Draft:Garry Spry

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GARRY SPRY BIOGRAPHY

Garry Spry was born in Melbourne in the forties and was educated at Melbourne Grammar School where he excelled at sport in Athletics Swimming and Football. On leaving school he joined HSV.7 as a Cameraman and studied Television Production at RMIT in the early days of Television working on shows like “World of Sport” and doing outside broadcasts of sporting events before becoming a floor manager to various variety shows. In 1961 he left for the USA to do a Business Administration and Management Course at UCLA. On returning to Australia he went to work in Sydney for Brunswick Ten Pin Bowling Corporation and helped in introducing the sport to Australia. After a year he returned to Melbourne and started the “Victorian Bowling Illustrated” a monthly Ten Pin Bowling Magazine, which was sold a year later to a publisher and became a National Magazine. At a loss at what to do next and bored with the non-existent nightlife in Melbourne he decided to start a Nightclub similar to those he had seen in L.A and San Francisco with floorshows and rock bands, as nowhere in Australia was there a “Rock Club” like the one he Pioneered in March 1964 in Melbourne. Pinocchio’s at 3 Carters Ave. Toorak became the very first Rock Club in Australia and between1965 to 1970 another 20 clubs were spawned from the success of Pinocchio’s in Melbourne alone and with another 20 or more interstate. Garry Spry has been involved in starting and operating 13 Clubs over 40 years between 1964 to 2004 and is considered the Godfather of Nightclubs in Victoria with the following clubs: Pinocchio’s, The Distillery, Babes Musictheque, Chasers, Billboard In Concert, The Palace Entertainment Complex, Santa Fe Hotel, Silvers Nightclub, The Ivy, The Zoo, The Circus, The Racquet Club, The Havana Club and Déjà Vu

Although a major part of his life revolved around owning, designing, starting and running Nightclubs, his true passion came as a bi- product from them in the form of entertainment and management that led him into the Music Industry which he’s still in today 50 years later. With the start of Pinocchio’s in 1964 he became the Manager of the first resident band “The Flies” who were the first long haired band and who became the top Mod Band in Australia most like the Beatles. With the success of The Flies and Pinocchio’s came other artists and bands wanting management and representation so he decided to open Victoria’s first Professional Entertainment Agency called “Pinocchio’s Promotions” where he decided to manage top Australian singers “April Byron,” Colin Buckley and the band “Wild Colonials” and the agency represented “The Groop”, “The Changing Times”, duo “Rod & Greg” and “Jay Lloyd” In 1965 whilst touring the Flies with their first national tour he came across this support act in Adelaide who blew them off the stage, they were so good Spry brought them to Melbourne to perform at Pinocchio’s for a 3-month residency. This band was to become one of the two Legendary Bands of the sixties “The Twilights” along with “The Easybeats” and Spry became their manager. In 1966 The Twilights won the first Hoadley’s “National Battle of the Sounds” and won a trip to England where they worked and recorded over there for 8 months before returning to Australia. On his return Spry immediately formed the first national rock entertainment agency called “Australian Management and Booking Organisation” (known as “AMBO”) similar to the Grade Organisation he worked through in London. This Agency controlled 75% of the rock and pop singers & bands in Australia from 1967-1972 The second thing he formed upon his return to Australia was the first “Super Group” in Australia (similar to the Cream and The Traffic in the UK) taking the very best musicians from different bands and putting them into one group, this band was called “The Groove” who went on to win the third “National Battle of the Sounds” in 1968 and within a year became the top band in Australia. In 1969 Spry, The Groove and “Marcie & The Cookies” Australia’s top female group who he also managed left for the U.K. Marcie & the Cookies worked with Cliff Richard and throughout Europe and The Groove worked and recorded in UK for 2 years before breaking up. In 1971 Spry again began to manage Glenn Shorrock formerly of The Twilights and set up various deals for him over there. During his four years overseas Spry had pioneered Australian bands and artists into the U.K helping bands such Max Merritt & the Meteors, Axiom, The Mixtures establish themselves, apart from his own.

Upon his return back to Australia in 1973 he immediately set up Garry Spry Enterprises which had Management, Agency, Publishing, Recording and Production companies under the one umbrella. Aim Australia Managed Masons Cure, Stylus, Burke & Wills. Act Entertainment Agency booked Kush  Blue Echoes, Wild Honey, Pulse, Rod Kirkham and the Pied Pipers. Air Australia recorded on its  Wavelength Label, Kush and Haillan Rovert Albums. Art Productions produced “Eureka it’s live” a  live radio show recorded at Armstrong’s Studios and broadcast over 16 radio stations across Australia. Garry personally Managed Linda George who became Australia’s top female singer between 1973-’76 and had many hit records during that time. In 1976 he was flown up to the Gold Coast to see a band from New Zealand perform who were absolutely unbelievable and he immediately took them to Babes his Club in Melbourne to Showcase them to the music industry, the band was “Mother Goose” and they blew everyone away with their outrageous show and sheer musical ability. During the next two years they became the biggest earning band in Australia packing them into rock venues throughout Australia under the management of Garry Spry. In 1978 they left for L.A to work through the Scotti Brothers for six months and later worked extensively in New York for nine months before returning home to do a National Tour with Supercharge. Mother Goose continued working and touring until 1981 before returning to Dunedin New Zealand. Spry stopped managing until 1989 when he managed Piano Man “Marty Rose” for the next two years. Garry stopped managing anyone after 1991 to 2007 simply because he hadn’t seen anyone worth managing for 16 years until 5 years ago when he came upon Melbourne Singer Kim Denereaz who he says is an incredible singer and performer who has her own unique powerful voice and is presently working on her debut album for release early in 2014.

In 2000 after the Sydney Olympics Garry sat down for a year and wrote a Stage Rock Musical called “The Great Pretender” and two years ago changed it to a Screen Rock Musical based on the music and real life story of Freddie Mercury. Currently he has been writing a book on the history of Melbourne’s Club Culture from 1964 to 2004 and what made Melbourne the Rock ‘n’ Roll Capital of Australia. Garry Spry is head of the Events Committee for Support Act Ltd. The Musicians Benevolent Fund who raise money for musicians and singers who have fallen on hard times. He is also on the Rock ‘n’ Roll and Australian Music Hall Of Fame Committee looking for a permanent Museum in Melbourne.

Garry Spry was a 13 year old teenager in 1955 in the year of the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll and release of            “Rock Around The Clock” and grew up on it and by 1964 he was a pioneer of it into Melbourne and the instigator and pioneer of Rock Clubs and Disco’s in Australia and of Rock Agencies as well. He was a pioneer of Australian bands into the UK in 1966 to 1973 and to the USA from 1977 to 1980. Even prior to being in the music industry he was a pioneer into the entertainment industry with the fledgling Television Industry just 3 years old in 1959 and the newly opened Tenpin Bowling Industry in 1962. From this you get the feeling that Garry Spry loves to be involved in something new in entertainment but, that is only partially true, what he really loves to do is create something new, a new band, a new artist, a new record, a new club, a new agency, a new musical, a new magazine, and a new book. He may well be considered the Godfather of the Nightclub industry however; he will always be a legend to the Melbourne Music and Entertainment Industry as a Pioneer, Innovator Creator and Instigator.

Achievements Created the first Rock Club in Australia (Pinocchio’s 1964) Created the first Entertainment Agency in Victoria (Pinocchio’s Promotions 1964) Created the first National Pop/Rock Agency (Australian Management & Booking Organisation 1967) Created first Live National Radio Music Show (Eureka it’s Live 1974) Creator of Australia’s first Modern Disco (Babes Musictheque 1976) Creator of First Premier Live Rock Venue (Billboard In Concert 1980) Creator of Australia’s Largest Premier Live Rock Venue (Palace Entertainment Complex 1985) Manager of the First Winners of the National Battle of the Sounds (Twilights 1966) Manager of the Third Winners of the National Battle of the Sounds (The Groove 1968) Manager of Australian Rock Legend (Glenn Shorrock 1971-74)                                                       Manager of No1 Female Group (Marcie & the Cookies 1967-1971) Manager of No 1 Female Singer (Linda George 1973-76) Discovered and Mentor to No 1 Female Singers (Lynne Randell 1965 and Allison Durben 1969)

McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'The Twilights'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 6 August 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2023.