Those early days of their career they were known as The Kingston Kids, which the name was derived from the place where they came to settle. It was in 1961 they toured Tasmania with Slim Dusty during the holidays, and it’s believed that Slim suggested the stage name ‘Ricky & Tammy’. After finishing school, they were invited up to Sydney by Johnny Devlin. They appeared on Bandstand as Pop singers which went over quite well, although later concentrating on Country & Western side of entertainment.
In 1963 saw the beginning of their first tour around Australia via the showground working with various entertainers including: Tex Morton, Chad Morgan, Normie Rowe, Kevin Shegog and various other Aussie performers along the way. The showground, promoted by the late Frankie Foster was a footing for many Australian Country and Pop/Rock performers. The Wild One ‘Johnny O’Keefe also did the showgrounds. Their first release in 1965 through Sunshine Label, ‘Won’t You Tell Me / ‘Little Girl’ / Island Skipper /I Wish were backed by the Blue Jays, who were Tony Worsley’s backing band.
For twenty years they did regular live gigs around Australia supporting many top acts both local and international. In this time they released several recordings. – In 1968, they travelled to play for the American and Australian troops in Vietnam on 2 occasions. It was after the appearance on Reg Lindsay’s Country & Western Hour in 1973, they were offered a regular spot on the Traveling Out West program hosted by John Williamson and screened on 50 TV stations Australia wide. The program aired for 2 years – which also saw the release of two albums via EMI .
After 16 years performing – they parted ways as duo, Ricky going out on his own. Tammy settled down to family life. During the early 1980’s, Tammy and her husband bought a restaurant on the Hawkesbury River and on the weekends, Rick and Tammy are performing once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment