Doug Parkinson - I'll Be Around

[Sunnysoul]

Thanks Mick for confirming the facts.

All stacks up that, in my mind... late '78, 79 etc.

Was definately a few years before others got hold of copies.

Late Wigan / Clifton Hall tune... no doubt!

Sean

I am happy to clarify many of the points raised in this thread !

Firstly, let me say that the Spinners' original recording of I'll Be Around is untouchable, but of the many subsequent versions, Doug's is easily as good as any of the others !!!

I saw Doug Parkinson performing live in Sydney on several occasions throughout the 80's and 90's and was lucky enough to meet and briefly talk to him about his music. And I was also the first person to inform him that his version of I'll Be Around on the Southern Star label was a northern collectable !!! You should've seen the look on his face when I told him it was fetching upwads of 75 quid !!! Familiar story , right ?

Doug started out in the mid 60's in Sydney with a chart topping band that was something like an Oz equivalent of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, a tough blue eyed soul / RnB style act. Their 45's on Festival are all worth collecting and several have real northern dancefloor appeal 6T's style !

As psychedelia kicked in around '67 Doug went a bit "way out" as many performers did and it was around that time that his distinctive image and appearance was set in stone : frizzy afro style hair and pencil thin goatee beard . And he looks exactly the same today, not changed a bit. He is also a BIG guy and if you blinked for a moment you could certainly mistake him for a light skinned black guy !!! He certainly sings like one !!!

By the end of the late 60's he had a massive chart hit with a super-soulful version of the Beatles "Dear Prudence" and he had further hits into the early 70's in a heavier RnB / guitar vein.

But as time wore on into the mid 70's he followed his true musical calling as a genuine SOUL man and he became a central figure in the absolutely cooking local Sydney LIVE JAZZ FUNK SOUL scene in the mid to late 70's along with Marcia "You Gotta Let Go" Hines, Renee "Be There In The Morning" Geyer , the Hot City Bump Band, Johnny Rocco , Doug "Love Will Bring You Home" Williams (of Rockmelons fame - Searling again!) (incidentally Doug Williams once told me that at one time he actually recorded with with northern legends the Younghearts of Countdown Here I Come and A Little Togetherness fame when Williams was living in LA!) not to mention Delilah , Chelsea Brown (the black chick of 'Laugh In" US TV fame ) and Freddie Parris (yes that Freddie Parris!), and Steve Clisby the incredible original lead voice of US soul legends American Gypsy !!! But I digress ...

Doug Parkinson recorded I'll Be Around in 1977 and it hit BIG on the Aussie charts. But success on the Australian pop music scene in the 70's never translated into riches so Doug - for the next 30 years up to the present day - has had to scrape a modest living and as a result has been constantly in demand for his singing voice on TV commercials for everything from Amoco petrol to mobile car repair companies !!! His huge soulful voice is instantly recognisable from the first few notes !!!

He has NEVER been a cabaret or middle of the road singer at any time but that's been the "perception" amongst the general population Down Under because of the fact of his physical appearance and his biggest hit I'll Be Around came at the height of DISCO and because he's had to scrape a living as a singer he has often done shows in fooball clubs and retired servicemen's clubs !!!

So he's always been saddled with that "perception". But ask any famous Australian musician or performer from the 60s70s80s and all have the utmost respect for the man !!! A Val Doonican or Englebert Humperdinck clone ? No way ! Only in the eyes of the ignorant or musically tasteless ! More like Teddy Pendergrass or Marvin Junior !

And he just happens to be a really down to earth quietly spoken humble kinda guy too !!!!

As for the popularity of I'll Be Around on the northern scene, I met Dave Sinclair in Melbourne in the late 80's after I had promoted the first ever Northern Soul Allnighters in Australia and Dave DID confirm that it was he who had introduced the record to Richard Searling ! As Maria mentioned , Dave is still in Melbourne and can be contacted. (Maria are you in Sydney at the moment ?)

Let me just finish with this (and no I'm not Doug Parkinson's personal promotions company!) if Doug ever were to get the opportunity to record that voice of his on a full LP worth of original written tunes with a collection of soulful US musos the results would certainly be soulfully spectacular !

Edited April 13, 2007 by sunnysoul

[Barry]

Now that was a good read.

[Sunnysoul]

I should also have mentioned in my detailed post above a few other famous Soul Music personalities from the US who made their home in Australia in the 70's and 80's , namely ...

One of soul music's greatest producers and arrangers GIL ASKEY of Motown and Curtom label fame , and who is alive and well and living in Melbourne,

As well as the greatest and longest serving Ikette Ms VENETTA FIELDS who was also the lead voice with Mirwood's Mirettes. Venetta has been a mainstay on the Oz live and session scene since the mid 70's !

Edited April 15, 2007 by sunnysoul

[Sunnysoul]

I should also have mentioned in my detailed post above a few other famous Soul Music personalities from the US who made their home in Australia in the 70's and 80's , namely ...

One of soul music's greatest producers and arrangers GIL ASKEY of Motown and Curtom label fame , and who is alive and well and living in Melbourne,

As well as the greatest and longest serving Ikette Ms VENETTA FIELDS who was also the lead voice with Mirwood's Mirettes. Venetta has been mainstay on the Oz live and seesion scene since the mid 70's !

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

I should also have mentioned in my detailed post above a few other famous Soul Music personalities from the US who made their home in Australia in the 70's and 80's , namely ...

One of soul music's greatest producers and arrangers GIL ASKEY of Motown and Curtom label fame , and who is alive and well and living in Melbourne,

As well as the greatest and longest serving Ikette Ms VENETTA FIELDS who was also the lead voice with Mirwood's Mirettes. Venetta has been mainstay on the Oz live and seesion scene since the mid 70's !

All that - and Reg Varney, too!

[Pete S]

The album - side one anyway - is all Richard spins:

Bobby jason (William Powell)

Willie G & The Styles (Deadbeats)

james lewis (The Q)

Professionals

Court davis

Seven Souls

John & The Weirdest

Ty Karim

side 2 is 70's shite - Cheryl Berdell, parkinson, jan Jones, Charles Johnson, T Barkley, Otis Clay, james mack.

[Godzilla]

a tattoo laden heavy metal singer if memory serves right wasn't he?

Maybe you were getting him confused with Angry Anderson from Aussie rock band Rose Tattoo?

mmmm lovely

Godz

[Sunnysoul]

All that - and Reg Varney, too!

Don't forget Spike Milligan ... and recently Leo Sayer is an honorary Aussie

Can we have Rolf Harris back please ?

[soulsalmon]

The album - side one anyway - is all Richard spins:

Bobby jason (William Powell)

Willie G & The Styles (Deadbeats)

james lewis (The Q)

Professionals

Court davis

Seven Souls

John & The Weirdest

Ty Karim

side 2 is 70's shite - Cheryl Berdell, parkinson, jan Jones, Charles Johnson, T Barkley, Otis Clay, james mack.

Thought Bernie Golding had some thing to do with this?

[Guest]

I don't know if it was played first at Wigan, but definitely "I'll Be Around" - Doug Parkinson came into its own as an anthem at The Cavendish Suite,Old Vic Hotel, Wolverhampton...what a venue that was!

Other big records there

KEEP THE FIRE BURNING - GWEN McCRAE

DANCING A HOLE IN THE WORLD - JIMMY DELPHS

PLEASE DON'T GO - WILLIE TEE

YOU'VE GOT ME HUNG UP - KING TUTT

IT TAKES HEART - GREG PERRY

Along with The Professionals of course but I don't like to mention that as I sold my copy on one of the last nights there for £55...what a cock up that was!

I wrote an article for The Face at the time in which The Old Vic was profiled....it really was a great Soul Night, right place right time and the DJ's complemented each other well.

Neil

[Guest]

Don't forget Spike Milligan ... and recently Leo Sayer is an honorary Aussie

Can we have Rolf Harris back please ?

And "Skippy the bush kangeroo"

[ImberBoy]

Didn't Aunty jack do a version of I'll be around? I'm sure he did coz if he didn't he'd come round and rip our bloody arms off! "I grew up in Oz"

[Sunnysoul]

And "Skippy the bush kangeroo"

Ken, I think Skippy's dead now

Incidentally are you still after that insanely wild version of "Of Hopes and Dreams and Tombstones" by the Purple Hearts (1966) ?

[Steve G]

A Val Doonican or Englebert Humperdinck clone ? No way ! Only in the eyes of the ignorant or musically tasteless ! More like Teddy Pendergrass or Marvin Junior !

I shall pass on your thoughts about their musical comparrisons to my friends down under - like it or not that's how he's seen by them.......Teddy P, or Marvin Junior now you are 'avin a larf with us!