Judy Stone

This article is about Australian singer. For American journalist and film critic, see Judy Stone.
Judy Stone
Birth name Judith Anne Stone
Born (1942-01-01) 1 January 1942
Origin Granville, New South Wales, Australia
Genres Pop, country
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1956–present
Labels Festival
Associated acts Col Joye and the Joy Boys

Judith Anne "Judy" Stone AM (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian pop and country music singer. For much of the 1960s she was a regular performer on Bandstand, a pop music TV show, hosted by Brian Henderson. Stone's top 20 singles on the national charts are "I'll Step Down" (No. 19, February 1962), "4,003,221 Tears from Now" (April 1964), "Born a Woman" (No. 3, September 1966) and "Would You Lay with Me" (No. 2, June 1974). On the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 2006, Stone was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, with the citation, "For service to the community as an entertainer at fundraising events for a range of charitable organisations, and as a singer."[1]

Biography

Judith Anne Stone was born on 1 January 1942 and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Granville.[1][2][3] She has two younger sisters, Joyce and Janice.[4] From a young age she sang country music at home and her parents bought her a guitar, which she learned to play.[3] In her early teens Stone entered and won a local talent contest and was noticed by an attendee, Reg Lindsay. By November 1956 she had joined his touring performance troupe, the Reg Lindsay Show, and stayed for 18 months.[3][5] In July 1957 a reviewer of Lindsay's show in Cabramatta for The Biz wrote that "Little Judy Stone, of Granville, was very pleasing in her turn."[6]

Stone hired Kevin Jacobsen (aka Kevin Joye) as her talent agent.[3][4] She described meeting him, "I used to sing, with a heavy guitar, Western style numbers. Once I met Kevin he gave me one instruction: 'Throw that guitar out the window.' Although I did not throw it out any window, I am now singing without any of my own musical accompaniment."[4] Jacobesen's older brother, Col Joye, was an established pop singer and regular performer on Bandstand, a TV music show.[3][4] Stone supported his group, Joye and the Joy Boys, on their tours of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland.[3] Stone, as a young performer, had been billed as "The Cowgirl from Granville" but on her first appearance on Bandstand she was mistakenly announced as "The Callgirl from Granville".[2] By May 1961 she had also appeared on other TV music shows, Teen Time and Six O'Clock Rock.[3]

Jacobsen had Stone signed with Festival Records and in June 1961 she issued her debut single, "You're Driving Me Mad" – a cover version of the 1958 song by United States singer, Jo Ann Campbell.[7][8] For the track she was backed by the Joy Boys.[9] In August she relocated to Melbourne, for three months, to appear on Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight variety TV show.[4] She expected that "While in Melbourne most of my shows will be adult performances, which will be a change from the present teenagers' shows."[4] Her third single, "I'll Step Down", was released in February 1962 and became a top 10 hit in Sydney and top 20 in Brisbane.[7][8] The Biz' correspondent compared it to her earlier single, "Although very different to 'You're Driving Me Mad', this still possesses the inimitable style of this great little local star."[10] Also in that year Stone issued her debut album, I'll Step Down, on Festival.[7]

In 1963 she recorded "It Takes a Lot (To Make Me Cry)" on which the Bee Gees (Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb) sing backup vocals; it was released as a single in July.[7][11] Her seventh single, "4,003,221 Tears from Now", was released in April 1964.[7] It is a cover version of the 1963 single by US singer Kerri Downs (aka Mary Lou Kiernan).[12] According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, it "became Stone's most popular release of the 1960s. The heart-wrenching ballad... [which] peaked at #8 in Sydney and #7 in Melbourne."[7]

Aside from her solo releases, Stone was often teamed with Col Joye in duets for singles, extended plays and albums.[7] McFarlane found their work "contained cutesy material like 'Young and Healthy', 'Angry' and 'Side by Side'."[7] In early 1965 Stone with Col Joye and the Joy Boys undertook a tour of Japan for two months.[7] In September 1966 she covered "Born a Woman" by US singer, Sandy Posey.[7][13] It was a top 10 hit in Sydney.[7]

From the late 1960s and into the early 1970s Stone "consolidated on her early pop successes with regular appearances on the club and country music circuits."[7] Later singles included, "Mare Mare Mare" (January 1974), "Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)" (No. 2, June 1974),[14] "Silver Wings and Golden Rings" (February 1975) and "Hasta Mañana" (May 1976).[7]

In January 1992 Stone was diagnosed with throat cancer, which was removed by surgery.[15]

In 2007 Stone performed a duet with Scottish singer-songwriter Isla Grant on the track "What's a Girl to Do?" for Grant's album, Down Memory Lane.

Personal life

On 25 February 1966 Judy Stone married fellow musician, Leo de Kroo.[16] The de Kroo brothers, Leo and Doug, were a duet which also appeared on Bandstand and other pop music shows.[17][18] The marriage ended in divorce five years later, Stone reflected, "I blamed myself when it ended, then I realized something its taken a long time to learn – singing is my life... I don't have a social life – there simply isn't time – but I don't get lonely; I have my family."[17]

In January 1992 Stone was diagnosed with throat cancer, at the same time as her fellow Bandstand regular, Peter Allen.[15] Both Stone and Allen were operated on the same day by the same surgeon.[15] In June Stone was still in recovery when she learned of Allen's death, she recalled that after the operation "He came into my room to see me because he was going back to the States and I just wanted to give him a big hug — he looked so ill."[15]

On the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 2006, Stone was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, with the citation, "For service to the community as an entertainer at fundraising events for a range of charitable organisations, and as a singer."[1] In January 2014 she was made Australia Day Ambassador for regional celebrations in Laurieton, Wauchope and Port Macquarie.[19]

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions
AUS[14][20]
1961 "You're Driving Me Mad" 80
"Danger! Heartbreak Ahead" –
1962 "I'll Step Down"/"Mommie and Daddy Were Twistin'" 19
"Finders Keepers" 50
"I Wanna Love You" –
1963 "It Takes a Lot (To Make Me Cry)" –
1964 "4,003,221 Tears from Now" 11
"Break My Heartbreak" –
1965 "Hard to Say Goodnight" –
"In My Neighbourhood" –
1966 "Born a Woman" 3
1967 "Don't Touch Me" –
"And the Trouble with Me Is You" –
1968 "I Might as Well Get Used to It" –
1969 "Society's Child" –
1971 "Day by Day" 25
1974 "Mare, Mare, Mare (Keep Safe My Love)" 22
"Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)" 2
"Where are the Clowns" 79
1975 "We Two Will Love (Oui Pour La Vie)" 94
"Silver Wings and Golden Rings" 39
1976 "Hasta Mañana" 40
1978 "What are You Doing Tonight?" –
1980 "Years" –
1983 "Number One in My Heart" –

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Honours - Search Australian Honours: Stone, Judith Anne". It's an Honour. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Episode Thirty Four (17/09/2008)". Spicks and Specks. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ca-rolling Stone gathers fans!". The Australian Women's Weekly. 28 (52). 31 May 1961. p. 11 (Teenagers' Weekly). Retrieved 25 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia. Note: a photo of Stone appears in the article.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Pretty 'Mighty atom' strikes the double". The Cumberland Argus. 9 August 1961. p. 11. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia. Note: Describes Stone as a 17-year-old: implying she was born in 1944.
  5. ↑ "Advertising: The Reg Lindsay Show". The Cumberland Argus (3358). 14 November 1956. p. 4. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Reg Lindsay at Cabramatta". The Biz. 10 July 1957. p. 6. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Judy Stone'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 23 August 2004.
  8. 1 2 "'You're Driving Me Mad' – Judy Stone (1961)". Pop Archives – Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Lyn Nuttall. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Kimball, Duncan (2002). "Industry – Record Labels – Festival Records". Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975. Ice Productions. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "Turntable Talk". The Biz (2910). 28 March 1962. p. 9. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1963".
  12. ↑ "'4,003,221 Tears from Now' – Judy Stone (1964)". Pop Archives – Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Lyn Nuttall. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  13. ↑ "'Born a Woman' – Judy Stone (1966)". Pop Archives – Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Lyn Nuttall. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  14. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Entertainers mourn singer". The Canberra Times. 66 (20,887). 20 June 1992. p. 17. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ "Pop Stars Wed". The Canberra Times. 40 (11,402). 26 February 1966. p. 3. Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. 1 2 Manning, Fiona (17 September 1980). "Judy Stone's new single: 'The year's best kept secret'". The Australian Women's Weekly. 48 (16). p. 32 (Free: Your TV Magazine). Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ↑ Ward, Kirsten (20 September 1961). "Three boys take to the sawdust trail". The Australian Women's Weekly. 29 (16). p. 11 (Teenagers' Weekly). Retrieved 26 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ↑ "Judy Stone is our ambassador". Wauchope Gazette. Fairfax Media. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  20. ↑ Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book 1940–1969. Turramurra, NSW: Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd. ISBN 0-6464-4439-5. Note: Chart positions back calculated by Kent in 2005.

External links

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