Alison MacCallum
Alison MacCallum was an Australian rock singer popular in the 1970's
HISTORY AND EARLY CAREER.
Alison MacCallum is the unsung, and now sadly, almost forgotten trailblazer for women in Australian Rock. When she arrived on the music scene all succesful Australian female solo singers (ie Judy Stone, Allison Durbin, Little Pattie etc) wore pretty, usually short dresses or long gowns. They were also expected to be girl next door types & sing pretty pop songs or Cabaret show tunes. Dinah Lee, originally from New Zealand anyway, may be a slight exception, belting out her mid 1960's ska/rock hits but "Little Miss Mod' was known as much for her oufits as her records. Others like Marcie Jones who also performed with Marcie & The Cookies, built their careers in Australia singing with lots of grunt. But she sang in the then only marginally popular Motown/ Soul style. But Marcie's success was confined more to live performance than chart success until 1973. And she still wore the gowns and mini skirts like all the others.
But this wasn't for Alison who bolted out of the blocks screaming her straight up hard rock & & howling her blues, more often than not dressed in jeans & T-Shirt. With her raucous rock vocals which deservedly won comparison with Tina Turner, Janis Joplin & Maggie Bell who were blazing a similar trail overseas, she was in every way one of a kind in Australia. And she did it alone, without any of the shared decisions, work load and support that comes with being part of a band.
There were other girls singing rock at the time in Australia mindyou. Sharon Sims comes to mind in terms of success but she was part of a band, in her case Flake. Wendy Saddington would be the other obvious comparison but she was more your traditional blues belter rather than than a rock singer. There were other girls in rock bands who didn't have any commercial success. So Alison flew the flag alone as being the first and only female soloist until that time who sang pure rock, and gained sustained commercial success doing it.
Alison began her career in 1967 singing with a succession of bands starting with Jeff Bulls Jazz Band. She soon moved on to Big Apple Union, singing Blues and Motown material. By the end of the year Alison started forging her reputation when Gulliver Smith joined the band. Gulliver who found lasting cult status as leader of his next band Company Caine, joined her, bass player Arthur Eizenberg & drummer Dave McKenzie to become the now almost legendary Dr. Kandy's Third Eye. Reputely Australia's first Psychedelic band, they sadly never recorded but they were a breeding ground for some of our best musos over the ensuing years. Apart from Alison and Gulliver, bassist Arthur Eizenberg and Sax/keyboard player Mal Capewell also went along for the Co.Caine ride with Mal going onto Carson, Healing Force and Oz blues legends Chain. Dave initially joined Ross Hannaford in Quill, then played with Jeannie Lewis and a string of bands over the next 20 years and Dave Ovendon was an integral member of the fondly recalled 69ers. Finally there was Ian (aka Bob) Walsh who played with the Levi Smiths Clefs and Python Lee Jackson. So much talent couldn't be contained in one band and they broke up in 1968.
Alison spent 1969 singing with soul band This Hallelujah Chorus however in June that year she made her first recording with progressive band Tully. It was a great version of The Bee Gees "To Love Somebody" and featured on the the band's ABC-TV series "Fusions". However it did not become commercially available until Glenn A. Baker featured it on a rarities album he compiled "Albert Archives" some 10 years later.
By 1970 she had joined the band that would provide her springboard to success, Freshwater . Freshwater were originally a New Zealand blues band who like many more before and since, crossed the Tasman in the late '60's. Following a few line-up changes they releasd a couple of pop singles without sucess until the release of the notorious Satan/Satan's Woman in 1970. By this stage they had adopted a more progressive direction. Alison joined the band as featured vocalist just after it's release.
In November of 1971 Alison sang out front on the band's next single "I Ain't Got The Time". It was credited to Freshwater featuring Alison MacCallum and this first recording also became her first hit, becoming a top 20 hit in her home town and Top 30 Nationally. RCA, who had released the single then offered her a solo contract which she accepted. She left the band and after a long apprenticeship, though she was still only 21, Alison was on her way.