By Ian McFarlane
Vale Johnny Young (11 March 1947-14 August 2026)
Esteemed Australian singer, songwriter and television presenter Johnny Young has died following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
During the 1970s and 1980s Young was best known as the compere of television variety show Young Talent Time, with his perpetually sunny disposition epitomising the wholesome nature on offer. The show helped launch the likes of Debra Byrne, Jamie Redfern, Karen Knowles, Tina Arena and Dannii Minogue on to the wider arena of Australian entertainment. YTT was, alongside Countdown, essential viewing for generations of music fans.
During the 1960s, Young was a bona fide pop star himself, scoring a string of frantic beat pop hits. His enduring legacy, however, will be his astute songwriting craft, having penned hits for Russell Morris, Ross D. Wyllie, Ronnie Burns, Lionel Rose and UK group Herman’s Hermits.
Young was born John Benjamin de Jong in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He grew up in Kalamunda, WA, beginning his career in 1965 as a trainee disc jockey on Perth radio. He hosted local television pop show Club 7 Teen and formed Johnny Young and Kompany. When The Easybeats visited Perth, Stevie Wright and George Young presented him with a demo of ‘Step Back’. Issued as a double-sided single with a cover of The Strangeloves’ hand-clapping stomper ‘Cara-Lyn’, it became a smash #1 hit in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. With his move to Melbourne in 1966, Young took over the reins from the departing Ian ‘Turps’ Turpie as compere of the popular Go!! Show.
In June 1967 he set off for the UK. He stayed for eight months but later rued the venture, saying, “I achieved absolutely nothing, lost all my money and came back to Australia very dejected”. Despite his misgivings, it wasn’t a complete fiasco because he received encouragement from Barry Gibb who recognised his potential as a songwriter. He also recorded three Bee Gees songs, including ‘Craise Finton Kirk’, which he added to six of his early compositions for his London-recorded album Surprises. The album remains a fine, if under-appreciated, example of contemporary psych pop.
Back in Australia his songwriting progressed rapidly. He wrote hit singles for Russell Morris (‘The Real Thing’, ‘The Girl That I Love’), Ronnie Burns (‘Smiley’), Ross D. Wyllie (‘The Star’), Lionel Rose (‘I Thank You’), Normie Rowe (‘Hello’) and Herman’s Hermits (‘Here Comes the Star’). Once producer Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum’s got hold of Young’s modest composition ‘The Real Thing’ and added his audacious studio embellishments, he and Morris transformed it into a reverberating psychedelic epic. It soared to #1 on the charts in May 1969 and remains an Australian classic. The characteristic “Ooh mama-mow-mow” is right up there with “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop a-lop-bam-boom!” as one of the most iconic vocal hooks in all of rock music.
In 1970 Young teamed up with Kevin Lewis to form Lewis-Young Productions. Their first outings were the television pop shows Happening ’70 and Happening ’71, followed by Young Talent Time in early 1971. YTT was originally screened for a 13-week season but became so successful that it ran to 804 episodes over 18 years. As each episode drew to a close, Young and the team would sing The Beatles’ ‘All My Lovin’’ which became his signature tune. He’d given up his recording and songwriting career for his other business enterprises, which also included a successful school of music.
On 27 October 2010, as one of YTT’s brightest talents Tina Arena inducted Young into the ARIA Hall of Fame. As Johnny Young said at the very end of every YTT episode, “Good night Australia”.