Popular Australian music artists

Australian singer Little Pattie and the band, Col Joye and the Joye Boys, perform for soldiers of Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam, in the Free World Military building, Saigon, Vietnam. August 1966. Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial: FOR/66/0714/VN.

Like rock music, popular, or pop music had its origins in the 1950s and 1960s. Popular music is different to rock in that it uses simple melodies, harmonies and words to create catchy songs or ballads that are easy to remember and have wide appeal. Pop songs are more likely to be influenced by fashions and are more short lived in their popularity than, for example, rock music.

Early Australian pop is a story about immigrants doing well on an ongoing basis, of female singers, songwriters and performers as well as popular activities and events. Australian pop is one of our most successful Australian musical exports.

The 1960s and 1970s – Surfing, love and feminist ballads

Australian pop music has been going strong since the 1960s, with stars such as Little Pattie, who made it big after she was spotted by talent scouts at the Bronte Surf Club in 1963. Her first hit was He's My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy. In 1966, at just 17 years of age, she was the youngest entertainer to play to Australian troops in Vietnam. On the evening of the battle of Long Tan she was singing in nearby Nui Dat; soldiers later reported being able to hear her music as they patrolled in the jungle.

During the 1960s other performers, such as Col Joye, the Bee Gees, Normie Rowe and The Seekers, also became well known for their tunes and (mostly) clean-cut images. Many of these bands or individual performers are still performing today. Helen Reddy rose to international success with her the pop anthem, I Am Woman. When she wrote the song in 1972 she tapped into the growing feminist movement of the early 1970s. Like so many Australian artists of the time, and since, Helen Reddy moved to the United States before finding the fame she sought.