Party: Jon English - Live & Free with support entertainment from 9pm

Party: Jon English - Live & Free with support entertainment from 9pm

Jon English was born in Hampstead, London, and came to Australia when he was 12. He is one of few Australian performers who have successfully combined a career in music, television and stage.
Jon’s musical passion and skill were evident early, and before he graduated high school Jon had been a member of two bands – Zenith and Sebastian Hardie. In 1968 Sebastian Hardie was employed as Jonny O’Keefe’s backing band. Jon played rhythm guitar and sang. A stellar career was underway!

In the early 70’s Jon auditioned for Harry M Miller’s first production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. He was given the prestigious and demanding lead role of ‘Judas’ at the age of just 22. The show’s phenomenal success kept him busy for the next five years, touring all over Australia and New Zealand.

Jesus Christ Superstar was the most successful stage production of its day and one of the most successful in Australian showbiz history. Despite all the impressive elements that made Superstar such a great show, it was Jon’s performance which left everyone breathless. Fantastic gymnastics combined with gut wrenching emotion, and a voice that literally took the roof off. Tim Rice, co-writer with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, was moved to comment that ‘the Australian cast version was the best he had ever heard’.

During the time Jon was touring with Superstar, he also recorded four albums. He had hits with songs such as ‘Handbags and Gladrags’, ‘Turn the page’ (his first number one) and ‘Hollywood Seven’. At the same time he appeared in guest roles on popular television drama shows including ‘No 96’, ‘Matlock Police’, and the ‘Homicide’ tele-movie, Stopover, for which he received a Penguin award nomination for Guest Actor of the Year.
For the rest of the 70’s Jon remained in the public eye as an actor and musician. He sang the role of Ned on the soundtrack of the rock opera ‘Ned Kelly’. He starred in the play ‘Bacchoi’ for the Nimrod Theatre, co-wrote a ballet called ‘Phases’ and wrote a regular column for a major newspaper. He also produced his old band’s first album, ‘Four Moments by Sebastian Hardie’, which became one of Australia’s most successful albums of its style. Jon then toured with Bryan Ferry, as well as continuing to headline his own shows. He won an Aria award for best male vocal performance for ‘Turn the Page’, and was voted RAM magazine’s best male singer on three separate occasions.

1977 culminated with Jon’s fifth album and third number one hit single ‘Words Are Not Enough’’, and a concert tour with the band, ‘Thin Lizzie’. He then took a short break from the rock music scene in 1978 when he appeared in the lead role of the incredibly popular television mini-series, ‘Against the Wind’. Jon won a ‘Best New Talent’ Logie for his performance as convict, Jonathan Garrett, in the series.

Eingeladen: Tracey Colgan, Dianne Turner, Lynne Knight, Adam Mirk Mcpherson, Mark Knight, Sherryn 'Shem' Levy, Leah Golding, Anna Vaccaro, Kevin Colgan, Peter Livermore, Aboo Camera, Pauly Davies, Elaine Scott