John Michael O'Keefe (19 January 1935 – 6 October 1978) was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the early 1950s. A pioneer of Rock music in Australia, his hits include "Wild One" (1958), "Shout!" and "She's My Baby". Often referred to by his initials "J.O'K." or by his nickname "The Wild One", O'Keefe was the first Australian rock n' roll performer to tour the United States, and the first Australian artist to make the local Top 40 charts. He had twenty-nine Top 40 hits in Australia between 1958 and 1973. In his twenty-year career, O'Keefe released over 50 singles, 50 EPs and 100 albums. O'Keefe was also a radio and television entertainer and presenter.
O'Keefe died in 1978 from a drug overdose. He was the younger brother of Australian jurist Barry O'Keefe (a former head of the New South Wales ICAC). His father, Alderman Ray O'Keefe, was Mayor of Waverley Council in the early 1960s. Through Barry, O'Keefe was the uncle of Australian television personality Andrew O'Keefe.
Early life O'Keefe was born in the eastern Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction on 19 January 1935. He was the second of three children of Raymond Moran O'Keefe and Thelma Edna Kennedy who both were of Irish descent. He was raised as a Catholic and attended the local Catholic primary school, followed by secondary schooling at Waverley College in nearby Waverley.
He had a solid musical background and listened to the radio almost constantly at home although he did not often sing around the house. His parents were both good singers. His mother was an excellent pianist and his father occasionally played in a jazz band. O'Keefe made his stage debut at the age of four when he played the role of "Dopey" in the Waverley College production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Being unable to read or memorise the script, O'Keefe improvised his part.
The young O'Keefe was intelligent and perceptive, with a great sense of humour, although his school grades fluctuated due to his misbehaviour and the fact that he was easily distracted. Sydney radio personality Gary O'Callaghan, who was a classmate, later recalled that O'Keefe was often in trouble. During his time at high school, he joined the school cadets, where he made good progress learning trumpet, and he reluctantly sang solo in the school choir. He was a keen swimmer, surfer and sailor and often sailed with the Vaucluse Juniors sailing club.
He matriculated in 1951, gaining an 'A' in French and a 'B' in English, mathematics, physics and economics. In 1952, he enrolled in a part-time economics degrees course at the University of Sydney, but soon abandoned it and enrolled in a short course at the College of Retailing in Sydney, after which he went to work in his father's furniture store in Pitt Street, Sydney.
He had already begun performing at dances and 'socials' while at high school, but his interest in music blossomed after he left school. A strong early musical influence was the American singer Johnnie Ray, who toured Australia to great acclaim in the 1950s and O'Keefe began his singing career as a Ray impersonator. During this period he met and became good friends with Alan Dale, also an aspiring singer, who was then employed at the O'Keefe's furniture business.
In December 1952, Dale and O'Keefe were called up for National Service. Dale went into the Army and O'Keefe went into the Royal Australian Air Force. He was stationed at Richmond, approximately 50 kilometres (31 miles) north-west of Sydney and served his six-month period in two blocks, from December–February 1952 and December–February 1953.
Musical career The first turning point in O'Keefe's career was in early 1953, when he began singing with the quintet of jazz accordionist Gus Merzi at charity dances. During these appearances, O'Keefe would sing his speciality, Johnnie Ray's "Cry", while wearing a pair of trick glasses which squirted water over the audience. Radio personality Harry Griffiths, who met O'Keefe at this time, remembered him as "a bad-tempered ratbag" who often argued with Merzi, although Merzi commented that they never clashed over music.
Recognising O'Keefe's potential, Merzi began tutoring him on piano, encouraging him to broaden his repertoire and helping him to refine his stagecraft. O'Keefe became a regular singer with the Merzi quintet and performed with them every Sunday at the charity shows they performed at the Bondi Auditorium. O'Keefe performed his routine no matter how small the audience, sometimes braving the rotten eggs and fruit thrown at him.
After his second stint of National Service, O'Keefe began singing with Merzi two nights a week, at university college dances, 21st birthdays and private parties. Merzi also managed to get O'Keefe a regular spot on the 2UW live radio show Saturday Night Dancing. Up to this point O'Keefe had performed for free, simply to gain experience. His first paid engagement as a singer was as a Johnnie Ray impersonator, performing on the Bathurst radio station 2BS, for which he was paid £17 plus expenses.
Rise to stardom In June 1955, O'Keefe's life changed irrevocably after seeing and hearing Bill Haley singing "Rock Around the Clock" in the film Blackboard Jungle. He realised that this was the style of music he wanted to perform, and dedicated himself to becoming a rock 'n' roll singer and a star.
By 1960, O'Keefe was the most popular and successful singer in Australia and a major TV star. Australian rock historian Ian McFarlane succinctly described O'Keefe's qualities in the Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop:
J.O'K was the first to admit that he was a limited singer, but he possessed an incredible drive, a fierce ambition to succeed, a tireless facility for self-promotion, a tremendous flair for showmanship and a larrikin spirit that was irrepressible.
The Dee Jays In September 1956, O'Keefe and his friend Dave Owen, an American-born tenor sax player, formed Australia's first rock'n'roll band, the Dee Jays. The original line-up of the group was Kevin Naughton (guitar), Keith Williams (bass) and Johnny Purser (drums). Naughton left soon after the band formed and he was replaced by Indonesian-born guitarist Lou Casch. Johnny Greenan joined the Dee Jays on tenor saxophone, replacing John Balkin. This was the band that supported a tour by Little Richard and his band.
Casch's contribution to O'Keefe's sound, both live and on record, was considerable. He was born in Ambon in 1924, grew up in Aceh and Jakarta, began playing guitar at an early age, and became a dedicated jazz musician. In 1952, he came to Australia under the Colombo Plan to study medicine at the University of Sydney. He was introduced to O'Keefe by Keith Williams, whom he had known from a jazz trio in which they played. At their first meeting O'Keefe played Casch a selection of rock 'n' roll records and asked him to imitate the guitar playing, which he was easily able to do. Impressed, O'Keefe offered him the job and handed him a pile of records, saying "Here, learn these. The dance is on Saturday night."Cox, Peter (1996), "The Ambonese Connection: Lou Casch, Johnny O'Keefe and the Development of early Australian rock and roll" – Perfect Beat, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 10
Their first performance was at Stones Cabaret in the beach side suburb of Coogee. By early 1957, they were playing four dances a week and performing on Saturdays in the interval between films at the Embassy Theatre, Manly. O'Keefe and the Dee Jays quickly attracted a strong local following.
O'Keefe's trademark was his flamboyant stage attire, which included gold lamé jackets and brightly coloured suits trimmed with fake fur. Many of these outfits were made for him by Sydney show business costumier Len Taylor, although one famous red suit trimmed with leopard-print velvet cuffs and lapels, now in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, was reputedly made by his mother Thelma.
At the time Casch joined the band, they were promoting their own dances at local venues such as the Balmain Workingmen's Institute and Stone's Cabaret. O'Keefe was involved in every aspect of the group's career including hiring the halls, placing ads in the local newspapers and putting up posters. "O'Keefe was the promoter, singer, bouncer, door attendant, sold the ice creams, mixed the drinks and cleaned the halls, while working during the days at his father's furniture store."Cox, Peter (1996), "The Ambonese Connection: Lou Casch, Johnny O'Keefe and the Development of early Australian rock and roll" – Perfect Beat, Vol.2 No. 4, p. 9
At the time, rock 'n' roll and its followers in Sydney often found themselves at odds with non-aficionados. According to Lou Casch, on one occasion, while O'Keefe and the Dee Jays played at an upstairs dance venue in Newtown, an "Italian wedding" reception was also taking place downstairs. Some of the dance patrons came to blows with wedding guests in the men's toilets, and within minutes the fight had erupted into a full-scale riot that spilled out into the street, with police eventually calling in the Naval Shore Patrol to help restore order. It was this incident, according to Casch, that inspired O'Keefe's signature tune, "Wild One".Cox (1996)
While the song is credited officially to Greenan, O'Keefe, and Dave Owens, some sources suggest that O'Keefe was not directly involved in the composition.Luckman, Susan 2001, '"What are they raving on about?": Temporary Autonomous Zones and Reclaiming the Streets', Perfect Beat, Vol. 5, No. 2, p64. Sydney disc jockey Tony Withers was credited with helping to get radio airplay for the song, but writer credits on subsequent versions often omit Withers, who later worked in the United Kingdom on pirate stations Radio Atlanta and, as Tony Windsor, on Radio London.
"Wild One" was recorded originally by Jerry Allison with Buddy Holly backing on guitar in 1958 under the alias "Ivan", his middle name, after hearing O'Keefe perform it on tour. It reached No. 68 on the American Billboard singles chart and was revived in 1986 and recorded by Iggy Pop as "Real Wild Child". A cover by Christopher Otcasek was used on the soundtrack for the movie Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. It was also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Everlife, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Glamour Camp, Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, Wakefield and Jet.
Meeting with Lee Gordon O'Keefe first met Bill Haley during his tour in 1957 in Australia. Haley was impressed by O'Keefe, giving him a song to record ("You Hit The Wrong Note, Billy Goat") and recommending him to Ken Taylor, A&R manager of leading local record company Festival Records. Taylor, however, failed to act on Haley's advice, so O'Keefe then famously took matters into his own hands and began telling the local press that he had in fact been signed to Festival. Anxious not to lose face, Taylor auditioned O'Keefe and signed him to the label.McFarlane, 1999, p. 461
O'Keefe's debut single (issued as a 78 rpm record), "You Hit The Wrong Note, Billy Goat" b/w "The Chicken Song", was released in July 1957 but it failed to chart and sold poorly, as did the follow-up, a cover of Pat Boones "Love Letters in the Sand" – which O'Keefe later described as the worst record of his career.
O'Keefe had become a close friend of the music concert promoter, Lee Gordon, and O'Keefe and the Dee Jays' popularity really took off when they were installed as the featured support act for Gordon's famous "Big Show" concert bills at the Sydney Stadium. These concerts were landmarks in Australian popular entertainment, being among the first tours to feature leading overseas rock'n'roll stars, including Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis; Gordon also toured many top jazz acts of the day, including the first visits to Australia by black jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong.