Gene Pierson
Encyclopedia
Gene Pierson is an Australian record producer
, music publisher
, label owner, entrepreneur and former recording artist and entertainment manager.
Pierson founded Chart Records, Living Sound, Laser, Big Mouth, Indigenous Australia and Lifestyle record labels and was involved in launching the recording careers of AC/DC
, Air Supply, Inxs
, Sebastian Hardie
, Dark Tan, Australia’s first all girl group Peaches and 90s chart topper Melissa Tkautz
.
Most recently he’s signed Australia's Got Talent
grand finalist Cameron Henderson and produced his new album 'Angel Without Wings'.
The Inturns were approached by John Harrigan the owner of Surf City in Kings Cross who managed many of the top bands in Sydney. Soon they were supporting Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Ray Brown & The Whispers and headlining at Suzi Wong’s The Beach House and Stagecoach venues. A recording contract was promised but despite studio sessions nothing was released.
Young Salvestrin was offered a six month resident spot at The Bowl nightclub in Pitt St, Sydney, under the name Gene Chandler.
In December 1967 however the singer learned his father had a brain tumour and that he had been conscripted into the army to serve in Vietnam. He was due to report to Duntroon military base within days but at his regular Sunday gig at The Bowl, The La De Das
guitarist Kevin Borich
encouraged him to jump the Tasman where no passport was required for entry and there was no national conscription.
The next day he found himself living in a hotel in Auckland, New Zealand until his money ran out. He One evening as he walked the central city streets he heard music drifting down the stairs of a nightclub called the Galaxie. On hearing he was “a top artist from Sydney” the doorman waived the entry fee in exchange for a guest spot.
In the audience was Eldred Stebbing who had managed and recorded Ray Columbus, Max Merritt & The Meteors
and the La De Das on his Zodiac
label.
Stebbing ended up managing Pierson and it was at his instigation that the singer changed his name; after all there was already a pop star named Gene Chandler
("Duke of Earl"; the poster for Pearson's Soap spotted over the young singer’s shoulder seemed appropriate, so Pierson it was.
After signing with Stebbing's Zodiac label, temporary accommodation was arragned in a boarding house and Salvestrin (now Pierson) was paid a regular wage, and eventually set up in a flat in Mission Bay, along Auckland's waterfront.
Soon Pierson was soaring up the local charts with a Bobby Hebb
song Love, Love Love which become a number one hit on the Radio Hauraki
charts in October 1967. This was followed by a succession of singles including You Got To Me which reached number two spot. This was first time anyone had done a cover version of a Neil Diamond
song outside of the US and a medal commemorating this was later presented to Pierson by Diamond's manager. Then came the catchy pop song Toyland originally recorded by UK group Alan Bown Set
featuring Robert Palmer on vocals, and the Mick Abrahams
rocker See My Way.
Gene Pierson’s face was soon plastered all over Playdate, Groove and women’s magazines, alongside the British and American pop stars of the time. He was working four nights a week, regularly appeared on television and toured with top artists including Tommy Adderley, Larrys Rebels, Shane, The Chicks, Simple Image and the La De Das.
He quickly leveraged his New Zealand success, signing with Festival Records. He recorded a psychedelic cover of the Four Tops
song "Reach Out
", backed by New Zealand’s Simple Image who were now playing in Sydney.
Then a long standing disagreement between radio stations and record labels put an end to what was clearly about to become a major chart success. Record companies were refusing to supply free new release records unless radio stations agreed to pay a new royalty, resulting in a six month radio ban
on airplay for Australian and British recordings released by major labels.
Festival went on to release two further Pierson tracks but the artist ended his contract and went on to co-host the nationwide weekly pop gossip programme the Today Show with Bruce Webster and Patty Lovell, which led to the first video music TV show on Channel 7 called Sounds.
In 1970 he covered Elton John
's first concert at the Troubador in Los Angeles, interviewed Tina Turner
, and promoted his version of The Only Living Boy in New York with guest spots on the casino circuit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and appearances on Metro Media TV.
He formed Chart Records and released a raft of songs that had varying degrees of success. A cover of Yellow River by Autumn and Dave Allenby’s version of She Works in A Woman’s Way both reached number one on the music charts. Also achieving chart success was a re-release of Pierson’s Love, Love, Love.
Pierson became entertainment manager for John Harrigan’s Sydney Bistros, which operated the largest nightclubs in Australia including Whiskey Au Go Go, Chequers and Stagecoach in Sydney. He booked Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra
, Shirley Bassey
, Trini Lopez
and Dusty Springfield
.
When the interest in middle of the road artists began to recede, Pierson championed a move to bring rock ’n roll into the clubs. He accessed top groups from around the country, stimulating the success of a new wave of bands including Lobby Loyde & the Coloured Balls
, John Paul Young
, Jeff St John , Blackfeather
, Cold Chisel
, Sebastian Hardie and Chain
. He built up new groups at Chequers including Sherbet
who soon moved from house band to main drawcard.
who were initially being promoted by one of Australia’s legendary roadies Ray Arnold and his partner Alan Kissack.
He recalls the two men regularly trying to gasin work for the young band when he was booking Chequers nightclub. He eventually booked them for a New Year's Eve gig in 1973 but management were concerned at their volume and refused to have them back. Pierson continued to take an interest in the group getting them work at various venues including the Bondi Lifesaver at Bondi Beach, a larger venue more suited to their volume and the audience they appealed to.
He eventually brokered a deal for Bon Scott
from Fraternity to join the band and was instrumental in getting Ted Albert
of Albert Productions
to listen to AC/DC and arranged with programme manager Rod Muir of Australia’s biggest rock station 2SM
to book them for their massive school holiday concerts back at Chequers. That helped launch AC/DCs career and led to their being signed to Albert Music.
Pierson managed Johnny O'Keefe
on the side for a time, running a series of sell out rock ‘n roll concerts at Paddington Town Hall which featured a range of guest artists including Ray Columbus
, Johnny Devlin
, Jade Hurley and Judy Stone.
, the father of Sharon Osbourne
, who was at the time managing Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
and booking acts through Chequers nightclub. Ardern had heard the song Love and Other Bruises by Air Supply
and wanted access to them. Pierson brokered a deal between Ardern and the band’s management resulting in the band heading to US where they had strong chart success.
Around this time Pierson reconnected with members of his former band The Inturns who had engaged guitarist Mario Millo
from The Click as keyboard player and changed their name to Sebastian Hardie
. He managed the symphonic rock unit and booked them to tour Australia with Dutch progrockers Focus
. This helped the band achieve national exposure and led to them recording two now classic Australian albums.
Pierson had a regular showbiz column in the Sunday Mirror called 'As It Is', and began running his own agency called Blue Heaven, booking top Australian bands around Sydney pubs and clubs
Later in the 1970s he arranged a history making contract with established singer Judy Stone
for concerts in Beijing which resulted in massive sales of her recordings throughout mainland China. He brokered a deal between Inxs
band manager Chris Murphy and Morrie Smith of RCA for international distribution.
Pierson purchased the rights to the Laser rock label and went out on his own. He was keen to create an outlet for New Zealand music into Australia and struck a distribution deal with Eldred Stebbing and Polygram Records. He released the music of The Dudes
and Hello Sailor
in Australia through the Big Mouth label and launched their careers in Australia with an appearance at the opening of Sydney radio station 2WS.
Nicolson, who had devised a complex way of creating synthetic sounds on his computer, had begun experimenting with animal sounds and Pierson jokingly asked him if he could play "Paperback Writer
" using dogs barking. He did and soon Pierson had commissioned him to create an parody
album of popular Beatles songs with dogs plus a backing chorus of cows, sheep and chooks. They went into the studio with top session musicians and created the best selling Beatle Barkers
album credited to The Woofers and Tweeters Ensemble, which was marketed by Demtel.
Having gained a taste for the potential of the comedy market Pierson arranged for live recordings of Australian comedy acts at the Margaret St Comedy Store in Sydney in conjunction with Barry Wayne. The first comedy series he recorded and released on video featured George Smilovitch
, ‘Rodney Rude
, ‘’’Vince Sorrenti’’’
, Keith Scott, Gary Who, Calvin De Grey‘ and Graham Pugh. The series was released by Video Cassics, the same company that released the making of Michael Jackson’s '’Thriller’’ It ended up putting Aussie comedy on the map.
It features 31 narrators delivering an eclectic mix of folk ballads and bush poetry from the 1800s through to 20th century prose. The double CD, was digitally remastered and released on Pierson's Lifestyle Music label in January 2011 as A Swag of Aussie Poetry
.
who had a number one hit in 1991 with "Read My Lips". The song which Pierson had written for her by Roy Nicholson became one of the Australian Recording Industry Association’s
biggest original dance singles, selling 800,000 copies.
Pierson also produced the follow-up Sexy (Is The Word)
which again topped the Australian charts. Both were released by Laser through Polygram.
After Melissa, Pierson created the group Rhapsody
, and had the song "Cowboy Lover“ ” written for them. It debuted at #37 in the ARIA charts in 1992.
In the early 90s Gene Pierson moved to tropical North Queensland where he invested in a number of significant eco-friendly lifestyle properties including Misty Mountains Rainforest Retreat and East Bedarra Island Retreat on Bedarra Island
which he and his wife Sharon transformed into exclusive retreats. They also operate Romantic Retreats
album Homeless in Australia on his Laser records label in conjunction with his distributor Dino Entertainment
in 1995. The South African a cappella group rose to prominence after working with Paul Simon
on his Gracelands album.
The Homeless album went platinum, selling 80,000 copies after Pierson struck a deal with a national advertising company for one of the tracks to be used in the classic Nestle
advertisement.
Pierson continued to innovate within the recording industry, forming the Indigenous Australia label specialising in Aboriginal, spoken word, world, ambient music and children's albums. He recorded over 100 albums for artists including David Hudson, Tjapukai, Ash Dargan
and guitarist Wayne Mcintosh.
, Chants R & b
, The Breakaways
, and Peter Nelson & the Castaways and the Underdogs.
The following year he completed a project he'd begun 40-years previously. A distribution deal was signed with Sony/BMG in Australia and EMI Music New Zealand for Spinning the Moments the album Pierson had begun in 1968 which became a 16-track ‘best of’ compilation.
In 2009, after 15 years with Indigenous Australia, Pierson merged the business into a new label called Lifestyle Music Group which made it easier to market the different kinds of recordings and artists he was involved with. Styles included world music, sacred sounds, classical, poetry, ambient, jazz and health and lifestyle.
In its first year Lifestyle Music Group recorded 50 albums including mellow jazz café titles and ‘romance therapy’ where he re-mastered older love songs, mixed with relaxing ocean sounds in-between.
In 2010 Gene Pierson’s signed Australia's Got Talent
finalist Cam Henderson to his Lifestyle label. He produced the single Angel without Wings and the album of the same name for the 44-year old builder who stunned Australia with the heart rending original songs he performed on the show.
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, music publisher
Music publisher
In the music industry, a music publisher is responsible for ensuring the songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called a publishing contract, a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing...
, label owner, entrepreneur and former recording artist and entertainment manager.
Pierson founded Chart Records, Living Sound, Laser, Big Mouth, Indigenous Australia and Lifestyle record labels and was involved in launching the recording careers of AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Air Supply, Inxs
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, Sebastian Hardie
Sebastian Hardie
Sebastian Hardie were Australia's first symphonic rock band. They formed in Sydney in 1967 as Sebastian Hardie Blues Band but dropped the 'Blues Band' reference when they became pop-oriented. By 1973 they developed a more progressive rock style, and later performed as Windchase, but disbanded in 1977...
, Dark Tan, Australia’s first all girl group Peaches and 90s chart topper Melissa Tkautz
Melissa Tkautz
Melissa Natalie Tkautz is an Australian-Maltese actress, singer, songwriter and model of Austrian and Maltese heritage. Tkautz was married on Friday 6 February 2009 to her partner of 5 years, Kwesi Nicholas.- Early career :...
.
Most recently he’s signed Australia's Got Talent
Australia's Got Talent
Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television talent show which premiered on 18 February 2007 on the Seven Network. The show was based on the Got Talent series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell...
grand finalist Cameron Henderson and produced his new album 'Angel Without Wings'.
Early career
Gene Pierson’s career as a singer kicked off when he won a talent quest at Skelseys Hotel in the Western suburbs of Sydney in 1963. He was given a regular solo spot at the hotel and was approached by guitarist Graham Ford to become the fifth member of his Western Suburbs band, The Inturns.The Inturns were approached by John Harrigan the owner of Surf City in Kings Cross who managed many of the top bands in Sydney. Soon they were supporting Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Ray Brown & The Whispers and headlining at Suzi Wong’s The Beach House and Stagecoach venues. A recording contract was promised but despite studio sessions nothing was released.
Young Salvestrin was offered a six month resident spot at The Bowl nightclub in Pitt St, Sydney, under the name Gene Chandler.
In December 1967 however the singer learned his father had a brain tumour and that he had been conscripted into the army to serve in Vietnam. He was due to report to Duntroon military base within days but at his regular Sunday gig at The Bowl, The La De Das
The La De Das
The La De Das were a leading New Zealand rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in New Zealand in 1963 , they enjoyed considerable success in both New Zealand and Australia until their split in 1975....
guitarist Kevin Borich
Kevin Borich
Kevin Nicholas Borich is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter...
encouraged him to jump the Tasman where no passport was required for entry and there was no national conscription.
The next day he found himself living in a hotel in Auckland, New Zealand until his money ran out. He One evening as he walked the central city streets he heard music drifting down the stairs of a nightclub called the Galaxie. On hearing he was “a top artist from Sydney” the doorman waived the entry fee in exchange for a guest spot.
In the audience was Eldred Stebbing who had managed and recorded Ray Columbus, Max Merritt & The Meteors
Max Merritt
Max Merritt is a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who is renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B...
and the La De Das on his Zodiac
Zodiac Records (New Zealand)
Zodiac Records was a New Zealand based label founded in 1957 . It was owned by Stebbing Recording and Sound, LTD, headquartered in Auckland; the company also released both 78s and 45s. Artists that released their records on that label included Howard Morrison, Herma Keil The Keil Isles, Ray...
label.
Stebbing ended up managing Pierson and it was at his instigation that the singer changed his name; after all there was already a pop star named Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler also known as "The Duke of Earl" or simply "The Duke", is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, producer and record executive. He is one of the leading exponents of the 1960s Chicago soul scene...
("Duke of Earl"; the poster for Pearson's Soap spotted over the young singer’s shoulder seemed appropriate, so Pierson it was.
After signing with Stebbing's Zodiac label, temporary accommodation was arragned in a boarding house and Salvestrin (now Pierson) was paid a regular wage, and eventually set up in a flat in Mission Bay, along Auckland's waterfront.
Soon Pierson was soaring up the local charts with a Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his writing and recording of "Sunny".-Biography:...
song Love, Love Love which become a number one hit on the Radio Hauraki
Radio Hauraki
Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand radio network, specialising in album-oriented rock and classic rock. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally from 1966-1970 to break the monopoly held by the government...
charts in October 1967. This was followed by a succession of singles including You Got To Me which reached number two spot. This was first time anyone had done a cover version of a Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
song outside of the US and a medal commemorating this was later presented to Pierson by Diamond's manager. Then came the catchy pop song Toyland originally recorded by UK group Alan Bown Set
The Alan Bown Set
The Alan Bown Set later known as The Alan Bown! or just Alan Bown, were a British band of the 1960s and 1970s whose music evolved from jazz and blues through soul and rhythm and blues and ended up as psychedelia and progressive rock...
featuring Robert Palmer on vocals, and the Mick Abrahams
Mick Abrahams
Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished...
rocker See My Way.
Gene Pierson’s face was soon plastered all over Playdate, Groove and women’s magazines, alongside the British and American pop stars of the time. He was working four nights a week, regularly appeared on television and toured with top artists including Tommy Adderley, Larrys Rebels, Shane, The Chicks, Simple Image and the La De Das.
Returning to Australia
Before a planned album was completed with producer and blind keyboard player Claude Papesch, Gene Pierson learned of his father’s death and returned to Australia for the funeral.He quickly leveraged his New Zealand success, signing with Festival Records. He recorded a psychedelic cover of the Four Tops
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
song "Reach Out
Reach Out I'll Be There
"Reach Out I'll Be There" is a 1966 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song...
", backed by New Zealand’s Simple Image who were now playing in Sydney.
Then a long standing disagreement between radio stations and record labels put an end to what was clearly about to become a major chart success. Record companies were refusing to supply free new release records unless radio stations agreed to pay a new royalty, resulting in a six month radio ban
1970 radio ban
The Australian 1970 Radio Ban or 1970 Record Ban was a "pay for play" dispute in the local music industry that lasted from May till October...
on airplay for Australian and British recordings released by major labels.
Festival went on to release two further Pierson tracks but the artist ended his contract and went on to co-host the nationwide weekly pop gossip programme the Today Show with Bruce Webster and Patty Lovell, which led to the first video music TV show on Channel 7 called Sounds.
In 1970 he covered Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's first concert at the Troubador in Los Angeles, interviewed Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, and promoted his version of The Only Living Boy in New York with guest spots on the casino circuit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and appearances on Metro Media TV.
Moving into record production
When PIerson returned to Sydney he found the 1970 music ban had boosted the chart presence of Australian acts covering versions of British hits that would otherwise have been ignored.He formed Chart Records and released a raft of songs that had varying degrees of success. A cover of Yellow River by Autumn and Dave Allenby’s version of She Works in A Woman’s Way both reached number one on the music charts. Also achieving chart success was a re-release of Pierson’s Love, Love, Love.
Pierson became entertainment manager for John Harrigan’s Sydney Bistros, which operated the largest nightclubs in Australia including Whiskey Au Go Go, Chequers and Stagecoach in Sydney. He booked Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
and Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
.
When the interest in middle of the road artists began to recede, Pierson championed a move to bring rock ’n roll into the clubs. He accessed top groups from around the country, stimulating the success of a new wave of bands including Lobby Loyde & the Coloured Balls
Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde , also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer....
, John Paul Young
John Paul Young
John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
, Jeff St John , Blackfeather
Blackfeather
Blackfeather was an Australian rock group in the 1970s. The group had many members and went through two major incarnations - the earlier heavy rock version of the group, which recorded the album At The Mountains of Madness and the hit single "Seasons of Change", and the later piano-based lineup...
, Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
, Sebastian Hardie and Chain
Chain (band)
Chain are an Australian blues band formed in Melbourne as The Chain in late 1968 with a lineup including guitarist, vocalist Phil Manning; they are sometimes known as Matt Taylor's Chain after lead singer-songwriter and harmonica player, Matt Taylor...
. He built up new groups at Chequers including Sherbet
Sherbet (band)
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
who soon moved from house band to main drawcard.
Giving AC/DC a leg up
Pierson had a role to play in the formative success of Australian mega rockers AC/DCAC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
who were initially being promoted by one of Australia’s legendary roadies Ray Arnold and his partner Alan Kissack.
He recalls the two men regularly trying to gasin work for the young band when he was booking Chequers nightclub. He eventually booked them for a New Year's Eve gig in 1973 but management were concerned at their volume and refused to have them back. Pierson continued to take an interest in the group getting them work at various venues including the Bondi Lifesaver at Bondi Beach, a larger venue more suited to their volume and the audience they appealed to.
He eventually brokered a deal for Bon Scott
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
from Fraternity to join the band and was instrumental in getting Ted Albert
Ted Albert
Edward 'Ted' Albert was an early pioneer in Australian independent record production and founder of Albert Productions...
of Albert Productions
Albert Productions
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australian record label to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964 by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian...
to listen to AC/DC and arranged with programme manager Rod Muir of Australia’s biggest rock station 2SM
2SM
2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, New South Wales, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group...
to book them for their massive school holiday concerts back at Chequers. That helped launch AC/DCs career and led to their being signed to Albert Music.
Pierson managed Johnny O'Keefe
Johnny O'Keefe
John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
on the side for a time, running a series of sell out rock ‘n roll concerts at Paddington Town Hall which featured a range of guest artists including Ray Columbus
Ray Columbus
Ray Columbus is a New Zealand solo singer and entertainer who has had a career spanning six decades. He was lead singer of Ray Columbus & the Invaders who had a hit with She's A Mod in the 1960s. Since then he has been a solo singer and television host.-Links:* *...
, Johnny Devlin
Johnny Devlin
Johnny Devlin, born John Lockett Devlin , was an influential early New Zealand rock musician, sometimes called "New Zealand's answer to Elvis Presley"....
, Jade Hurley and Judy Stone.
Brokering career moves
During his time working with Sydney Bistros, Gene Pierson was introduced to American entrepreneur Don ArdenDon Arden
Don Arden , born Harry Levy, was an English music manager, agent and businessman, best known for overseeing the careers of rock groups Small Faces, Electric Light Orchestra and Black Sabbath....
, the father of Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
, who was at the time managing Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
and booking acts through Chequers nightclub. Ardern had heard the song Love and Other Bruises by Air Supply
Air Supply
Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of Graham Russell as guitarist and singer-songwriter and Russell Hitchcock as lead vocalist. They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top Ten hits in the United States, in the early 1980s...
and wanted access to them. Pierson brokered a deal between Ardern and the band’s management resulting in the band heading to US where they had strong chart success.
Around this time Pierson reconnected with members of his former band The Inturns who had engaged guitarist Mario Millo
Mario Millo
Mario Daniel Millo is an Australian musician and composer from Sydney, he was a member of symphonic rock group Sebastian Hardie from 1973 to their disbandment in 1977. Their debut album, Four Moments peaked at No. 13 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. He has had a solo career...
from The Click as keyboard player and changed their name to Sebastian Hardie
Sebastian Hardie
Sebastian Hardie were Australia's first symphonic rock band. They formed in Sydney in 1967 as Sebastian Hardie Blues Band but dropped the 'Blues Band' reference when they became pop-oriented. By 1973 they developed a more progressive rock style, and later performed as Windchase, but disbanded in 1977...
. He managed the symphonic rock unit and booked them to tour Australia with Dutch progrockers Focus
Focus (band)
Focus is a Dutch rock band which was founded by classically trained organist/flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969, and is most famous for the instrumental pieces "Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia"...
. This helped the band achieve national exposure and led to them recording two now classic Australian albums.
Pierson had a regular showbiz column in the Sunday Mirror called 'As It Is', and began running his own agency called Blue Heaven, booking top Australian bands around Sydney pubs and clubs
Record label founder
He then merged his business into a new publishing operation run out of Kerry Packer’s Channel 9 TV network in Sydney, forming the Living Sound and Laser record labels and a band booking agency. The labels handled artists including Dark Tan, Peaches, Geeza, Squeeze, Bobby Thomas, Trevor Knight, Julie Bower, Frankie Davidson, Australia, Southern Cross and all girl group Peaches who had a number one hit with Substitute in 1978.Later in the 1970s he arranged a history making contract with established singer Judy Stone
Judy Stone
Judy Stone is an Australian pop singer from Sydney, who came to national prominence in the early 1960s through her regular TV appearances on the Australian pop music show Brian Henderson's Bandstand and her many hit records...
for concerts in Beijing which resulted in massive sales of her recordings throughout mainland China. He brokered a deal between Inxs
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
band manager Chris Murphy and Morrie Smith of RCA for international distribution.
Pierson purchased the rights to the Laser rock label and went out on his own. He was keen to create an outlet for New Zealand music into Australia and struck a distribution deal with Eldred Stebbing and Polygram Records. He released the music of The Dudes
The Dudes
The Dudes are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1996 in Calgary, Alberta. Dan Vacon is The Dudes' major creative force in the band. The group also includes guitarist Bob Quaschnick, drummer Scott Ross and newest member Brock Geiger on bass....
and Hello Sailor
Hello Sailor (band)
Hello Sailor was a New Zealand pop/rock band originally formed in 1975.- History :The band's history is long and complicated, with guitarist/vocalists Dave McArtney and Harry Lyon having first played together in the mid 1960s. After several lineup changes, the band released its first album, Hello...
in Australia through the Big Mouth label and launched their careers in Australia with an appearance at the opening of Sydney radio station 2WS.
Time for a laugh
Early in the early 1980s Pierson sensed that comedy was a relatively untapped market. His first collaboration to fill this niche came through a meeting with Englishman Roy Nicolson in 1982, who had released "I Eat Cannibals" which was a novelty hit across Australia.Nicolson, who had devised a complex way of creating synthetic sounds on his computer, had begun experimenting with animal sounds and Pierson jokingly asked him if he could play "Paperback Writer
Paperback Writer
"Paperback Writer" is a 1966 song recorded and released by The Beatles. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single...
" using dogs barking. He did and soon Pierson had commissioned him to create an parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
album of popular Beatles songs with dogs plus a backing chorus of cows, sheep and chooks. They went into the studio with top session musicians and created the best selling Beatle Barkers
Beatle Barkers
Beatle Barkers is a 1983 album released by the "Woofers & Tweeters Ensemble". The album consists of dogs barking in a parody of popular Beatles songs...
album credited to The Woofers and Tweeters Ensemble, which was marketed by Demtel.
Having gained a taste for the potential of the comedy market Pierson arranged for live recordings of Australian comedy acts at the Margaret St Comedy Store in Sydney in conjunction with Barry Wayne. The first comedy series he recorded and released on video featured George Smilovitch
George Smilovici
George Smilovici is a Cuban-born Australian comedian, the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents his father, Dan Sima, left Romania and went to Israel where he met his wife...
, ‘Rodney Rude
Rodney Rude
Rodney Rude is an Australian 'blue' stand-up comedian, poet and writer. He is infamous for his bawdy humour. He has released 12 albums and 5 videos throughout his long career, all of which are distributed by EMI Music Australia. To date, Rodney has sold well in excess of 3 million CDs videos and...
, ‘’’Vince Sorrenti’’’
Vince Sorrenti
Vince Sorrenti is one of Australia’s best known and leading comic entertainers, a respected and successful Australian stand-up comedian from Punchbowl, New South Wales. He is of Italian heritage. Sorrenti performs at many functions and events, such as the AFL Grand Final Breakfast...
, Keith Scott, Gary Who, Calvin De Grey‘ and Graham Pugh. The series was released by Video Cassics, the same company that released the making of Michael Jackson’s '’Thriller’’ It ended up putting Aussie comedy on the map.
A Swag of Aussie Poems
A desire to add another aspect of Australian culture to his growing catalogue occurred in the mid-1980s when Pierson undertook the ambitious project of recording 53 of the best loved works of Australian prose and verses. The result was Out of the Bluegums – 150 Years of Australian Verse released in 1985.It features 31 narrators delivering an eclectic mix of folk ballads and bush poetry from the 1800s through to 20th century prose. The double CD, was digitally remastered and released on Pierson's Lifestyle Music label in January 2011 as A Swag of Aussie Poetry
A Swag of Aussie Poetry
A Swag of Aussie Poetry is a mid-1980s recording project with celebrity voices reciting or singing Australian poetry.The compilation of 53 of works of prose and verse from writers across Australia’s expansive literary landscape was originally known as Out of the Bluegums – 150 Years of Australian...
.
Topping the charts
The biggest success from his independent record label was creating a music career for soap opera star MelissaMelissa Tkautz
Melissa Natalie Tkautz is an Australian-Maltese actress, singer, songwriter and model of Austrian and Maltese heritage. Tkautz was married on Friday 6 February 2009 to her partner of 5 years, Kwesi Nicholas.- Early career :...
who had a number one hit in 1991 with "Read My Lips". The song which Pierson had written for her by Roy Nicholson became one of the Australian Recording Industry Association’s
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
biggest original dance singles, selling 800,000 copies.
Pierson also produced the follow-up Sexy (Is The Word)
Sexy (Is the Word)
"Sexy " is a pop song recorded by Australian Artist, Melissa .The song was the performer's second single following the success of her first, "Read My Lips", and like "Read My Lips", it was launched via the television series that Tkautz was starring in at the time, E Street. It was featured on her...
which again topped the Australian charts. Both were released by Laser through Polygram.
After Melissa, Pierson created the group Rhapsody
Rhapsody (girl group)
Rhapsody were an Australian female duo of Kymberlie Harrison and Cathy Ford who had a minor hit in the early 1990s called "Cowboy Lover" on BMG Records....
, and had the song "Cowboy Lover“ ” written for them. It debuted at #37 in the ARIA charts in 1992.
In the early 90s Gene Pierson moved to tropical North Queensland where he invested in a number of significant eco-friendly lifestyle properties including Misty Mountains Rainforest Retreat and East Bedarra Island Retreat on Bedarra Island
Bedarra Island
Bedarra Island is a privately owned island in the middle of the Family Islands National Park, located off the Queensland coast in Australia. The island is made from granite and was part of the mainland before the last sea level rise began 8,000 years ago...
which he and his wife Sharon transformed into exclusive retreats. They also operate Romantic Retreats
World music opportunities
Pierson launched the Ladysmith Black MambazoLadysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...
album Homeless in Australia on his Laser records label in conjunction with his distributor Dino Entertainment
Dino Entertainment
Dino Entertainment was a firm specializing in the compilation market of the late 1980s and early 1990s, releasing records such as the That Loving Feeling and Energy Rush range of CDs, in competition with Telstar Records, Stylus and K-Tel....
in 1995. The South African a cappella group rose to prominence after working with Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
on his Gracelands album.
The Homeless album went platinum, selling 80,000 copies after Pierson struck a deal with a national advertising company for one of the tracks to be used in the classic Nestle
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
advertisement.
Pierson continued to innovate within the recording industry, forming the Indigenous Australia label specialising in Aboriginal, spoken word, world, ambient music and children's albums. He recorded over 100 albums for artists including David Hudson, Tjapukai, Ash Dargan
Ash Dargan
Ash Dargan is an indigenous Australian didgeridoo player. He is a member of the Larrakia people but did not find out about his aboriginality until he was 21. He teaches and performs all over the world...
and guitarist Wayne Mcintosh.
Unfinished business
In November 2007 he was invited back to perform at the Wild Things beat band event in Auckland where he sang alongside Ray Columbus, The PleazersThe Pleazers
The Pleazers were an originally Australian-based rhythm and blues musical group that was popular in New Zealand in the mid-1960s.The band began in Brisbane as the G-Men, before moving to Sydney, changing their name and going professional...
, Chants R & b
Chants R&B
Chants R&B were a rhythm and blues band from Christchurch, New Zealand, and are considered one best examples of garage rhythm and blues from Australasia during the 1960s. They won the Battle Of The Bands contest at Addington Showgrounds in 1964...
, The Breakaways
The Breakaways
The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premiere session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little known girl group singles.-Career:...
, and Peter Nelson & the Castaways and the Underdogs.
The following year he completed a project he'd begun 40-years previously. A distribution deal was signed with Sony/BMG in Australia and EMI Music New Zealand for Spinning the Moments the album Pierson had begun in 1968 which became a 16-track ‘best of’ compilation.
In 2009, after 15 years with Indigenous Australia, Pierson merged the business into a new label called Lifestyle Music Group which made it easier to market the different kinds of recordings and artists he was involved with. Styles included world music, sacred sounds, classical, poetry, ambient, jazz and health and lifestyle.
In its first year Lifestyle Music Group recorded 50 albums including mellow jazz café titles and ‘romance therapy’ where he re-mastered older love songs, mixed with relaxing ocean sounds in-between.
In 2010 Gene Pierson’s signed Australia's Got Talent
Australia's Got Talent
Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television talent show which premiered on 18 February 2007 on the Seven Network. The show was based on the Got Talent series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell...
finalist Cam Henderson to his Lifestyle label. He produced the single Angel without Wings and the album of the same name for the 44-year old builder who stunned Australia with the heart rending original songs he performed on the show.
Recordings
- Gene Pierson, Spinning the Moments, Indigenous Australia IA11967D, released through Sony/BMG in October 2007 as a compilation of Gene Pierson’s recordings including:
- Love, Love, Love (Rose/Renzetti) / Celeste (Leitch), 1967
- You Got to Me (N. Diamond)/ Rainy Day IN June (R.Davies), June 1967.
- Toyland (Catchpole-Roden) /Matchstick in a Whirlpool (Carter),1968
- If You Only Loved Me (Rubenstein) / Just One Tender Look (C Papesch), 1968.
- Leaving On A Jet Plane (Denver)/I Ain't No Miracle Worker (Mantz/Tucker), 1969
- Reach Out (Holland-Dozier-Holland), Oh Sweet Love (Levine/Fieldman) 1970, Festival
- See My Way (Abraham) /Teach Me How To Fly (Barnes), Infinity
- I Ain’t No Miracle worker, (Mantz-Tucker), 1971
- Come On In (Unknown)/ The Only Living Boy In New York (Simon/Garfunkel).
- Story (Kane), Gene Pierson
- Reach Out, (Holland/Dozier/Holland) D.J Krusty Remix
- Reach Out, (Holland/Dozier/Holland) Space remix
- Get That Jive compilation, (Sony/BMG), September 2007, featured an extended mix of Gene Pierson’s Reach Out
Further reading
- The Gene Pierson Story, Radio New Zealand National, Musical Chairs, November 2007
- Stranded in Paradise, John Dix, Paradise Publishing, 1988
- The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop - Ian McFarlane - Allen & Unwin, Sydney - 1999
- Sunday Herald Sun for story on Cam Henderson, 26, September, 2010
External links
- Keith Newman, personal interviews with Gene Pierson
- Spinning the Moments http://www.genepierson.com.au
- AC/DC official web site http://www.acdc.com/us/blog/acdc-666
- http://www.milesago.com for links to the history or Festival, Polygram and RCA record companies and nightclubs in Australia.
- Sri Lankan Sunday Observer for the link to an interview with Dark Tan’s Alston Kotch
- Australian Dictionary of Biography (http://adbonline.anu.edu.au) for a link to the founder of Pearson’s Soap
- CityLife Magazine, Cairns, October 2007, cover story on Gene Pierson
- http://www.mysterex.blogspot.com/ Andrew Schmidt’s Mysterex: Researching New Zealand rock ’n roll blogspot for Tommy Adderley and Larry’s Rebels links
- Bruce Sergent’s New Zealand Music web (www.sergent.com.au) for links to The Chicks, The Simple Image, Underdogs