By Hollie Harris
ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, and number one selling Platinum artist, King of Pop, Australian icon Russell Morris is set to play the Imperial Hotel Eumundi tomorrow night.
Shooting to fame in the middle-’60s with Somebody’s Image, Russell had a string of hits including Hush and the Bob Dylan classic Baby Blue.
In 1969 he and producer Molly Meldrum released “The Real Thing”, Australia’s only true psychedelic number one hit and a song that is played regularly on commercial radio to this day.
Following that, Russell penned breakthrough hits such as Sweet Sweet Love, Wings of an Eagle, Rachel, Part 3 into Paper Walls, The Girl That I Love and many more.
In 2012 Russell released the Sharkmouth Album, a collection of tunes written about Australian historical characters.
Sharkmouth reached the number one position on the iTunes Blues Charts and number one on the Australian Blues Radio Charts, Russell won the 2013 ARIA award for Best Blues n Roots album for Sharkmouth.
In April 2014 Russell released Van Diemen’s Land. Van Diemen’s Land picks up where Sharkmouth left off, this time covering great Australian characters and stories including Breaker Morant, Sandakan, the Eureka Stockade and many more.
Morris is joined on Van Diemen’s Land by a host of special guest artists including Joe Camilleri, Rick Springfield, Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil), Scott Owen (The Living End), Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool), Vika and Linda Bull, Phil Manning (Chain) and Joe Robinson.
“Van Diemen’s Land is an album that has been an amazing experience to make,” Morris said.
“With the success of Sharkmouth; it really let me off my leash so to speak. It showed me that people want music that tells them a story and moves them,” he said.
Upon its release Van Diemen’s Land debuted at number four on the National Aria Charts and was nominated for Best Blues n Roots album in the 2014 ARIA awards.
the album went on to win best Australian Blues Album 2015 and Russell Morris won best male vocalist at the Chain awards.
Russell Morris performs at the brewery in the Imperial Hotel Eumundi this Friday 13 January, with guests the Brodie Graham Trio. Tickets are available online at Oztix for $25 or at the door for $30.
