Linda George (Aust)
Linda George was one of Australia’s most successful and respected female vocalists of the 1970s enjoying a string of hit records. She later went on to enjoy a reputation as one of the most in demand session singers on recordings by other artists as well as on jingles for TV and Radio.
History and Early Career with Nova Express
Linda was actually born in the UK but emigrated with her family to Australia as a young teenager in the 1960s where they settled in Adelaide. By 1969 Linda had joined her first band Nova Express, a large Jazz-Rock band similar to the then popular Chicago or Blood Sweat and Tears, with the notable difference of having a female singer up front.
Finding it hard to financially sustain such a large ensemble the Nova Express soon moved to Melbourne, Victoria, then the live music capital of Australia. There they entered and won the state final of the 1969 Hoadley’s Battle Of The Sounds, though they lost out to The Flying Circus Zoot and 3rd place getter Autumn at the National Finals the following year. However 1970 also saw the band’s first and only single released on the EMI label imprint Columbia Graphophone Company. A more than competent version of Piece Of My Heart it was originally recorded by Aretha Franklin’s sister Erma Franklin, this much covered song is perhaps better known today from the version by Janis Joplin while she was with Big Brother and The Holding Company. This debut single managed to reach a respectable #28 in hometown Melbourne and Linda’s career began to take off. She left Nova Express later that year for a solo career, initially sharpening her performance skills with Brian May and the ABC Showband on a tour of Vietnam.
Linda Goes Solo
In 1972 Linda joined the new independent label Image Records and released her first solo single Let's Fly Away in May of that year. Though not a success her career received a major boost in March 1973 when she scored the pivotal role of The Acid Queen in the stage productions of The Who’s Tommy (rock opera). Linda’s performance was singled out for praise despite a stellar cast of rock music royalty including heavyweights such as Daryl Braithwaite, Colleen Hewett, Billy Thorpe, Ross Wilson (musician), Jim Keays of The Masters Apprentices, Doug Parkinson, Broderick Smith of Carson & The Dingoes, Wendy Saddington, Bobby Bright of Bobby and Laurie + The Who’s inimitable drummer Keith Moon who reprised his role as the wicked Uncle Ernie for the Melbourne show only. Though only staged twice in Australia due to the sheer size of the production, the Sydney show, with Ian Meldrum (aka Molly) replacing Moon, was later televised by The Seven Network. The show later received a TV award for the year's most outstanding creative effort.
The raised exposure helped ensure that Linda’s 2nd single in July 1973 was a success. A superb interpretation of the then current Gladys Knight And The Pips US hit “Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)”, Linda’s version took all the sales in Australia, just narrowly missing the National Top 10, while Gladys’s original failed completely to dent the Top 100. Her hit follow up, an updated remake of Ruby and The Romantics’ 1963 hit Our Day Will Come, while not as big a hit, nonetheless helped to keep her name at the forefront of Australian female vocalists of the time.
Next came the much acclaimed debut L.P. “Linda” in August 1974. No expense was spared and apart from the very best of Aussie musos at the time, US Record producer Jack Richardson, who had worked with Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Poco & Bob Seger among others, was brought to Australia to oversee proceedings.
Choosing not to rest on her laurels, neither of Ms. George’s previous 2 hits appeared on the new record. However the first single from the album became Linda’s biggest hit and her signature song “Mama’s Little Girl” which went to #8 Nationally. It’s follow up Give It Love was not as successful but did garner enough TV & radio exposure to keep album sales moving steadily. While only peaking at #32, the “Linda” album stayed on the charts for 5 months, quite an achievement for an Australian female performer at the time. These past 2 years had also seen Linda win several awards as best vocalist, despite some formidable competition at the time.
Now at the peak of her still young career Jack Richardson was again enlisted to produce the follow up album, Step By Step which was released in December 1975. The album featured a tougher rock sound compared to the soul/pop of the previous release. To promote the album she formed her own Linda George Band which performed throughout 1976 to rave reviews for her performances. The album’s first single Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Dah Day performed reasonably well in former hometown Adelaide, but public reaction in the rest of Australia was only lukewarm. Even worse the album only managed 3 weeks at the very bottom of the Top 100. A follow up single, this time the title track was released to boost sales but this performed even more poorly, failing to make the charts at all.
Moving on from this disappointment, Linda then released a brand new, non-album single Sitting In Limbo in November 1976. A fine version of the Jimmy Cliff classic, it still did nothing to stem the tide. Following this latest disappointment Linda broke her ties with Image to continue working as a Session musician singer and found herself much in demand.
The In Demand Session Singer and Beyond
Throughout her hitmaking years Linda George had continued to be a popular backing vocalist on many singles and albums by her contemporaries, including Brian Cadd, Madder Lake, Daryl Braithwaite, Normie Rowe, Marcie Jones of Marcie and The Cookies and Kerrie Biddell. So it was only natural that with her chart career winding down she would continue in that direction. During these remaining years of the 1970’s, not only was her voice prominent in the background of many recordings, but with her hits still fresh in the memory, she was also one of the most recognised and most used voices singing Radio and TV Jingles. These advertisements endorsed the virtues of everything from margarine to Real Estate and provided a lucrative income at the time.
During 1979 Linda found herself performing backing vocals on Mike Brady’s album Invisible Man. Mike had just enjoyed a massive #1 hit with Up There Cazaly and no doubt helped by the unexpected windfall that came as result of this, he decided to set up his own record label Full Moon Records, through which the album would be released. One of the results of all this was that Linda found herself signed to the label and back in the spotlight.
Her first single in 4 years was a duet with Melbourne stalwart Paul McKay on Love Is Enough which was released in April, 1980. It resulted in Linda enjoying substantial airplay on radio and TV. She found herself back in the charts 10 years after first charting with Nova Express, the single peaking at #25 in Melbourne and again things looked promising for Linda. A follow up single, the excellent uptempo Telephone Lines came out in 1981 and also enjoyed some airplay but this time it was not a success. One last single was released on Full Moon in 1982 but unhappily for Linda, this one sank completely without trace and much to the disappointment of her fans, she has not recorded since.
Not that she has been idle. While resuming her session work, Linda also spent much of the 1980s singing with the soul big bands Grand Wazoo & W.J.A.Z and often guested with the Cox-Brady band. More recently Linda’s vocal gifts have been used to teach voice at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Linda is without doubt one of the best and most distinctive voices in Australian music over the past 40 years. It is only to be hoped that she will resume her career so that she can be rediscovered by a new generation, in much the same way that fellow soul-singing contemporary Renee Geyer has enjoyed a recent resurgence. Linda's talent is far too good to be hidden away, no matter how much she may be valued in her current position.
Discography
Albums
Singles
- May 1972 Let's Fly Away / Song To Save The World (Image Records)
- July 1973 Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) / If It's Alright With You (Image Records)
- November 1973 Our Day Will Come / Yesterday And You (Image Records)
- July 1974 Mama's Little Girl / Between Her Goodbye And My Hello (Image Records)
- December 1974 Give It Love / Yesterday And You (Image Records)
- September 1975 Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Da Day / I Wanna Hear Music (Image Records)
- May 1976 Step By Step / Wake Up (Image Records)
- November 1976 Sitting In Limbo / Hard To Be Friends (Image Records)
- April 1980 Love Is Enough / You Are Mine Tonight (with Paul McKay) (Full Moon Records)
- June 1981 Telephone Lines / Physical Things (Full Moon Records)
- August 1982 Face To Face / Up Until Now (Full Moon Records)
Sources
- Noel McGrath's Encyclopedia Of Australian Rock and Pop
- David Kent's Australian Chart Book 1970-1992
- Gavin McGrath's State Chart Books
- Chris Spencer's Who's Who Of Australian Rock