That's Livin' Alright: A Biography on David Mackay

Alan Richards

Description

As in most industries and businesses that are successful, there are the individuals that are out front and take most of the credit for being resourceful, creative and innovative. These can be people that welcome or seek the spotlight of fame and notoriety or simply those that have it thrust upon them by circumstances beyond their control but in most cases, there is usually a driving force behind their success, a clever machine that dominates the whole concept of achievement, ultimately instigated by one person of foresight and of a gifted talent. This is the case of Australian Record Producer DAVID MACKAY, as he is the man responsible for so many hit records and TV themes around the world. This is his story with many contributions from the stars he has worked with such as, Barry Gibb, Bonnie Tyler, Sir Cliff Richard, Francis Rossi and Eve Graham (New Seekers).

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528910682
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

That’s Livin’ Alright: A Biography on David Mackay
Alan Richards
Austin Macauley Publishers
2018-03-30
That’s Livin’ Alright: A Biography on David Mackay About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgements Introduction A Portrait of David Mackay Chapter 1 The Early Years Chapter 2 EMI Australia Roger Savage & Bill Armstrong, John Farnham Chapter 3 ‘EMI UK, A Small Fish in a Very Big Pond’ Wallace Collection Alan “Fluff” Freeman Chapter 4 The New Seekers Fable & The Australian Record Ban The Mixtures – Pushbike song Cliff Richard Barry Humphries Chapter 5 Down to Earth With a Bump...Then Up Again, Cilla Black The Barron Knights Blue Mink Chapter 6 Up With People-Friends For Life Super Bowls The Forgets Phonogram and Royal connections Chapter 7 A Busy Decade Return of The New Seekers Arizona Bonnie Tyler Buster Gene Pitney Frankie Miller Dusty Springfield Chapter 8 The First Half of 1980’s Demis Roussos Jon English (pre- Paris) Johnny Halliday Turning to TV The Bee Gees & Eric Clapton Chapter 9 ‘Paris’ and Jon English Harry Nilsson John Parr Jimmy Webb As time goes by Chapter 10 Theatre Calls Chapter 11 The Frankie Miller Project Author’s Note Bibliography (References) David Mackay Discography (Chronological)
About the Author
Alan Richards has been song-writing and recording music for over 40 years. He was signed to Valley Music Publishers in London, ATV Music Publishers and a recording artiste for AIR London Studios.
His music was produced by Peter Sullivan (Tom Jones producer) and Ronnie Scott (Bonnie Tyler, Lulu and the Casuals). He later became the A&R manager at Liverpool Sound Enterprises before starting Liverpool's first record label ‘Stag Music’.
Later, he became manager to many artistes including ‘Buster’ (No.1 in Japan) and Bonnie Tyler (Mighty Music). He has a Master of Arts Degree (with merit) at Liverpool Hope University in Popular Music Studies and Society.
He currently resides in Herefordshire, UK with his wife Jodie and has four children, Daniel (from his first marriage), Gemma, Katie and Alan.
Dedication
To my wonderful wife Jodie and my brother Dave. For all your patience and listening ears when I needed them the most.
Copyright Information ©
Alan Richards (2018)
The right of Alan Richards to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781787107915 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781787107922 (E-Book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2018)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd™
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
To David and Brenda Mackay, and all those from around the world who contributed their stories and anecdotes in making this book possible.
Also, to Dr Mike Broken from Liverpool Hope University for his inspiration.
Introduction

A Portrait of David Mackay
In the hidden history of popular music, many individuals stand in the wings.
In the case of David Mackay, he reached a very high position at an early age. Firstly, in the fledgling but popular music market in his native Australia, then in the more established music industry in the European and USA markets, initially for EMI UK, and later, as an independent producer, arranger and composer.
It was at a very important time in popular music history. Record sales reached their height during the decades of the 1960s and ’70s. The 1978–79 era was the very peak. From then began a gradual decline because of digitalisation and downloads.
We have the history of a young man working for EMI UK during part of its greatest success. As time passes, his work becomes more diverse when he leaves the major players to join the trend of self-employed musical creators, leading to the present day when, although in semi-retirement, he is still a leader in the industry. This is a classic example of someone creating a ‘portfolio career’, which, when trying to encourage more young talent into the industry, could inspire and open possibilities for them to consider.
As in David’s case, any newcomer can lose a sizeable amount of money as well as profit. Besides the multi-millionaires in the music industry, there are many who have lost fortunes, either through poor representation, naivety or crooked dealings. Some, like David, have been able to make it back. In this instance, it is down to the breadth of his expertise. For example, by the late 1980s, he was cutting fewer records, but was arranging and producing soundtracks for international mass arena spectaculars, composing TV themes and underscores, as well as commercial jingles.
So, we consider the issues that affect David Mackay and how he is a personification of someone navigating the fragmentation of the music world between the 1960s and the 21st century.
Much of his early career was with EMI, the world’s major player at that time; so the attitudes of EMI need to be examined. While he was developing a roster of Australian talent, internationally, EMI was taking very few risks, rarely releasing material from the colonies.
They did take a punt on the Aussie band ‘The Easybeats’, only because when the band visited the UK, they recorded for United Artistes who financed the sessions. UA was part of Liberty Records, which in turn was distributed by EMI, so EMI took no risks, yet benefited via their distribution arm. A similar stroke of luck arose with the very early Elvis Presley recordings. Wally Ridley, an EMI executive in the 1950s, received a tape of Elvis but discounted it as ‘nothing special’, claiming he sounded ‘like a black singer’. Sometime later, Elvis actually turned up on the HMV label through a short-lived contractual agreement between RCA and EMI.
This was the EMI David joined in 1968 when he moved to the United Kingdom, where David found himself in an office, two doors down from the same Walter Ridley.
Previously, in 1966, David experienced a preview of the UK and USA markets on a whistle-stop tour, courtesy of EMI Australia. His first stop was in Los Angeles, where he spent four weeks at Capitol Records (EMI’s American company) sitting in on sessions with Glen Campbell and the Stan Kenton Orchestra. The Stan Kenton arranger at that time was the genius, blind arranger from New Zealand, Julian Lee, who as we will see later, had been partially responsible for David moving from AWA to EMI.
Next stop was London, where would begin his lifelong relationship with fellow Australian, then Managing Director of EMI UK, the legendary Ken East and his wife Dolly. Ken’s guidance would prove to be a major influence in David’s long-term career. On this first visit, he spent many days in the Abbey Road studios, watching and meeting the Beatles, thanks to the kindness of George Martin.
What he experienced at EMI was a company enjoying amazing success.
What he would later witness was the demise of that same company.
The success in Britain was due to the Beatles, The Hollies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and an extensive roster of hit artists. In America, Capitol had Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys and Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin and many others. Record sales for EMI worldwide were unequalled, yet in future years, sales would diminish, EMI would run into trouble, merge with Thorn Electrical Industries, suffer the fiasco with the CAT scanner, which they could not copyright and eventually ceased to be.
It was 1968 when Mackay returned to live full time in the UK. To many it would appear to have been part of a growing Australian clique in England. As early as 1961, there had been the amazing success of Peter Gormley, an Australian born artiste manager who guided the careers of many recording artists, including Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Marvin Welch and Farrar, Labi Siffre, Olivia Newton-John and Frank Ifield.
In the early ‘70s, the British Music Press (NME et al) sarcastically labelled the Gormley organisation ’The Gum Leaf Mafia’ because of the influx of Aussie artists and musicians, such as The Seekers, Kevin Peek, Terry Britten, Alan Tarney, Trevor Spencer and John Farrar.
Interestingly, much of the Australian success in England at the time had British roots. Frank Ifield, for instance, while many thought he was Australian, was in fact born in Coventry. His family emigrated when he was a child, but he returned to the UK where he found success. People believed the Bee Gees to be Australian, but they were originally from the Isle of Man; emigrating as children, only to return to find International success through their recordings in the UK.
As mentioned above, the Easybeats found International success in 1966. All of them were immigrants from Europe; Stevie Wright and Gordon Fleet were from England, George Young from Scotland, and Harry Vanda and Dick Diamonded were from the Netherlands. Vanda and Young formed a highly successful writing and production team, going on to deliver ‘Love is in the air’ for John Paul Young, and the phenomenal success of ACDC, which features George’s younger brother Angus.
From the 1970s, David Mackay has survived the ever-changing music fashions: punk, new wave, techno, grunge and heavy metal. His grounding from the school years, performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, theory and harmony studies at the Sydney Conservatorium, courses in studio techniques at Gore Hill Technical college, theatre performances at the age of 16, engineering in radio at 2CH, then AWA studios; all made it possible for him