I just finished a novel by the great Australian writer Tim Winton and in it he references quite a bit of music. Last year we had an Australian family on work exchange living across the street. Of course I always struck up conversations about music and with their help discovered some early Australian rock and roll. This past week I noticed that one of the discoveries had passed away – rocker Johnny Rebb had died at 75. In the same article it also mentioned that Jim Leays of The Masters Apprentices had also passed away in June at the age of 67. Graeme “Shirley” Strachan
(2001) and Steve Hill (2005) both singers in Skyhooks are also gone. Billy Thorpe, although born in England grew up in Melbourne and Brisbane. He passed away in 2007. They all left their mark on not only Australian music, but internationally as well.
