He was once the most popular performer in Australia and has evolved to become one of the nation’s most enduring acts.
Normie Rowe and the Playboys were by no small measure the most successful pop act in the 1960s.
Finding their way from the town hall dances of the northern suburbs of Melbourne to Channel O’s GO!! Show, they proceeded to produce a string of hit singles.
The soundtrack includes It Ain’t Necessarily So, I Who Have Nothing, Que Sera Sera and Shakin’ All Over, with half a dozen others that leap to mind instantly as the song begins.
In that era, there was no singer with a bigger following than Rowe – number-one Hits, King of Pop awards and mass hysteria at every performance was normal.
Rowe still sounds off with his original Playboys Billy Billings (guitar), Peter Carrol (bass) and Graeme ‘Trotta’ Trottman (drums) who were all there in the beginning.
Sadly, keyboardist Phil Blackmore passed away in the ’70s. Steve Kelson is the new boy in more ways than one, being only 25 years old.
Australia went through its own version of the Elvis Presley army induction when Rowe received his call-up in the early ’70s and was sent to Vietnam, becoming Australia’s most recognisable soldier.
Since then he has worked tirelessly to improve conditions for veterans of all wars.
Rowe went international after the war with shows in the US, UK, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Greece, Turkey and New Zealand.
He has been involved in shows like Legends of Oz Rock and Long Way to the Top and as an actor in productions such as Les Miserables.
Geelong has two opportunities to catch Rowe and his band.
He plays a dinner show at Geelong RSL on 18 June with tickets between $25 and $50 followed by a lunchtime show at the Gateway Hotel on 29 July with tickets from $40.
