Post 561 - Greg Anderson - Greg Anderson LP

Greg Anderson born in Melbourne, on the 12th Oct. 1950, was a "one-hit wonder" in terms of pop chart success, but he was born into show business and he has been performing for most of his life. His parents had a whip-cracking act, and at fifteen months old the infant Greg was appearing with them on tour in England at venues like the London Palladium, and he regularly appeared with them as he grew up. At seven he took part in the Moomba Rodeo Festival as a trick rider and by the time he was ten years old Greg was appearing on major television shows and performing his own stage show for Coca Cola, which travelled throughout his home state of Victoria, after which he joined Channel Nine's "Tarax Show", where he performed weekly. At 15, Greg gained national recognition by reaching the Grand Final of the prestigious television talent quest Showcase, which led to him being represented by top management agency NLT. By the mid-Sixties the multi-talented youngster -- who sang, danced and played guitar, piano and drums -- was a regular on the Melbourne pop circuit, making TV appearances and undertaking country tours. Some of his TV appearances were on the pop show Kommotion, and he recorded his first two singles for the short-lived Kommotion label. Greg's debut single (Feb. 1966) is of particular interest to Bee Gees fanatics because it features uncredited backing by The Vince Maloney Sect (who also released one single of their own on Kommotion). The A-side of the single is a pounding cover of "I Feel Good"; this was not the James Brown classic, but a song written by the great Allen Toussaint under the pseudonym 'Naomi Neville'. By 1970, Greg's music had taken a new direction and he had begun writing his own material. That year he was one of the Australian performers chosen to represent Australia at Expo '70 in Osaka. Later that year he scored his only national hit, the title track for the telemovie “No Roses For Michael”, one of the first local screen productions to address the rising problem of heroin addiction among young Australians. “No Roses For Michael" (Festival, 1970), written by Greg and produced by Pat Aulton, gained a lot of airplay in late 1970 peaked at #21 at the end of October. It was followed by a self-titled album “Greg Anderson” (L 25053) for Festival Records here for you to download. Greg recorded three more singles for Festival, one in 1971 and two in 1972, but evidently none of these made any impression on the charts. A curious feature of all three is that the A-side of his Dec. 1971 single, "It's Over", was evidently recycled as the B-side of both subsequent singles. mp3