Legendary Daddy Cool bass player Wayne Duncan has died.
Duncan was a founding member of Daddy Cool with Ross Wilson, Ross Hannaford and Gary Young. The band formed in Melbourne in 1970.
Prior to Daddy Cool, Wilson, Hannford and Duncan were members of Sons of The Vegetal Mother. Duncan’s earlier Melbourne band was The Rondells.
As a member of Daddy Cool, Wayne Duncan and band became the act to sell over 100,000 albums in Australia with the now classic ‘Daddy Who Daddy Cool’.
The album contained ‘Eagle Rock’ and ‘Come Back Again’, two songs that have become Australian anthems.
Daddy Cool only made one more studio album before splitting. The controversial ‘Sex Dope RocknRoll Teenage Heaven’ earned itself a radio ban with the song ‘Baby Let Me Bang Your Box’ but it also earned Daddy Cool a top 20 hit with ‘Hi Honey Ho’.
Duncan and the band attempted a reunion in 1994 and releases the single ‘Ballad of Oz’ with a Skyhooks reunion song ‘Happy Hippy Hut’ on the b-side but the reunion fell apart when a join tour was aborted.
In 2005 Daddy Cool reunited for the Tsunami benefit concert and released a new single ‘The Christmas Bug’. A live DVD from the show followed in 2006 and then finally a third album ‘The New Cool’.
The last time Daddy Cool played together was for their induction into The Age Music Victoria Hall of Fame in 2014.
Ross Hannaford died on 8 March 2016 from cancer.
Wayne Duncan suffered a stroke last week. He is survived by partner Anne and daughters Catherine and and Justine.
