With the passing of Bobby (Bob) Bright, Australian music has lost a genuine doyan, a true music legend.
Born in the UK in 1945 Bob migrated to Australia with his mother in the early 1950’s arriving in South Australia. His career has spanned a massive 70 years, but it was the 1960’s, where along with his partner Laurie Allen, that he became a musical household name.legend!
Bob changed his name in the late 1950’s to Bobby because when he spoke with promoters about gigs and said he was Bob Bright, they constantly misheard and thought he was “Bob Right”.
In response he changed it to Bobby Bright and the rest is history.
A good summary of his life can be listened to, when Bob talks about his life on the program – Australian Rock of Ages.
Bob was brilliant and consulate performer and has left a legion of fans and more music than most people realise behind him.
After being seen singing a song with a band he had gone to see in Adelaide where he convinced them to let him sing once with them, he received an invitation to sing in a talent quest to be judged by Johnny O’Keefe. He won and the prize was television appearance the following week where he sang Johnny B. Goode, and, his career had started.
His first single was cut singing with Glenn Shorrock and the track was Donna on one side and an instrumental featuring Doug Ashdown. Sadly no copies are currently known to exist.
In order to advance his career he moved to Melbourne and not long after arriving he recorded at W&G. The track was There’s a Great Day Coming but again, the track really received little acclaim.
1964 he connected with Laurie Allen, who was playing and singing with the Blue Jays. Having sung as a duo at an informal social get-together, they discovered that they sang well together and had similar tastes in music, although Laurie bought his strong love for country music to the mix.
They then formed an act with a group called The Hearsemen which had some local Melbourne success. However it wasn’t until Bob appeared as a solo act on the Go Show (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go!!_Show) followed by a performance with Laurie singing their first single, I Belong With You, that their joint career as Bobby & Laurie literally exploded.
During their relatively short time together as Bobby & Laurie they had amazing success with their 1966 track Hitchhiker going to the number 1 position.
He sang, he wrote, he produced, he hosted TV and radio shows – his contribution to the Australian music scene cannot be overstated.
He continued to perform and here is a snippet of a performance where Bob performed a track from his CD – Child of Rock and Roll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=426hPv9Y9TA
In recent years, the many and hard years of performing and road travel took its toll, and while he was a regular at the Debonairs monthly lunches, it was obvious to all that his health was failing.
But he always had a smile, always had a story and always had time for his friends.
There has never been a more appropriate person to say – “Gone but not forgotten.”
