John Paul Young

In 1972 John Paul Young put his fishing trips & his job at Commonwealth Engineering on hold because his single “Pasadena” was a massive hit.

Working in the company of the Vanda and Young team, JPY became one of the biggest Australian stars of the 70’s and his career has progressed through the 80’s, 90’s and into the 21 Century.

There’s not much of John’s career that hasn’t already been documented: a string of hits spawned over 4 million record sales, a King of Pop award (The ARIA of their day), a couple of Logie’s and a bunch of radio and TV awards from around the country and overseas.

JPY’s signature tune “Love Is In The Air” came back as an international hit in the 90’s after it was included on the soundtrack for the movie “Strictly Ballroom” and was a highlight performance at the Sydney Olympic Closing Ceremony.

JPY’s ability to vary from a light pop to an edgy rock pop voice and his sparkling personality gave a particular stamp to a special type of Australian pop – one that found hits throughout Europe, South Africa & the US.

As a performer John was hard to beat, and remains so. There are few people who enjoy playing music as much and who give the audience their all, evident by his regular requests to return to Europe to perform and his inclusion in the hugely successful arena tours of “Long Way to the Top” and both “Countdown Arena Spectaculars”.

In 2008 John was awarded the International Variety (The Children’s Charity) Club’s  “Presidential Citation” for services to the charity. Also in that year John was nominated for a Helpmann Award for best supporting artist in “Shout” The Johnny O’Keefe Musical – playing 13 cameo roles throughout the show meant for lots of quick changes & an impressive variety of character voices.

On August 27th 2009 John joined the Australian music industry elite when he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Three decades, two centuries and two millennium – who’d have thought a little song like “Pasadena” could launch a career to last that time.