Gavin Wood's Countdown Podcast Jan Campbell

Marty Rhone was born as Karel (or Karl) Lawrence van Rhoon on 7 May 1948 in the Dutch East Indies  (Indonesia) His father was Eddy Emile van Rhoon, his mother was Judith Olive.  She was a singer and actress, who met Eddy through the Sydney jazz scene; he was a visiting pianist.   The couple married in 1947, and migrated to Australia on 21 April 1950 and briefly lived in Sydney and Brisbane, and then moved to Darwin.  

Rhone was taught piano by his father but he preferred singing. In August 1959, aged 11, he first performed publicly at Darwin's Mitchell Street Town Hall in Around the World in 80 Minutes – a charity variety concert – alongside his father on piano and his mother. After he finished primary school, the family moved to Sydney.

In mid-1961, Rhone appeared on a talent quest segment of ATN7-TV series, Tarax Show, and was offered a singing spot on a children's show, 

During 1966 Marty Rhone and The Soul Agents supported The Rolling Stones on the United Kingdom rock group's tour of Australia. They also performed on the bill of the P.J. Proby Show at the Sydney Stadium with Wayne Fontana, Eden Kane and The Bee Gees appearing.  Rhone moved to Melbourne and issued five singles on Spin Records but had "limited success".

In March 1970, Rhone was conscripted for National Service until 1972. During his service he attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon, as a member of their band, for 18 months.

From April 1972 to July 1973 he acted in the Australian stage version of Godspell at The Richbrooke, Sydney with Rod Dunbar, Peita Toppano and John Waters. The Australian cast soundtrack album was issued as Godspell: a Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew on His Master's Voice. He attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and in July 1973 he released a new single, "Goodbye in May". He composed the music for Ruzzante Returns from the Wars, which starred Ivar Kants  Rhone followed with appearances on TV soap operas, Number 96 (1974) and Class of '75 (1975).

By mid-1975 Rhone had signed with M7 Records and issued his next single, "Denim and Lace", which peaked at No. 8 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It was promoted on the Class of '75 soundtrack album. It was co-written by L Lister (aka Jack Aranda) and F Lyons (aka Shad Lyons). Lister and Lyons also produced Rhone's debut album, Denim and Lace, recording at Alberts Studio 139. At the end of the year "Denim and Lace" was the second highest selling single in Australia. His next single, "Star Song", reached the Top 50, the next two were less successful, while the last one for the year, "On the Loose" reached the Top 40. Of the four singles, "On the Loose (Again)" – co-written by Bryan Dawe and Steve Groves (ex-Tin Tin)– was used by Rhone to win the 1976 Australian Popular Song Festival and represented Australia at the World Popular Song Festival.  In June 1977 he had another hit with "Mean Pair of Jeans", which reached No. 10. In July 1978 Rhone relocated to London. In June 1979, Rhone took the role of Lun Tha in the London Palladium presentation of The King and I alongside Yul Brynner and Virginia McKenna. By September 1981 he had returned to Sydney.

In 1987 Rhone became a business manager for a trio of brothers, the Australian boxers: Dean, Guy and Troy Waters. In December 1988 Rhone organised the "Battle on the Beach" for January 1989 with Dean Waters, as Australian heavyweight champion, to fight New Zealand's title holder.

In 2007, Rhone  performed a repertoire of tracks by Cliff Richard; a gig at the Crown Casino, Melbourne, in late 2008 it was filmed and broadcast in February the next year as Marty Rhone: A Tribute to Cliff Richard and The Shadows.  In May 2011 on the Cliff & Dusty presentation he performed with Sheena Crouch as UK pop singer Dusty Springfield and in June 2012 with his own "musical theatre fantasy" covering Richar

Irwin Thomas (born Irwin Thomas Whittridge; 6 January 1971) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performs professionally using the stage name Jack Jones from when he was the lead vocalist-guitarist in the band Southern Sons (1990–1996).

His other bands collaborations include Electric Mary, She Said Yes and Ahmet Zappa. He is known for his collaborations with John Farnham and Rick Price.

He released his debut solo album, The Evolution of Irwin Thomas, in 2002.

Dear Enemy was an Australian indie pop band formed in Melbourne in 1980. The band released a studio album, Ransom Note, in 1984 on EMI and Capitol Records that featured its best known single, "Computer One", a No. 15 hit on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in January 1984. "Computer One" also reached #59 on the Billboard US Mainstream Rock chart in March, 1984. Dear Enemy disbanded in 1988.

On this episode of Gavin Wood’s Countdown podcast, Gavin catches up with Australian saxophonist, television personality and radio presenter – Wilbur Wilde.

Perhaps best known for his work as part of the house band on “Hey Hey It’s Saturday!” Wilbur Wilde rose to prominence with the bands Ol' 55 and Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons.

Wilbur has performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Skyhooks, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Split Enz, Roy Orbison, Cold Chisel, Joe Cocker, Dire Straits, the Angels, Dragon, James Reyne and Jimmy Barnes.

Wilbur has made numerous other TV appearances throughout his career on shows including The Flying Doctors, The Paul Hogan Show, Blankety Blanks, Sale of the Century, MTV, Getaway, Postcards, Prisoner, Spicks and Specks, and commercials for the Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency.

His CV also boasts a string of movie credits including Trojan Warrior, Mad Max, The Coolangatta Gold, City of the Damned, Jenny Kissed Me, Dead End Drive-In, and Cool Change, as well as over 750 performances with The New Rocky Horror Show.

Wilbur has also presented on an array of radio stations, including Gold 104.3, Vega 91.5, 3UZ, 3XY, and 3MP.

Graham William Nash OBE (born 2 February 1942) is an English-American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1997 and as a member of the Hollies in 2010.He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours List for services to music and to charity. Nash holds four honorary doctorates, including one from the New York Institute of Technology, one in music from the University of Salford in 2011 and one in fine arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Susan Kay Quatro was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1950, and grew up pursuing performing. Suzi was playing bongos on stage with her father’s jazz band by the age of eight, and by 14 she’s changed her name to Suzi soul and had left school to become a Go-Go dancer.

By the age of 15, Suzi was fronting the band the Pleasure Seekers, with her sisters. The band toured the country and were invited to Vietnam to entertain troops, before changing their name to Cradle in the early 1970’s and transitioning to a more hard-rock sound.

It was performing with Cradle where Suzi was first noticed by British producer Mickie Most, who was interested in Suzi as a solo performer. Mickie invited her to London and introduced her to professional songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, which turned out to be a winning formula.

In 1973, “Can the Can” flew to number one and went on to sell two and a half million copies worldwide. Between 1973 and 1980, Suzi featured in the British charts for no less than 101 weeks, and has sold to date over 55 million records.

Since then, she has released fifteen studio albums, ten compilation albums, and one live album. Other songs, including "48 Crash", "Daytona Demon", "The Wild One", and "Your Mama Won't Like Me", also charted highly overseas.

While Suzi enjoyed great success both in the UK and Australia, she is mostly known in the US for her cameo on hit TV show Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero. However the appearance might’ve helped her duet "Stumblin' In" with Smokie's lead singer Chris Norman reach No. 4 in the US.

Suzi is still active, writing, broadcasting, recording, and this year she’s embarking on her 38th tour of Australia.