THE EASYBEATS Vocalist STEVIE WRIGHT Dead At 68; Band Heavily Influenced AC/DC
December 28, 2015, 8 years ago
The news that Stevie Wright – solo artist, singer for The Easybeats and, thanks to that band’s immortal single “Friday On My Mind”, Australia’s first international pop star – has died at the age of 68 will not surprise anyone familiar with his story. That does not make his loss any less devastating, reports The Guardian.
Billed as Little Stevie in his early years, Wright was Australia’s prototype rock’n’roll frontman. Some of his moves, not to mention his leering grin, were copied by AC/DC’s Bon Scott. They also found an echo in Chrissie Amphlett, whose band the Divinyls covered the Easybeats’s “I’ll Make You Happy”.
Wright, along with his bandmates, was part of the first wave of migrants to jump-start Australian rock and pop. Born in Leeds in 1947, he emigrated with his family to Australia when he was nine, settling in Villawood. There he met Dutch-born Harry Vanda and Scot George Young (older brother of AC/DC’s Malcolm and Angus), both of whom were living at the local migrant hostel.
Wright wrote lyrics for many of the Easybeats’s early hits, including “She’s So Fine”, “Wedding Ring” and fan favourite “Sorry” – a #1 hit in Australia in 1966 and as tough a record as anything released to that point by the early Kinks, Rolling Stones or the Small Faces.
Read more at The Guardian.
