Post 358 - Ronnie Burns - Changes / Mix Me Up Another Drink

Ronald Leslie Burns was born on the 8th of September in 1946. He fronted the Melbourne band The Flies in the early 1960s, followed by a solo career into the 1970s. Burns was raised in Melbourne, Victoria. His father was a butcher, his mother Edna was a fan of vaudeville and his brother Frank, who was five years older, was a drummer. In order to buy his first guitar for 10 shillings, Burns had part time jobs selling newspapers, working in a milk bar and in a fruit shop. He was fired from Myers for having long hair, however he had already joined the Mod band The Flies in early 1964. They won a Moomba band competition for a group most like The Beatles. Burns befriended Ian Meldrum, a university law student looking for somewhere to stay, whose two week visit became nine years of boarding at his parents' home. Meldrum later had a career as a pop music commentator, TV personality and record producer. The two were famously ejected from The Beatles' June 1964 Melbourne concert, because Meldrum was screaming too loudly. Meldrum later promoted Burns solo career in his writing for the weekly teen newspaper, Go-Set. In September 1965, Burns decided to leave The Flies to go solo – his place was taken by Peter Nicholl from The Wild Colonials. As a solo artist, Burns became one of Australia's most popular male pop singers from the mid 1960s to the early 1970s. His first single, "Very Last Day" was released in June 1966 on Spin Records. "Smiley", Burns' biggest hit, reached number two on the Go-Set National Top 40 in February 1970. It was written by Johnny Young. Here to download is Ronnie's 2nd last single, released on L&Y Records "Changes" b/w "Mix Me Up Another Drink" (K-5488) produced by Johnny Young in 1974. In the '90s Ronnie and family moved to Tasmania and for much of the decade he performed in the highly successful band Cotton, Morris & Burns, with old mates Darryl Cotton and Russell Morris. In 2000 Ronnie retired from live performance to concentrate on setting up an alternative lifestyles centre near his home in Tasmania, and his place in the trio was taken by former Masters Apprentices lead singer Jim Keays.