper, then during his tenure with Countdown and subsequent media contributions. As a record producer he worked on top ten hits for Russell Morris, Ronnie Burns, Colleen Hewett, Supernaut and The Ferrets.
Meldrum hosted Oz for Africa in July 1985, the Australian leg of Live Aid. In January of the following year he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, with the citation for "service to the fostering of international relief and to youth". Meldrum has earned a reputation as a champion of Australian popular music both in Australia and internationally; his contributions have been acknowledged with an Australian Recording Industry Association Award for Special Achievement in 1993, and the "Ted Albert Award" in 1994 at the Australasian Performing Right Association Awards. Music journalists, Toby Creswell and Samantha Chenoweth describe him as "the single most important person in the Australian pop industry for forty years" in their 2006 book, 1001 Australians You Should Know. In 2014, Meldrum was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, together with his TV show Countdown; he became the first non-artist to receive the accolade. Earlier that year he published his autobiography, The Never, Um... Ever Ending Story: Life, Countdown and Everything in Between.
On 15 December 2011, Meldrum had a life-threatening fall from a ladder in the backyard of his Melbourne home. He was placed under intensive care in a critical condition at the Alfred Hospital and had surgery for his head and spinal injuries. By April 2012 he had recovered enough to give interviews and resume work duties.
Early life
Ian Alexander Meldrum was born in Orbost, Victoria, on 29 January 1943. His father was Robert Meldrum, a farmer from Caniambo and then a World War II army sergeant —who served with the A.I.F. in Port Moresby—and his mother was Isobel Elizabeth from Orbost. The couple married on 17 August 1940, two months after Robert's enlistment. Meldrum's younger brothers are Brian and Robert.Meldrum moved around during childhood and grew up largely with one of his grandmothers in Quambatook, where he attended the local primary school alongside future country music artist John Williamson. He also stayed with a number of aunts and was raised in the traditions of the Church of England. He developed a musical interest in Gilbert & Sullivan and Verdi. Meldrum's father later ran a hardware store in Kyabram. His mother had periodic hospitalisations for mental illness including some years at Larundel Mental Asylum, Bundoora in the mid-1960s. In the early 1960s Meldrum arrived in Melbourne where he briefly attended Taylors College. Initially intending to become a disc jockey he studied at a radio school. He would go to University of Melbourne without formally enrolling, carrying law books, to eat lunch with the law students: "I hung around, I wouldn't even say I got into a course."
Soon after, he had moved in with the family of his close friend, Ronnie Burns, who became a pop star: first as a member of The Flies and then as a solo artist. Meldrum had followed Burns to the latter's home and asked, "Is there any chance I could come and live with you and your family?" What had started as a two-week stay with the Burns family became nine years. During The Beatles' tour of Australia in June 1964, Meldrum was captured by TV cameras climbing atop the bonnet of their car shortly after arrival at Melbourne airport. Later, he and Burns were ejected from The Beatles' Melbourne concert for being "too enthusiastic".
While on a surfing holiday at a Victorian coastal resort in Lorne in 1964, Meldrum befriended Lynne Randell, who became a pop star in the mid-1960s and later worked as Meldrum's personal assistant in the 1980s. Also in 1964, Meldrum began his music career as a roadie for his friends' band, The Groop, which had early performances in Anglesea.
''Go-Set'' years: 1966–1974
Go-Set was a weekly pop music newspaper started in February 1966 by Phillip Frazer, Tony Schauble, and their Monash University friends. Meldrum started writing for the paper in July that year after befriending its editor, Frazer. Frazer said "As I recall it, Ian was sweeping the floor... I said to , 'Who's this guy? Where'd he come from?' and Tony said, 'I dunno, he just came in and wanted to do something.'" Meldrum's first story was on Burns, "Ronnie Meets the Barrett Brothers". His first printed interview was with Johnny Young, a singer-songwriter from Perth. Soon Meldrum was writing a weekly gossip column and regular feature stories. He continued until the paper folded in August 1974. By social networking and building a list of industry contacts, Meldrum was able to cover many facets of the local scene; his gossip columns informed not only general readers but also other musicians and, according to Frazer, they were the major reason people continued reading Go-Set.Meldrum's writing style was "freeform ramblings, always in the first person, and nearly always concerning aspects of the music scene with which he had been involved." It was during this period that Meldrum was given his nickname, Molly, by his friend and fellow Go-Set writer Stan Rofe, a Melbourne radio DJ. Rofe's writing style was more analytical; he "praised or criticised an aspect of the music industry, and press Australian musicians to perform better. was also critical of Meldrum's performance as a 'journalist', often questioning his integrity and music values." The nickname, Molly, first appeared in print in 1968 in Rofe's column. While working for Go-Set, Meldrum became editor and compiler of its monthly offshoot, Gas, which was aimed at younger teen girls. It was first published in October 1968 and its last issue was in March 1971.
The Groop had landed a recording deal with CBS Records. Meldrum followed them to Melbourne's Armstrong Studios, in late 1966, to observe the recording process. He learned record producer and engineering techniques from studio owner, Bill Armstrong, and in house engineer-producer, Roger Savage. Meldrum became involved with a number of artists' releases, including The Masters Apprentices' August 1967 single, "Living in a Child's Dream". Their lead singer, Jim Keays, recalled that Meldrum "had quite an influence on the eventual outcome" as the unlisted assistant engineer. He produced Somebody's Image's first three singles, "Heat Wave", "Hush" and "Hide and Seek". Their best performed single, "Hush", which peaked at No. 14 on the Go-Set National Top 40, was a cover version of Billy Joe Royal's track from earlier in 1967. Besides producing, he was also Somebody's Image's manager from early 1967 and formed a friendship with lead singer, Russell Morris.
Kommotion was a teen-oriented daily TV pop music show, which had premiered in December 1964 on ATV-0, later Channel Ten. It included local performers miming to the latest overseas hits and artists showcasing their own material. In August 1966 its then-producer, David Joseph, was fired and most of the cast walked out in support. Al Maricic replaced Joseph and Meldrum reported the change-over for Go-Set. Maricic asked Meldrum to join the show: originally he declined but was convinced otherwise by Frazer, who reasoned that it would be good for their circulation. Episodes of Kommotion were directed by Rob Weekes.
Meldrum's repertoire included miming to Peter and Gordon's "Lady Godiva", The New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral" and George Formby's "Why Don't Women Like Me?". Fellow mimers included Grant Rule, Denise Drysdale and Maggie Stewart—who later married Burns. Meldrum's stint with Kommotion ended in January 1967 after Actors Equity banned the practice of miming other artists' work. He moved on to another ATV-0 music show, Uptight, hosted by Ross D. Wyllie, which was broadcast for four hours on Saturday mornings with live bands and acts miming their own material.
From January 1968, Meldrum relocated to London, reporting in Go-Set on The Groop's efforts to break into the United Kingdom market; he also wrote about the English rock music scene. While there, Meldrum extended his networking to international contacts, including meeting Apple Records executive, Terry Doran, who introduced him to his idols, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. His writing style in Go-Set developed a camp form. Meldrum returned to Australia to attend his mother's funeral in May.
In September, he became the manager and producer of Russell Morris after both had quit Somebody's Image. Meldrum produced Morris' first solo single, a Johnny Young-composed song, "The Real Thing". Young had written the song for Meldrum's friend Burns, but when Meldrum heard Young playing it backstage during a taping of the TV pop show Uptight, he determined to secure it for Morris, reportedly going to Young's home that night with a tape recorder and refusing to leave until Young had taped a demo version. In collaboration with Armstrong's house engineer John Sayers, Meldrum radically transformed "The Real Thing" from Young's original vision of a simple acoustic chamber ballad backed by strings, into a heavily produced studio masterpiece, extending it to an unheard-of six minutes in length and overdubbing the basic track with many additional instruments, vocals and sound effects. To achieve this, they used the services of his friends from The Groop as the backing band, with contributions from vocalist Maureen Elkner, The Groop's lead singer Ronnie Charles, guitarist Roger Hicks from Zoot, who played the song's distinctive acoustic guitar intro, and arranger John Farrar.
The single reputedly cost A$10,000—the most expensive ever made in Australia up to that time—and features one of the earliest uses of phasing on an Australian recording. "The Real Thing", which was released in March 1969, became a national number-one hit for Morris in mid-year. It is widely acknowledged as one of the finest Australian pop-rock recordings. In May 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association, as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "The Real Thing" as one of their Top 30 Australian songs of all time. Morris followed with a second number-one hit, "Part Three into Paper Walls", with Meldrum producing again. He now encouraged Morris to promote "The Real Thing" with a tour in the United States but Morris disagreed and they separated in late 1969.
Meldrum also produced several other hits, including Burns' top ten single, "Smiley", in December 1969, while continuing to write for Go-Set and a variety of magazines. Meldrum made his first of many visits to Egypt and by December had travelled on to UK. Through Terry Doran he began working for Apple Corps as a publicist, which enabled him to score a scoop interview with Lennon and Yoko Ono, in which Lennon first revealed publicly that The Beatles were breaking up. Meldrum left the UK in 1970 to travel to the USA, reporting on the Los Angeles and New York music scenes and further establishing his contacts.
After returning to Australia in late 1970, Meldrum continued writing for the music press, including Go-Set as well as venturing back onto TV as a music reporter on Happening '70, hosted by Wyllie, on ATV-0; then a short-lived TV children's show, Do It; followed by Anything Can Happen on Channel Seven where he met producer, Michael Shrimpton and reunited with Weekes from his Kommotion days. In October and November 1971, Elton John toured Australia for the first time and all concerts were exclusively reviewed by Go-Set—Meldrum had briefly met John in London and they formed an enduring friendship by the end of that tour. By September 1972 Meldrum was assistant editor for Go-Set working with its national editor, Ed Nimmervoll, who had started at the paper in 1967:
In 1972, Meldrum produced the soundtrack for Godspell – Original Australian Cast including the hit single, "Day by Day" for Colleen Hewett. He remained with Go-Set until its last issue on 24 August 1974. Most of his work was typed up by his then-secretary, Glenys Long, with Meldrum pacing the office as he dictated—sometimes typewriters were thrown or a person was shoved inside a filing cabinet. After Go-Set, Meldrum wrote columns for Listener-In TV and then TV Week as their rock music reporter.