Jon English

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Jon English : biography

26 March 1949 –

1980s: International success and more

in April 1980, English released Calm Before the Storm which peaked at No.17 on the albums charts, with a single "Carmilla" peaking at No.27; this was followed by the less successful Inroads from January 1981 and singles "Hold Back the Night" and "Ask no Questions". Meanwhile, Against the Wind was shown on international TV stations in United Kingdom and other parts of Europe as Gegen den Wind in Mot alla vindar in Scandinavia. Success in Scandinavia included the soundtrack peaking at No.1 on the Norwegian Albums charts and two singles, "Mot alla vindar" and "Six Ribbons" both peaking at No.1 on the Norwegian Singles charts, all in 1981. English History, his compilation album also peaked at No.1, follow up albums Calm Before the Storm and Inroads both reached the Top Ten in Norway. In Sweden the soundtrack and the "Six Ribbons" single both peaked at No.4 on the relevant charts in 1980, later English History and "Hollywood Seven" reached the top twenty in their charts. During 1981, English toured UK and Scandinavia with Mario Millo (guitars, ex-Sebastian Hardie), (guitar), Jackie Orszaczky (bass; ex-Syrius, Bakery, Marcia Hines Band), Coz Russo (keyboards), Richard Gawned (tenor sax, flute; ex-Marcia Hines Band) and Nick Lister (drums; ex-Kush). The live double album, Beating the Boards was released in early 1982 with backing by the Foster Brothers containing John Coker (bass), John Dallimore (guitar, flute, vocals; ex-Redhouse), Peter Deacon (keyboards, vocals), Greg Henson (drums) and Keith Kerwin (guitar, vocals; ex-Southern Star Band). English teamed with former Superstar co-lead, Marcia Hines, to produce July 1982’s mini-album Jokers & Queens and its self-titled single, the album peaked at No.36 on the Australian albums charts and the single reached No.62 on the singles charts.

English took on the role of Pirate King for the first time in the 1984 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera Pirates of Penzance alongside June Bronhill and fellow actor/singer Simon Gallaher as Frederic. English estimates he has performed his favourite role of Pirate King over 1,000 times. He later took on other stage musicals, including Rasputin (1987) and Big River (1988), toured with various lineups of the Foster Brothers and released Some People (1983) produced by David Mackay, Dark Horses (1986) and The Busker (1988), with his best charting Australian single from these being "Some People (Have all the Fun)" which peaked at No.50 in 1983. During 1983–85, English won four Mo Awards with three consecutive ‘Entertainer of the Year’ awards and a further ‘Male Vocal Performer’ in 1985.

1990s: All Together Now

During 1990—93, English played the main role of Bobby Rivers in the TV sitcom All Together Now. His role of a faded one hit wonder rock star displayed his acting and comedy skills during 101 episodes. English returned to stage musicals to play roles in Simon Gallaher’s production company Essgee Entertainment’s trilogy of updated Gilbert and Sullivan works: Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (1994), Pooh-Bah in The Mikado (1995) and Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore (1997). A performance of each production was broadcast on Australian TV, then released on VHS video and later on DVD.

In 1995, Jon English, a portrait by artist Danelle Bergstrom, won the ‘Packing Room Prize’ in the Archibald Prize.

2000s

Aside from being a noted theatre, stage, television and rock music performer, English has written film and television scores/soundtracks and numerous songs – his writing credits include co-writing the ballet Phases with Roy Ritchie in 1974. Back in 1982, English wrote a song called "Oh, Paris", about the mythic hero Paris, Prince of Troy rather than the French capital, just to see how many people actually listened to the lyrics. His discussions with producer/composer David Mackay on Trojan War mythology led to the 1990 2CD release of Paris: A Love Story as a soundtrack recorded in London during 1989–90. The cast for the recording included: Australian actor Terence Donovan, the Angels singer Doc Neeson, John Waters, Philip Quast, Demis Roussos, David Atkins and Barry Humphries, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir. It sold 50,000 copies and won the 1991 ARIA Award for ‘Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording’ for English and Mackay. The musical Paris was first performed by both the Regals Musical Society Inc. (Sydney, Australia) and the Laycock Street Theatre (Gosford, NSW, Australia) with English assisting in the direction of the production and appearing as the Fisherman in one performance of the Gosford production.