[ John Farnham - through the eyes of a fan ]

Johnny (age 17) now faced the decision of leaving Strings Unlimited in the lurch and stopping his plumbing apprenticeship to give his music career a go. John and Rose Farnham were a little disappointed in his decision but they wanted him to do what he wanted. While waiting for his case to be heard to leave his apprenticeship, he started his solo career in Adelaide. Darryl was still working in Adelaide and he would drive to Melbourne Friday afternoon, pick up Johnny and drive back to Adelaide where he would perform, get some sleep, and then be driven back to Melbourne in time for work Monday morning.
He finally went before the State Apprenticeship Board and because of his hard work and high marks at Tech they granted him a 2 year period of leave.

A producer by the name of David McKay first heard Johnny Farnham on a Strings Unlimited EP and asked him to do a commercial for Ansett. He sung the Pete Best song "Susan Jones". This led to EMI offering Johnny his first record contract.

Johnny's first professional song came in November 1967 with the release of "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)". Radio Stations refused to play it as they thought it was too corny. Cliff Baxter (Victorian Manager for EMI Records) was determined to get Sadie on the air. He conned 'Four Corners' into doing a program about how record companies promote unknown artists. Of course as soon as the camera crews turned up at radio stations around Melbourne, they all jumped at the chance for a TV plug and happily played Sadie.

DJ Stan Rofe had a popular late night album program on 3UZ and he played everyone from Janis Joplin through to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. When Cliff Baxter asked him to play "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" he said, "it's almost a ragtime, honky tonk number - a heap of rubbish". Stan was also doing a TV show called "Uptight" on Channel 0. When he met Darryl they formed a friendship and devised a plan to get Johnny's song to the top of the charts.

The plan was to go along with Stan's image of the time and rubbish Sadie every time it played, and then get Johnny on TV and embarrass him in front of everyone. When they did that, the Channel 0 switchboard was swamped with calls. Stan continued to rubbish Sadie on radio and the record started to fly up the charts.

"Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" surpassed the sale of Normie Rowe's - "Que Sera Sera", and it became the biggest selling Australian single in the 1960's.

Johnny's next EP in March 1968 was "Friday Kind Of Monday" (A Side) and "Underneath The Arches" (B Side). This captured the hearts of the Children as well as the Elderly, and turned out to be a double-sided hit.

1968
Johnny covered "Jamie" and "Rose Coloured Glasses"
He won a TV Week Logie Award for "Best Teenage Personality".
His album Sadie went Gold.
First meets Glenn Wheatley
At Christmas he had another hit song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".

1969
Had a hit with the cover song "One".
He made "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" a huge hit in Australia.
Johnny was awarded his first King of Pop Award (the first of 5 consecutive awards).
Did a Christmas Pantomime "Dick Whittington and his Cat"

1970
Johnny released a second album, "Looking Through a Tear".
Within a month it had gone Gold with more than 50,000 sales.
Won another King of Pop Award.
There was another album "Christmas Is Johnny Farnham".

1971
Played a staring role in "Charlie Girl".
Met Jillian Billman on the set of "Charlie Girl".
Won another King of Pop Award.
Won the "Best Dressed Male" Award.
Made another 2 albums "Everybody Oughta Sing A Song" and "Together" which was done with Alison Durbin.
Also released "The Best Of Johnny Farnham"
Got engaged to Jillian Billman.

1972
Johnny was crowed "King of Melbourne's Moomba Festival".
Went to Tokyo and received the award for "The Most Outstanding Performance of a Composition" at the World Popular Song Festival for Melbourne composer Brian Cadd's "Don't You Know It's Magic".
He covered David Cassidy's "Rock Me Baby" and ended up outselling the original.
Won another King of Pop Award.
Got another gold record for "Johnny Farnham Sings The Shows".