Johnny Young dies: Tina Arena’s final tribute to her music mentor and Aussie entertainment legend
The legendary music personality who nurtured and protected a generation of new Australian talent, has died at 79.
Johnny Young, the legendary music personality who nurtured and protected a generation of new Australian talent, has died at 79.
Young’s family confirmed his death in a statement on Friday, saying he had a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
“Johnny was the creator, host and producer of the much-loved television show Young Talent Time,” the statement said.
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“He wrote and produced many iconic hit songs, including The Real Thing and Smiley.”
The presenter was a fixture on Australian television screens with his much-loved program, which ran from 1971 to 1988 in its original run.
The show introduced now-famous Tina Arena, Dannii Minogue, Jamie Redfern and Debra Byrne to the public among its 40 cast members.
Arena paid tribute to her mentor in her doco Unravel Me, which was released this week
“He was like my second dad,” Arena, pictured on Young’s right, says in the film, crediting Young for her success and shielding her in the ruthless entertainment industry.
“He wanted me to be as protected as I possibly could,” she told The Age recently.
“There were times when he said, ‘Be careful, I don’t like that person’ — and he was right. He taught me about discernment as a very little girl. I wasn’t able to intellectualise the term back then, but it became much clearer down the track.”
In a statement on Friday Arena hailed the “profound loss of a man who allowed, and equally encouraged, me to find my voice,”
“Just know that you leave behind a beautiful legacy that we will continue to uphold because you deserve that, and much more.”
Simon Santi The West Australian Credit: Simon Santi/The West Australian
The success of Young Talent Time had the effect of obscuring Young’s own significant contribution as a recording artist.
Most notably, as a songwriter, he wrote The Real Thing for his friend Ronnie Burns in 1968 — until producer Molly Meldrum heard it and insisted Young give it to his client Russell Morris instead.
The seven-minute psychedelic epic, written as a reaction to a Coca-Cola jingle, became an Australian standard, added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds of Australia registry in 2013.
“He was a success at everything he set his mind to — a force of nature,” Morris posted on Friday. “He and I spent many years working together, and socialising; many laughs and achievements — it was a great ride. He will be remembered as a great talent, and a great person.”
Young was born in the Netherlands as Johnny Benjamin Arthur de Jong on March 12, 1947 before moving to Perth as a child and launching his pop career. By 18 he was hosting a television show in Perth, Club Seventeen, while putting together his own bands, Johnny Young and the Strangers and Johnny Young and Kompany.
With Kompany, he toured with the Easybeats in 1966. After splitting as a solo artist the following year, he supported the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Walker Brothers and the Yardbirds.
His biggest hit was a cover of the Beatles’ All My Loving, which reached No. 4 nationally.
A self-penned song, The Star, was a hit for Ross D. Wyllie before being covered by Herman’s Hermits as Here Comes the Star.
In the meantime, his television career continued to flourish. He began hosting The Go!! Show in 1967 after the resignation of Ian Turpie, winning his first Logie award as best teenage personality. When the show was axed, he moved to London, sharing an apartment with the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, who encouraged his songwriting.
After returning to Australia, he concentrated on writing for other singers.
Smiley, written for Burns, was about their friend Normie Rowe’s conscription for the Vietnam War.
Another song, I Thank You, was a No. 1 hit for boxer Lionel Rose in March 1970.
Young was inducted into the TV Week Logies Hall of Fame and the ARIA Hall of Fame during his lengthy career — the first artist to be inducted into both.
“I’d spent 25 years working every day of my life. I couldn’t go on being cheery, smiley Johnny Young,” Young said of Young Talent’s Time’s demise.
He later mused: “I don’t have the voice of John Farnham, I can’t dance like David Atkins and I don’t have the comedy talents of Daryl Somers, but I have something else that works for me. I like myself.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Young “gave Australia the gift of joy”.
“A wonderful singer in his own right, he established himself in our homes and our hearts as the genial and generous host of Young Talent Time, the launch pad for an incredible new generation of entertainers. How lucky we were to have him,” the PM said,
Young, who was married three times, leaves behind his wife Marisha, sister Cornelia, daughters Anna and Fleur, son Craig (deceased), seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
