Johnny Rebb

On Monday July 28th Australian rock n roll lost a true icon and an pioneer of the early days of rock with the sad passing of legendary singer Johnny Rebb known as the Gentleman Of Rock from a heart attack at age 75. He came on the scene 55 years with his group the Rebels which had besides from Johnny there were John Charters on Piano, Keith Williams on bass, Jimmy Sloggett, Sonny Neville on guitar and Johnny Burns on drums which they had their first hit with their version of the Rusty and Doug song Hey Sheriff number 15 in Sydney and number 23 in brisbane on the Leedon label but had already for EMI in 1958 with Johnny Be Goode (the Chuck Berry song) with the B side written by Johnny Rebb called Rebel Rock but did'nt do anything chart wise. Johnny Rebb and the Rebels would achieve a number of hits throughout 1959 which besides from from Hey Sheriff were Come On Let's Go, Pathway To Paradise written by Johnny Rebb, syd McDonagh and John Charters, Bluebirds Over the Mountain and Highway Of Love and also toured with Frankie Avalon and the Platters(March 1959), the Everly brothers, Sal Mineo and Tab Hunter(May-June 1959), Lloyd Price, Linda Laurie, Conway Twitty and the Kalin Twins(July 1959), Johnny Ray(September 1959) and Fabian(October 1959) which was promoted by Lee Gordon. The Rebels were a great band with great musicians and when I play the CD you can really hear the great playing with sax playing by Jimmy Sloggett and excellent piano playing by John Charters and in 1960 Johnny and the Rebels split up which Johnny went out to release solo singles including Think me A Kiss and also did appearances on Bandstand, Six O'Clock Rock, Sing Sing Sing, The Bobby Limb show, Startime and many others. In the mid 60's he got together with the Atlantics known for the surf classic Bombora and he recorded with them which among them were Come On, A HArd Life, I Put A Spell On You, Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do and others which they are considered classics. I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny Rebb twice which first was at the Breakfast With the Stars at the Coolangatta Bowls Club during the Wintersun festival on Sunday morning June 12th 2005 which besides from him the other musicians who were there Singers Alan Dale who hosted it, singer Vicki Forrest and Catfish Purser drummer from Johnny O'Keefe and the Dee Jays and I remember having a conversation with him about being part of history of Aussie rock which he was blessed he told me and also about the ARIA Hall of Fame as well as asking him during the breakfast about how he got together with the Atlantics which he said that he needed a band and their surf era had finished and they had a couple of good years together and also I got a autograph and an photo which it was a thrill. the Second and last time I met him was at Wintersun 2007 on Saturday June 9th 2007 in the Marquee in Coolangatta at a show called the Golden Years Of ROck which besides from him there were Johnny Devlin, Vicki Forrest, Ian B MacLeod, Lee Sellars,the DeKroo Brothers, Alan Dale and Dave Bridge which he performed Hey Sheriff and he sounded great and I got an autograph and a photo with him as well which it is something That I will never forget and live on in my memory. His sad passing is a great loss to the Australian music industry and may the great music he made with the Rebels and the Atlantics will live on forever and also let's hope for an induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame. Thanks for the memories and the music Johnny Rebb.