Ray Charles Australian Tour 1964

-this is from the Telegraph September 1st 1964 Dates- Melbourne Festival Hall September 1st 1964 Brisbane Festival Hall September 3rd 1964 Sydney Stadium September 4th and 5th 1964

the Kingston Trio 1961 Australian tour

-this is from February 14th 1961 of the Telegraph Brisbane Brisbane Festival Hall February 16th 1961 Sydney Stadium February 17th and 18th Melbourne Festival Hall February 20th and 21st support acts- Howard Morrison Quartet John Daley Wilma Reading and the Bryce Rhode Quartet

The Everly Brothers/Sal Mineo/Tab Hunter 1959 Australian tour

The Big Show The Everly Brothers(Don and Phil) Sal Mineo Tab Hunter Col Joye and the Joy Boys Johnny Rebb and the Rebels The Delltones Johnny O'Keefe and the Dee Jays Johnny Devlin Princess Rora Promoter-Lee Gordon Melbourne Festival Hall May 28th Sydney Stadium Sydney May 29th and 30th Brisbane Festival Hall June 1st and 2nd This tour was the first for the Everly brothers who had successful hit records at the time like Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Suzie, All I have to is Dream, Bird Dog, Problems and others. Tab Hunter who had an big hit in 1957 with Young Love and had been in successful movies like Damn Yankees, The Sea Chase, the Girl He Left behind, Gunmmn's Walk etc. Sal Mineo had been in successful movies like Rebel Without A Cause, Somebody Up there Likes Me, Giant, Tonka etc and had 2 top 40 hits including Start Movin in 1957 and on this tour played drums. This was the first tour for the Delltones an Sydney group who was formed in 1958 which they had been performing around Sydney and had auditioned for Sydney Radio DJ Bob Rogers @ 2GB studios and phoned alan heffernan who worked with lee Gordon for the group to show their stuff and went to his office to perform their act which they were booked on the tour. This was the second tour for Col joye and the Joy Boys and was in the charts at this time with Bye Bye baby. This was the 4th Big Show tour for Johnny O'Keefe and the Dee Jays and had done an tour of New Zealand that was promoted by Harry M Miler. This was Johnny Devlin's first Australian tour as he was born in New Zealand and had been successful as he recorded on the Prestige label owned by Phil Warren as well as being the King of NZ rock and an NZ tour with his band the Devils caused great excitement among teenagers. Lee gordon invited Devlin to be on the tour as Devlin aimed to be successful in Australia and he became successful in Australia after this tour which he is still based here to this day. This was Johnny Rebb and the Rebel's second tour and princess rora's first tour as Lee Gordon had an soft spot for her as she had an support act in New Zealand for the Tommy Sands,the Platters and Frankie Avalon. The tour was an huge success which when they arrived in Sydney 200 teenage girls mobbed them @ Mascot airport which they were in an airline for more than half an hour which they gave autographs and photographs to the fans and on the afternoon of the first sydney show they appeared at Nicholson's store on George Street for an promotion which the crows went completely out of hans that caused the huge street front windows be smashed and arrived n brisbane May 31st @ Eagle Farm Airport

The Bachelors/Gene Pitney 1965 Australian tour

-this is from the Telegraph October 4th Gene Pitney The Bachelors(Con Cluskey, Dec Cluskey and John Stokes) Twinkle Mike Preston The Big Show Band Promoters-Aztec Services-Stadiums Pty Ltd Sydney October 2nd Sydney Stadium Brisbane October 4th Festival Hall Melbourne October 6th and 7th Festival Hall Adelaide Centennial Hall October 8th Perth Capitol Theatre October 9th This tour was the 2nd tour for Gene Pitney which his first was an year before in April 1964 with Dusty Springfield, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes and it was the first for the Bachelors who had successful hits with Charmaine, Diane, I Believe, I would'nt Trade You For the World, No Arms Could Ever Hold You etc. Twinkle who had the hit single Terry in 1964 and in 1965 with Golden Lights. Mike Preston had 3 Top 40 hits in england including Mr Blue (no 12 UK 1959)and had appeared on the english pop music show Oh Boy and had come to Australia to work as an nightclub singer as well as it was where also he would achieve great success on TV hosting In Melbourne Tonight as an guest in 1968 as well as acting in the legendary Australian police drama HOMICIDE as Sen Dec Bob Delaney from 1972-73 as well as Bellbird, Punishment and movies like MAd Max 2, Metalstorm The Destruction of Jared Syn, steel etc.

Bill Haley and the Comets 1957 Australian Tour

- this is from the Telegraph January 3rd 1957 The Big Show promoted by Lee Gordon Bill Haley and the Comets The Platters LaVern Baker Big Joe Turner Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys Dates- Newcastle Stadium January 8th 1957 Brisbane Stadium Janaury 9th and 10th 1957 Adelaide the Tivoli january 11th and 12th 1957 West melbourne Stadium Janaury 14,15,16,21,22 and 23 1957 Sydney Stadium January 17,18,19,24,25 and 26th 1957 This tour in janury 1957 was the very first rock n roll tour of Australia ever and it proved to be an huge success which paved away for many rock n roll tours that is still going to this day. Lee Gordon an American who was already making an impact in Australia with the Big Show as he had been bringing out people like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Ray, Nat King Cole, Betty Hutton, Guy Mitchell, Louis Armstrong and many others. Bill Haley had been on music scene since 1953 with Crazy Man Crazy which was the first rock n roll record to hit the charts and had been performing since the 1940's with groups like the Down Homers and the Saddlemen which by 1953 they became the Comets and also recorded the song that would become an rock n roll classic "Rock Around the Clock" on April 12th 1954 which was only an B side to 13 Women but it was not until 1955 as an result of a movie called The Blackboard Jungle that starred Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Sidney Potier and Vic Morrow that Rock Around The Clock was in the film and it went to number 1 in the USA on July 9th 1955 where it stayed there for 8 weeks and it was also number 1 in the UK and it was at this point that Bill haley and the comets had already hits like Shake Rattle and Roll, mambo ROck, Dim Dim the Lights, Birth Of the Boogie as well as throughout 1955 and 1956 with See you Later Alligator, Don't Knock the Rock, Rip It Up,Razzle Dazzle and others. The Platters were formed in 1953 in Los ANgeles and had been having success since late 1955 with Only You as well as having hits throughout 1956 with The Great Pretender, My Prayer, You've Got the MAgic Touch, One In A Million and You'll Never Know. Big Joe Turner did the original version of Shake Rattle and Roll in April 1954 and had other songs like Flip Flop Fly, Hide and Seek, Well All Right, Morning Noon and Night and The Chicken and The Hawk. LaVern Baker who had been on the scene since 1955 with hits like Tweedle Dee, Still, Jim Dandy and I Can't Love You Enough and had been recording for National, Okeh and Atlantic where she had the success in the 50's and would last into the early 60's and later on Brunswick. Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys were formed in 1952 which they were the first white groups to play R&B hits of the day and played in the Mid West before getting an booking @ the Lands Hotel in Las Vegas. They recorded for the Teen label which they did an version of Hound Dog in 1955 and Elvis presley had seen them performing the song in Las Vegas which he was impressed and had the bigger hit himself. They recorded for mercury label in 1956 and an big hit in the UK(no 4) with Giddy Up A Ding Dong. Lee Gordon had spent an enormous amount of money putting the rock n roll show together and at that time promoters wanted Bill Haley but Gordon had out bidden them all. The tour began in Newcastle on Janaury 8th which it was selected as the venue for opening night which his time was spot on and so was his choice of location and the tickets went on sale @ 9am which by 10.30am tickets for both shows and the success of the show would guarantee success everywhere else which it did. Lee Gordon hoped he could rely on sellouts in Sydney @ the Stadium, Melbourne @ West Melbourne Stadium and expected to provide an good result in Brisbane which it did. Adelaide was going to be an problem as the Centennial Hall and the Memorial Drive Tennis Courts were not avaliable and Alan Heffernan who worked for Lee Gordon was forced to book the old Tivoli Theatre for an week which it an 2,000 seat and despite the kids' great reaction there was no profit virtually from this section of the tour. Freddie Bell and the BellBoys opened the show with Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, the Platters and Bill Haley and the Comets closing the show which the venues in the cities were packed and the tour was an huge success as well as playing to more than 300,000 fans. There had been stories saying that Australian rocker Johnny O"keefe was on the bill of the tour but he was NEVER on it but did meet Bill Haley several times during the tour and got talking about different things which one of them was Johnny's ambition to record which O'keefe record You Hit the Wrong Note Billy Goat not long after that and it was his first single on the Festival label and also bill Haley gave the name Catfish to the Dee Jays drummer John Purser as he reminded him of an character named Catfish from an American TV show called Amos and Andy and he is still called Catfish to this day.

herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Australian 1967 Tour

- Brisbane Telegraph March 30th 1967

-Brisbane Telegraph March 29th

Telegrpah Brisbane May 29th 1967 Promoted by Stadiums and Aztec Services- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Bev Harrell Bill and Boyd The Vibrants (Melbourne) The Sounds Of Seven(Brisbane) Dates- Brisbane Festival Hall April 1st 1967 Melbourne Festival Hall April 4th,5th and 6th 1967 Sydney-Sydney Stadium April 8th,9th and 10th 1967 One of the Melbourne shows was filmed and it was shown on Channel 7 in May 1967- Melbourne May 24th Sydney May 23rd Brisbane May 29th

Jimmie Rodgers 1959 Australian Tour

-this newspaper advert is from the Telegraph october 5th 1959 Headliners Present Jimmie Rodgers Dodie Stevens Tommy Cole The Champs Arthur Duncan Barbara Virgil(Melbourne Only) Margie Mills Ray McGeary Graham Kennedy(Melbourne only) Frank Ifield(Sydney and Brisbane) The Fore Shores(sydney) Dates- Melbourne Festival Hall October 1st,2nd and 3rd 1959 Brisbane Festival Hall October 5th and 6th 1959 Sydney Stadium October 8th,9th and 10th 1959