Jimmy Little

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jimmy Little

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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = James Oswald Little
Born = birth date and age|1937|03|01|df=yes
Cummeragunja Mission, New South Wales, Australia
Died =
Origin = Australia
Instrument = vocals, guitar, harmonica
Genre = Acoustic, Folk rock, Country music
Occupation = Musician
Years_active = 1956–current
Label = Regal Zonophone
Festival
Warner
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URL = [http://www.jimmylittle.com.au/ Offical website]

Jimmy Little OAM (born James Oswald Little on 1 March, 1937) is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene. He says his music has been influenced by Nat King Cole and American country music artist Jim Reeves.

Biography

Jimmy Little - a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe - grew up on the Cummeragunja Mission on the Murray River in New South Wales. In 1955 he left for Sydney to pursue his country music where his mellow style earned him the nicknames of the Balladeer, Gentleman Jim, and the Honey Voice. His first single, "Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz," was released in 1956, but his first hit didn't come until 1959 with "Danny Boy," which peaked at number nine in Sydney. It was followed by "El Paso" which reached number 12 in Sydney in February 1960. Little made his acting debut in the Billy Graham evangelical feature film "Shadow of the Boomerang" that same year.

After 17 previous singles, Little scored his biggest hit with "Royal Telephone," which peaked at number one in Sydney and number three in Melbourne (November 1963). The Barry Gibb-penned "One Road" reached number 19 in Sydney and number 30 in Melbourne in March 1964 and Everybody's Magazine named him Australian Pop Star of the Year. His final hit of the era came with "Baby Blue," which peaked at number eight in Melbourne and number 37 in Sydney (September 1974).

Little then turned to full-time acting, making his theatre debut in "Black Cockatoos" before appearing in director Wim Wenders' 1991 film "Until the End of the World". As well as appearing in Tracy Moffatt's "The Night Cries" and the opera "Black River", his teaching and community work earned him the title of NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year in 1989.

In 1992, he performed at the Tamworth on Parade and Kings of Country roadshows before releasing his 14th album, "Yorta Yorta Man", in 1994. That same year, he was inducted into Tamworth's Country Music Roll of Renown, the highest honor an Australian country music artist can achieve.

"Messenger", a collection of contemporary songs reinterpreted through Little's smooth vocals, was released in June 1999 and peaked at number 26 nationally, eventually selling over 20,000 copies. The album featured covers of well-known songs by artists such as Nick Cave, Ed Kuepper, and Paul Kelly.

At the 1999 ARIA Music Awards "Messenger" won 'Best Country Album' and 'Best Adult Contemporary Album', with Little was also being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. At the 1999 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Awards, he won 'Best Male Artist of the Year' and 'Best Single Release of the Year'.

Little returned in September 2001 with "Resonate", a new album featuring songs written by Paul Kelly, Don Walker, Bernard Fanning (from Powderfinger), Brendan Gallagher (from Karma County), and Dave Graney.

In 2002 he won the Golden Gospel Award at the Australian Gospel Music Awards for his lifetime support of Australian spiritual music. In 2003, he was a guest of the Wiggles on their children's DVD "Wiggly Wiggle World". Jimmy also released "Down the Road" for ABC country in 2003.

He has been recognised with an Order of Australia Medal, named as a Living National Treasure in 2004 and awarded an honorary doctorate in music as was Peter Sculthorpe. This was in recognition of "Their joint contribution to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians".

In 2004 he released his 34th album, "Life's what you make it" , a collection of unique and poignant versions of songs by contemporary writers as diverse as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, U2, PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen.

Jimmy Little has been teaching and mentoring Indigenous music students at the Eora Centre in Redfern since 1985 and has been an ambassador for literacy and numeracy for the Department of Education since 2002. He continues this work today.

In 2004 Jimmy was diagnosed with kidney failure and after two years of self-administered dialysis he received a life saving kidney transplant. The experience led him to launch the Jimmy Little Foundation to help the many other Indigenous Australians who are succumbing to kidney disease. The Foundation works with patients in regional and remote Australia and now the JLF is partnering with the Fred Hollows Foundation to develop a nutrition and education program for Indigenous children to help stem the ever increasing cycle of bad nutrition leading to diabetes that can lead to kidney failure.

For more information on the Jimmy Little Foundation visit www.jlf.org.au

Discography

*"Mysteries of Life" (1956)
*"Danny Boy" (1959)
*"El Paso" (1960)
*"Royal Telephone" (1963) (Sold more than 75,000 copies - gold record status 3 times over)
*"One Road" (1964)
*"New Songs from Jimmy" (1964)
*"The Country Sound of Jimmy Little"
*"Winterwood" (1972)
*"Baby Blue" (1974) top ten hit single,
*"An Evening with Jimmy Little" (1978) (a double live album recorded at the Sydney Opera House)
*"Yorta Yorta Man" (1994)
*" The Best of Jimmy Little" (June 13, 1994)
*"Messenger" (June 28, 1999) alternative and classic Australian rock songs from the 1980s
**Track Listing:
***"Down Below" (original by The Cruel Sea)
***"Under The Milky Way" (original by The Church)
***"The Way I Made You Feel" (original by Ed Kuepper)
***"Randwick Bells" (original by Paul Kelly)
***"Quasimodo's Dream" (original by The Reels)
***"Into Temptation" (original by Crowded House)
***"Cattle & Cane" (original by The Go-Betweens)
***"(Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For" (original by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
***"Black Fella/White Fella" (original by Warumpi Band)
***"Alone With You" (original by The Sunnyboys)
***"Bring Yourself Home To Me"
*"Resonate" (October, 2001)
*"Bury Me Deep in Love" (duet with Kylie Minogue) (2001)
*"Passage - 1959/2002" (Ocober 28, 2002) Double CD Anthology
*"Down The Road" (Spetember, 2003)
*"Life's What You Make It" (May 28, 2004)
*"The Definitive Collection: Jimmy Little" (July 9, 2004)

Other resources

Jimmy Little's Gentle Journey, 2003 a 55 minute video written and directed by Sydney-based film-maker Sean Kennedy, and released by Indigo Films,

External links

* [http://www.jimmylittle.com.au/ Official website]
* [http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/l/littlejimmy.html Jimmy Little entry in the Australian Rock database]
* [http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=6&newsstoryid=195 Jimmy Little and Peter Sculthorpe presented with honorary doctorates in music] University of Sydney 3 June 2005 on the last day of National Reconciliation Week 2005.
* [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A352401%20|%20Number%3A352897%20|%20Number%3A351984%20|%20Number%3A565768%20|%20Number%3A358986;querytype=;resCount=10 Jimmy Little at the National Film and Sound Archive]