Brian Gagen (the Planets) (1942-2025)

This morning I saw on Facebook an posting from Len Austin who was from the Brisbane groups Red Caps, The Dominoes, The Planets and the Sounds of Seven that Brian Gagen who played with Len in the Planets passed away yesterday which I shocked to see that. Brian Gagen was born March 7th 1942, started learning to play saxophone at age 6, played in the Rhythm Rockers which was formed in about 1956 with Nev Findlay, Lyle Glenn, Kevin Dent and His brother as they played at the Osborne Hotel in Sandgate and Brian was with the Rhythm Rockers until the winter of 1958 when he joined an rock group called the Hucklebucks who were formed the year before which had Alan Reid, Johnny Pal(Pickering), Rob Richards(Bobby Rich) and John Reid which the 4 of them including Brian were with the Hucklebucks until they left Easter 1959. Brian, Robb, Johnny, John and Rob Tonge formed the Planets which they played their very first show at the Nundah Memorial Hall Friday May 22nd 1959 and it was the start of the 6 year run for the Planets which Brian and Rob would be there throughout the years as there were line up changes in the group through the years with Steve Neale, Mike Casey, Ron Ashton, Len Austin, Vance Lendich, Glenn Mooney and Keith Johnson. The Planets played around Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Warwick and many others as they ran their own shows and played at venues including Cloudland (Tuesday Nights),Railway Institute, Darra RSL, City Hall(1962-63 Tuesday Nights), Festival Hall and had residencies at Ahepa Hall Westend (1961-62), their own venue Birdland (October 26th 1962-December 20th 1963), TC's on ELziabeth Street in the city and Teen City in Red Hill (January 3rd 1964-March 13th 1965) which the Planets were the first Brisbane group to play @ TC's Sunday afternoon May 26th 1963 which they were there during 1963 and went back there in 1965 for an few shows there. The Planets were the support act for American singer Fabian at Festival Hall October 15th 1959 and worked on local TV including The Hi Fi Club hosted by Johnny James and Teen Beat hosted by 4BC Disc Jockey Geoff Atkinson which was on Wednesday nights as they did the audio for the show @ 4BC studios which sadly no footage of those music shows exist. THe Planets worked with many of the big names of Australian music including Lucky Starr, Lonnie Lee, The Delltones, The De Kroo Brothers, Johnny Chester, Digger Revell, Warren Williams as well as local singers including Mandy Sheridan, Sherry Wheeler, Sandy Ainsworth, Billy Thorpe, The Bee Gees, Ross D Wyllie, Tony Worsley and many others. My Mum Cath saw the Planets at the Festival Hall when Fabian performed there, Ahepa Hall, Railway Institute and Birdland where she remembers seeing the De Kroo Brothers and Brian had a job as an jeweller at Hardy Brothers Jewellers in Queen Street. The Planets ended in 1965 with Len Austin, Steve Neale, Keith Johnson and Vance Lendich formed the Sounds of Seven and Brian worked with moulded plastics as well as welded plastics for companies including CSIRO, Max Factor and the National Bank and in 1981 Brian started Poly Flex which deals with Marine stuff which the comapny is still going today. Brian made appearances at the Rock and Roll Reunions over the years and I got to meet Brian On Sunday March 27th 2011 at the Riverside Ballroom which I got an autograph and an photo and I would see him again on Sunday March 25th 2012, Sunday April 4th 2013 and Sunday May 18th 2014 at New Farm and the Broncos Leagues Club Sunday July 12th 2015 which he chatted an bit and he was an very nice man and also communicated with him on email an few times. It is an sad time for Brisbane music and to his family as the Planets were part of the early days of Brisbane rock which they made an impact and also their part of the Brisbane music scene should be acknowledged considering they were not an recording group but were very popular live. May the Planets' legacy on the Brisbane rock and roll scene be rememebered and with the passing Of Brian Gagen Rob Togne is the only surviving original founding member along with Len Austin, Mike Casey and Keith Johnson still living.

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