Australian Rock and Roll star Normie Rowe Had Eight Top 10 hits before he turned 20 (Nine if you count a Double-A). Normie was 18 when his first hit ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ was released in April 1965. ‘It’s Not Easy’, his eighth Top 40 hit was released 18 months later in December 1966.
Normie Rowe is now 75 and still performing. This weekend he will be play at the Oakleigh Carnegie RSL Club in Melbourne.
Check this out for the first eight singles, all Top 10 hits:
It Ain’t Necessarily So (no 5, April 1965)
I (Who Have Nothing) (no 9, June 1965)
Que Sera Sera/Shakin’ All Over (no 1, September 1965)
Tell Him I’m Not Home (November no 3, 1965)
The Breaking Point (no 5, March 1966)
Pride & Joy (no 8, June 1966)
Ooh La La (no 1, November 1966)
It’s Not Easy (no 3, 1966)
But it doesn’t end there. Three years ago Normie Rowe released his cover of the 1927 classic ‘Contemporary Hero’ as an ANZAC Day tribute. Normie served in Vietnam, only to discover years later his conscription was set up by then Prime Minister Harold Holt as a publicity stunt.
”I was contacted, not all that long ago, by the son of a military officer who was at the time the military attachment to Harold Holt,” Normie told Noise11.com in 2015. “He told his story just before he died to his son. His son said Dad said he was in Harold Holt’s office and Harold was struggling with popularity and the anti-war movement. The officer said to Harold Holt “what you need is an Elvis Presley. Get Normie Rowe called up”. If the Prime Minister says something is going to happen then there is a pretty good chance it is going to happen”.
See Normie Rowe live:
May 22 from 3.30pm
Oakleigh Carnegie RSL
95 Drummond St, Oakleigh
Tickets via www.ocrsl.com.au/music or Trybooking
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