- Album list
- Singer Intro
John Robert Williamson AM (born 1 November 1945 in Kerang, Victoria) is an Australian country music and folk music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over forty albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books. His top 10 albums on the ARIA Charts are Mallee Boy (1986), Boomerang Cafe (1988), Warragul (No. 1, 1989), Pipe Dream (1997), The Way It Is (1999), True Blue Two (compilation, 2003) and Hillbilly Road (2008). On Australia Day (26 January) 1992 Williamson was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) with the citation: 'for service to Australian country music and in stimulating awareness of conservation issues'. He has received twenty-six Golden Guitar trophies at the Country Music Awards of Australia, he has won three ARIA Music Awards for Best Country Album and, in 2010, was inducted into the related Hall of Fame.
Williamson has also featured in a number of television series as well as This is Your Life. Many of his albums have gone gold and platinum and continue to do so. He has sold more than 4,000,000 albums in Australia alone. In 1970 Williamson's first song, 'Old Man Emu', went to No. 3 and was given a gold certification. Another popular single, 'Mallee Boy', became triple-platinum. Music journalists, Toby Creswell and Samantha Chenoweth describe him as '[o]ne of the most popular songwriters in Australia ... [h]e has been a voice for the people of the bush and he has been a voice of dissent, openly criticising the woodchip industry' in their 2006 book, 1001 Australians You Should Know.
Early life
John Robert Williamson was born on 1 November 1945 at Kerang Bush Nursing Hospital to Keith Williamson and Shirley Ellen (née Manuel). He grew up in Quambatook, in the Mallee district of north-western Victoria. His parents farmed wheat crops on various small land lots in the region and were both amateur performing artists: singing in local Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Williamson is the oldest of five sons with Robin as the third oldest.
Williamson's performance style originates from his 'farmland, not city bitumen' lifestyle, and his upbringing is referred to by the nickname, 'The Mallee Boy'. His early musical influences were Roger Miller and Rolf Harris, both of whom provided inspirational elements for his first hit, namely using a vocal imitation from 'Dang Me' and replacing Rolf's wobble board with a Jaw's Harp. From the age of seven he learned to play the ukulele from his father, before proceeding when he was twelve to guitar and taught himself to play harmonica. For the last four years of secondary schooling Williamson attended Scotch College in Melbourne. In the early 1960s, while still at college, he formed a folk music group. After schooling Williamson returned home to become a farmer and, in 1965, the family moved to Croppa Creek, near Moree, where Williamson began performing at a local restaurant.
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