Mike Brady (musician)
Encyclopedia
Mike Brady is an Australian musician
most commonly associated with the Australian rules football
anthems "Up There Cazaly
", referring to 1920s and 30s St Kilda player Roy Cazaly
and "One Day in September
". "Up There Cazaly" topped the Australian singles charts in September 1979 and briefly held the record as best-selling Australian single. Both songs have become synonymous with Australian rules football
and are traditionally sung on AFL
Grand Final
day in September.
In 1979 the Seven Network
approached Brady to write a jingle to promote the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Mojo Singers had reached the top of the Australian charts with the single "C'mon Aussie C'mon
" which had been written to promote World Series Cricket
shown on Channel Nine
and Seven was looking for a jingle to promote its Australian Rules broadcasts.
Brady wrote "Up There Cazaly
", named after a phrase used by teammates to encourage Cazaly to take his spectacular marks and had since been used by Australian troops in World War 2. He worked with Pete Sullivan on recording the jingle.
The popularity of the jingle led to the release of the song credited to the Two-Man Band. It reached #1 on the Australian charts in September 1979 and was the most popular single recorded by an Australian artist that year. It sold 250,000 copies making it the most popular single ever released by an Australian artist in Australia at that time.
and his group the Joe Dolce Music Theatre recorded the song "Shaddap You Face
", which had been a success in Dolce's cabaret show. Dolce took the song to Mushroom Records
and Festival Records but neither label was interested. Dolce went back to Brady who agreed to finance the record.
By November 1980 the song had topped the Australian charts on its way to setting a new record as best selling Australian song in Australia ever. Elton John
had made a bid for the rights but had been knocked back. By February 1981 "Shaddup You Face" had reached the top of the United Kingdom charts and was becoming an international hit in Europe and the United States. The song would sell four million copies worldwide. Elton John had persuaded Andrew Sachs
of Fawlty Towers
to record a version but it failed to chart.
Since then Brady has continued to work in advertising writing jingles, such as "Dodo, Dodo, internet that flies" for Dodo Internet and "Lucky you're with AAMI". He continued to write material for the VFL. In the early 1980s he reworked "Up There Cazaly" into a theme song for the Sydney Swans
' relocation into Sydney. He wrote "One Day in September" about the VFL grand final and recorded versions of many of the VFL team's theme songs for an album in 1987. Brady also co-wrote and produced another popular AFL (Australian Football League) jingle, "That's What I Like About Football", sung by Greg Champion
. "Up There Cazaly" was reworked in 1999 with Haley White for its 20th anniversary but failed to make the same impact. It was reworked as "Up There Australia" to show support for Australian troops in the War of Iraq in 2003.
Brady has written songs for popular Australian artists such as John Farnham
and Tina Arena
and produced albums by Arena and Colleen Hewett
. He also wrote the song "Courage in their Eyes" for the Seven Network's Olympics coverage. He is now working on the 3AW
radio station in Melbourne.
and "Members of the 1966 World Cup Team", such as Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst etc. Cliff Portwood was a long-time friend of Mike Brady and had permission to use this song along with Peter Sullivan, Cliff's pianist in Australia for the World Cup in 1982. Mike flew to England to help Cliff record the song, but unfortunately it was never released, due to the B side of the song having a portion of "Land Of Hope Glory" on it, creating a minor licensing issue just as it was getting major airtime on the radio.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
most commonly associated with the Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
anthems "Up There Cazaly
Up There Cazaly
"Up There Cazaly" is an Australian sporting catchphrase inspired by former St Kilda and South Melbourne great Roy Cazaly...
", referring to 1920s and 30s St Kilda player Roy Cazaly
Roy Cazaly
Roy Cazaly was an Australian rules football player famous for his high marks and ruck work, which gave rise to the phrase "Up There Cazaly".-Early life/career:...
and "One Day in September
One Day in September (song)
One Day in September is a song written and performed by Australian musician Mike Brady.It is a large part of the tradition of Australian rules football, and refers to the AFL Grand Final - a game which is played on the last Saturday in September....
". "Up There Cazaly" topped the Australian singles charts in September 1979 and briefly held the record as best-selling Australian single. Both songs have become synonymous with Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
and are traditionally sung on AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
day in September.
Early life and career
Brady was born in England in 1948 and migrated to Australia in the 1950s with his family. He was one-third of the 1960s pop act MPD Ltd. (which stood for Mike, Pete and Danny) which had hits in Australia including "Little Boy Sad" and "Lonely Boy". The band toured Australia and the U.K. Brady also toured Vietnam entertaining U.S troops with a different band which included Wayne Duncan, Gary Howard and country brother and sister act Ricki and Tammy. After the break-up of MPD Ltd., Brady continued to record occasionally and had a top 10 hit with "Sympathy".Up There Cazaly
Brady started working as a jingle writer and was very successful. He also started his own record company called "Full Moon Records" and a publishing company called "Remix Publishing".In 1979 the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
approached Brady to write a jingle to promote the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Mojo Singers had reached the top of the Australian charts with the single "C'mon Aussie C'mon
C'mon Aussie C'mon
"C'mon Aussie C'mon" is an Australian Cricket anthem.Originally performed by the Mojo Singers in 1978 as an advertising jingle to promote World Series Cricket's unofficial Australian cricket team, the song eulogised players such as Dennis Lillee, the Chappell brothers Ian and Greg and Rod Marsh. It...
" which had been written to promote World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...
shown on Channel Nine
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
and Seven was looking for a jingle to promote its Australian Rules broadcasts.
Brady wrote "Up There Cazaly
Up There Cazaly
"Up There Cazaly" is an Australian sporting catchphrase inspired by former St Kilda and South Melbourne great Roy Cazaly...
", named after a phrase used by teammates to encourage Cazaly to take his spectacular marks and had since been used by Australian troops in World War 2. He worked with Pete Sullivan on recording the jingle.
The popularity of the jingle led to the release of the song credited to the Two-Man Band. It reached #1 on the Australian charts in September 1979 and was the most popular single recorded by an Australian artist that year. It sold 250,000 copies making it the most popular single ever released by an Australian artist in Australia at that time.
Later career
Brady had established recording studios in Melbourne. In July 1980, in Brady's studios, Joe DolceJoe Dolce
Joseph "Joe" Dolce is an American-born, Australian singer/songwriter who achieved fame with his multi-million-selling song, "Shaddap You Face", released under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980...
and his group the Joe Dolce Music Theatre recorded the song "Shaddap You Face
Shaddap You Face
"Shaddap You Face" is an Australian novelty song written and performed by Joe Dolce in 1980. It has set a number of sales and longevity records. The song was full of broad Italian humour and included a recognizable chorus.-Sales and chart positions:It went to Number 1 on the Australian pop charts...
", which had been a success in Dolce's cabaret show. Dolce took the song to Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...
and Festival Records but neither label was interested. Dolce went back to Brady who agreed to finance the record.
By November 1980 the song had topped the Australian charts on its way to setting a new record as best selling Australian song in Australia ever. Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
had made a bid for the rights but had been knocked back. By February 1981 "Shaddup You Face" had reached the top of the United Kingdom charts and was becoming an international hit in Europe and the United States. The song would sell four million copies worldwide. Elton John had persuaded Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...
of Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
to record a version but it failed to chart.
Since then Brady has continued to work in advertising writing jingles, such as "Dodo, Dodo, internet that flies" for Dodo Internet and "Lucky you're with AAMI". He continued to write material for the VFL. In the early 1980s he reworked "Up There Cazaly" into a theme song for the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
' relocation into Sydney. He wrote "One Day in September" about the VFL grand final and recorded versions of many of the VFL team's theme songs for an album in 1987. Brady also co-wrote and produced another popular AFL (Australian Football League) jingle, "That's What I Like About Football", sung by Greg Champion
Greg Champion
Greg Champion is an Australian songwriter, guitarist, radio personality and athlete.Born in Benalla, Victoria, Champion is most recognised for his work as part of the Coodabeen Champions as a songwriter and guitarist. Greg often appears on the program writing songs about both Aussies rules football...
. "Up There Cazaly" was reworked in 1999 with Haley White for its 20th anniversary but failed to make the same impact. It was reworked as "Up There Australia" to show support for Australian troops in the War of Iraq in 2003.
Brady has written songs for popular Australian artists such as John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
and Tina Arena
Tina Arena
Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena is an Australian singer, songwriter and musical theatre actress. She has won several awards, most notably 6 ARIA Awards and in both 1996 and 2000 she received the World Music Award for the world's best selling Australian artist...
and produced albums by Arena and Colleen Hewett
Colleen Hewett
Colleen Hewett is an Australian actress and popular singer. She is perhaps best known to international audiences for her 1984 guest role in the television series Prisoner as Sheila Brady.-Pop singer:...
. He also wrote the song "Courage in their Eyes" for the Seven Network's Olympics coverage. He is now working on the 3AW
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...
radio station in Melbourne.
1982 re-recording
In 1982 "Up There Cazaly" was rewritten and released as "Up There Old England" by Cliff PortwoodCliff Portwood
Clifford Portwood is a former English footballer.-Playing career:Cliff Portwood started his career with Manchester Athletic before joing Preston North End in 1955. He quickly became a regular for the first 11, becoming Tom Finney's understudy. He joined Port Vale for £750 in August 1959. and was...
and "Members of the 1966 World Cup Team", such as Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst etc. Cliff Portwood was a long-time friend of Mike Brady and had permission to use this song along with Peter Sullivan, Cliff's pianist in Australia for the World Cup in 1982. Mike flew to England to help Cliff record the song, but unfortunately it was never released, due to the B side of the song having a portion of "Land Of Hope Glory" on it, creating a minor licensing issue just as it was getting major airtime on the radio.
Personal Life
Currently Brady lives in Melbourne, Australia . He has four children; Christian, Ben, Daisy and Michael.Further reading
- Noel Delbridge Up There, Mike Brady, Coulomb Communications Port Melbourne Victoria ISBN 0-9580737-4-0