The Noise11 music website reported tonight that the ARIA Hall of Famer became ill on Boxing Day and was taken to Moruya Hospital on the NSW south coast.
Wright, who was also known as Little Stevie, was the lead singer of The Easybeats, widely regarded as the great Australian pop band of the 1960s.
Their classic Friday On My Mind was a number-one hit in Australia, number six in Britain and in the top 20 in the US.
The group broke up in 1969 and Wright became a top solo artist with his epic song Evie (Parts 1, 2 and 3).
He battled drug and alcohol addiction for two decades.
In 1976 Wright undertook methadone treatment and, a few years later, the controversial deep sleep therapy.
He last performed at the Legends of Rock Festival at Byron Bay in 2009.
The last song I was listening to on my ipod as I logged in here was Friday On My Mind…what a farken classic song…and then I see this…I’ve always wondered how good he could have been if the drugs hadn’t farked him up.
And Evie will always be remembered as one of the all time great Oz songs.
RIP Stevie :s
Uncertain what year it was but he looked pretty good at that ‘Rocktober’ concert at the Sydney Opera house. Not sure if he’d undergone electricity to brain treatment at that stage.
The last song I was listening to on my ipod as I logged in here was Friday On My Mind...what a farken classic song...and then I see this...I've always wondered how good he could have been if the drugs hadn't farked him up.
And Evie will always be remembered as one of the all time great Oz songs.
RIP Stevie :s
First song l ever bought. Picked up Good Vibrations at the same time. Both classic tracks and a fair way to start off my recorded music collection. l did manage to see Stevie and the Easybeats after they returned from England one time. That would have been about 1968 - 69, at the hall on the side of the blind institute off St. Kilda Rd. He had that certain star quality that front men need. Tone of energy and an impish grin that just wouldn’t let up. He commanded the whole audience, and the rest of the band just stood back to get out of his way. A great performer. Then he reinvented himself with the epic Evie, and ushered in the power ballad in a major way to the Oz scene. Rest in peace, be buggared. Keep on rockin’ Stevie.
Uncertain what year it was but he looked pretty good at that 'Rocktober' concert at the Sydney Opera house. Not sure if he'd undergone electricity to brain treatment at that stage.
Uncertain what year it was but he looked pretty good at that 'Rocktober' concert at the Sydney Opera house. Not sure if he'd undergone electricity to brain treatment at that stage.
What struck me with that show was just how big a contribution that little generation of (mostly) immigrants, who all came over about 1960, had on our cultural identity to this day.
Everyone from the Easybeats & then Vanda & Young, down through the younger Youngs in AC/DC, Cold Chisel, yada yada. Pretty much all knew each other, either mates or punched on with each other (or related to each other) in Adelaide & Sydney way back when.
What struck me with that show was just how big a contribution that little generation of (mostly) immigrants, who all came over about 1960, had on our cultural identity to this day.
Everyone from the Easybeats & then Vanda & Young, down through the younger Youngs in AC/DC, Cold Chisel, yada yada. Pretty much all knew each other, either mates or punched on with each other (or related to each other) in Adelaide & Sydney way back when.
There was an ABC doco on that a few years back. Plenty of them met at Villawood. Don’t forget the Bee Gees. They were in the same boat…figuratively not literally.
What struck me with that show was just how big a contribution that little generation of (mostly) immigrants, who all came over about 1960, had on our cultural identity to this day.
Everyone from the Easybeats & then Vanda & Young, down through the younger Youngs in AC/DC, Cold Chisel, yada yada. Pretty much all knew each other, either mates or punched on with each other (or related to each other) in Adelaide & Sydney way back when.
There was an ABC doco on that a few years back. Plenty of them met at Villawood. Don’t forget the Bee Gees. They were in the same boat…figuratively not literally.
Was re-run on ABC yesterday. IIRC it was called Blood + Thunder
What struck me with that show was just how big a contribution that little generation of (mostly) immigrants, who all came over about 1960, had on our cultural identity to this day.
Everyone from the Easybeats & then Vanda & Young, down through the younger Youngs in AC/DC, Cold Chisel, yada yada. Pretty much all knew each other, either mates or punched on with each other (or related to each other) in Adelaide & Sydney way back when.
There was an ABC doco on that a few years back. Plenty of them met at Villawood. Don’t forget the Bee Gees. They were in the same boat…figuratively not literally.
Was re-run on ABC yesterday. IIRC it was called Blood + Thunder
Was channel surfing on a cricket add, and although had seen it before couldn’t stop watching it again. A really good insight into Australian Rock music through the record label Alberts.
Especially with Young and Vander basically making Stevie’s career, then forging AC/DC’s and JPY. Also writing most pop/rock/ballads for so many artists.
Without George Young and Harry Vander almost all of this would not of happened.