WHAT, DO YOU KNOW
JOE?
Not many artists release five albums, let alone 50. To mark the release of his 50th album, Saint Georges Road, here are 50 things you might not know about Joe Camilleri. By Jeff Jenkins 1. Joe was born in Malta in 1948. He is one of 10 children, with six sisters and three brothers. 2. He moved to Australia in 1950 and grew up in Port Melbourne. 3. He left school at the age of 13. 4. Joe lied about his age to get his first job, at a cutlery factory called Myttons. Joe was part of the polishing line. 5. He played bass in his first band, The Drollies, in 1964. 6. The Drollies’ second gig was a mod ball at Caulfield Town Hall. Also on the bill was The King Bees, featuring guitarist Peter Starkie (who became a founding member of Skyhooks) and bass player Dave Flett (who later joined the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band). The King Bees didn’t have a singer, so they asked Joe to join. 7. Joe was 23 when he bought his first sax, for $32 from Clemens in Russell Street. 8. In the early ’70s, Joe was a member of the Adderley Smith Blues Band (with Kerryn Tolhurst, who later formed The Dingoes and produced The Black Sorrows’ Lucky Charm); Lipp And The Double Dekker Brothers (with Peter Starkie, Dave Flett and Jane Clifton) and the Sharks (with Eric Gradman). 9. In 1973, Joe was part of Roger Rocket And His Millionaires with Dave Flett and Peter Starkie, a band put together to back Paul Madigan’s stripper wife, Mary “Doody” Scott Pilkington, on a tour of WA mining towns. 10. Back in Melbourne, Joe joined The Pelaco Brothers, a band featuring Stephen Cummings, Peter Lillie and future Triple R identity Johnny Topper. 11. Joe’s mum called him “Zep”, short for “Joseph”, so he started calling himself “Jo Zep”. For a short time, he called himself “Jo Soap”. He then considered “Joe White”, before coming up with Jo Jo Zep. 12. Joe has also used the name “Joey Vincent”. 13. As Jo Jo Zep, Joe made his first Countdown appearance on their 1975 Christmas show, performing the first Jo Jo Zep single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’, credited to Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers. 14. The first Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons album, 1977’s Don’t Waste It, was produced by Ross Wilson. 15. Original Skyhooks singer Steve Hill was a manager of The Falcons. 16. Joe produced The Sports debut album, 1978’s Reckless. 17. Elvis Costello covered The Falcons’ 1978 single, ‘So Young’. 18. Joe played sax on Skyhooks’ ‘Hotel Hell’ on their 1978 album, Guilty Until Proven Insane. 19. Joe estimates that the Falcons made more than $1 million in 1979. He received $15,000. 20. The Falcons toured the US in 1980. At their biggest gig, a festival at the Oakland Coliseum with Journey, Black Sabbath and Cheap Trick, the crowd threw missiles at Joe. He said: “Is it any wonder your parents lost the Vietnam War – you can’t even shoot straight!” The crowd was not happy. 21. Joe played sax on ‘My Baby’, Cold Chisel’s first US single. 22. Joe co-produced the first Paul Kelly and the Dots album, 1981’s Talk. 23. After Jo Jo Zep finished, Joe got a job at the Footscray fruit market. “In those days, there were no comebacks,” he said. “I thought I was done.” 24. The original Black Sorrows lineup featured Daddy Cool’s Gary Young and Wayne Duncan. The band started at a Melbourne café, Café Neon. “I was working there, pouring coffees,” Joe explains. “My friend, Chris, who owned the place, said, ‘Why don’t you come and play on a Sunday afternoon?’ I was ‘Joey Vincent’, while Chris was ‘Johnny Coal’. We shared the same taste in music and The Black Sorrows were born.”
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25. Joe started two record labels in the ’80s, Mighty Records and Spirit Records. Spirit released records by Billy Baxter, Steve Hoy, Nick Smith and Jane Clifton. 26. Joe made the first Black Sorrows album, Sonola, for $1300. The opening track was a cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. 27. Elvis Costello bought a copy of Sonola at Gaslight Records. 28. Joe didn’t write any of the songs on Sonola. 29. Joe played a miner in Richard Lowenstein’s first feature film, Strikebound. And he had a cameo (as “Terry Towling Man”) in Dogs In Space, alongside Michael Hutchence. 30. Joe mortgaged his house to make Dear Children, the album that led to his deal with CBS/Sony. 31. Vika and Linda Bull joined the Sorrows for six weeks in 1988. They stayed for six years. 32. Initially, Joe didn’t want to put ‘Chained To The Wheel’ on the Hold On To Me album. “It wasn’t until I found Vika Bull and realised I could make it a male-female thing that I knew it could work.” 33. Hold On To Me and Harley and Rose hit the Top 10 in Norway. 34. John Denver recorded three Black Sorrows songs – ‘Chained To The Wheel’, ‘Hold On To Me’ and ‘The Chosen Ones’. Joe never met him. 35. Joe played on the Icehouse hit ‘Don’t Believe Anymore’. 36. The Black Sorrows won Best Group at the 1990 ARIA Awards. 37. ‘Stir It Up’, the single from the Sorrows best-of album, The Chosen Ones, was a Top 40 hit in Germany. 38. More than 50 people have been members of the Black Sorrows. 39. Joe played a busker in the 1990 movie Return Home, starring Frankie J. Holden and Joe’s then wife, Mickey. 40. When a record executive told Joe to do a radio edit of one of the Black Sorrows songs, saying that six minutes was too long for a single, Joe came back, tossed the CD on his desk and said: “There’s your radio edit – it’s three minutes and 180 seconds.” 41. Joe was inducted into the Victorian Rock Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1994. Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007. 42. Joe produced Tiddas’ second album, 1996’s self-titled set. 43. Joe and Paul Kelly produced Renée Geyer’s 1999 album, Sweet Life. 44. During his 45-year career, Joe has had just one Top 10 single – ‘Chained To The Wheel’ (number nine in 1989). 45. Ubiquitous drummer Peter Luscombe is Joe’s son-in-law. 46. Joe has released albums with five different acts – Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons, The Black Sorrows, The Revelators, Bakelite Radio and Joe Camilleri/Nicky Bomba. 47. Joe has never released a solo album. 48. Bakelite Radio’s first album was called Bakelite Radio Volume II. Their fourth album was called Bakelite Radio Volume I. 49. Despite releasing 50 albums, Joe has never had a number one album. His highest-charting album was 1990’s Harley and Rose, which reached number three. 50. Joe has had 13 Top 50 albums and 14 Top 50 singles. Saint Georges Road is released September 10 on Ambition.
