Many
rate Sharon O'Neill as the leading female performer to ever come
out of New Zealand and indeed, one of the finest the Australian music
scene also has ever seen.
Self-taught
guitarist Sharon O'Neill started putting chords to her poetry whilst in
her teens
in her native
New Zealand. Born and raised in Nelson on New
Zealand's South Island she began performing around the area with her
acoustic guitar in the late 1960's. Her first recordings were with
fellow Nelson locals Robin Winch and Nancy Richman as Suitewater.
They recorded the single "Suzanne"/"Chords Of Fame"
for the Ode label and under the recording name Sharon And Nancy
also recorded "Life Upon Life", a song selected for the 1970
New Zealand Mobil Song Quest and released on the album showcasing
the finalists.
Sharon (right) making her first CountDown appearance
performing "How Do You Talk To Boys" in 1980.
Sharon
O'Neill's first recording under her own name was also on the Ode
label
and featured two covers, Elton John's "Love Song" and Neil
Young's "Birds". Next she made her move to the larger
scene of Christchurch in New Zealand and joined the band Chapta.
She appeared on the New Faces show with another of her own song's
"Nothing Makes It Easy" then formed the covers band Jessika.
Sharon's solo career was stagnant and she moved through a number of soft
rock bands in New Zealand with varying degrees of success.
The most successful of these bands was Shiner, which featured
Sharon's later husband Brent Thomas. At his urging she returned
to composing and performing her own material and reinvigorated her solo
career. Her first major breakthrough was the New Zealand national tour
support for fellow Kiwi Mark Williams followed by a number of
supports for visiting artists.
Finishing third in the televised New Zealand talent contest "The
Entertainers" with an early song of hers, "Luck's On The
Table", scored her a CBS deal and the release of her debut album
"This Heart, This Song". The single was the song she had
performed on The Entertainers show and it peaked at Number 27 on the New
Zealand chart. The second single, "Don't Say No To Tomorrow",
reached Number 6.
The work that was making Sharon O'Neill Australia's most popular female
performer included her second album, the self-titled release of 1980.
The singles lifted from the album and the album itself enjoyed great
chart success in New Zealand and charted well in Australia. There was
also a duet with another fellow Kiwi Jon Stevens called
"Don't Let Love Go".
Following the release of her third album "Maybe" in
1981, Sharon scored
the support slot for Boz Scaggs on his Australian tour and, with
her band including Brent Thomas in tow; she headed off to conquer
Australia once and for all. Sharon and Brent moved permanently to
Australia and continued to promote the album, which charted well on both
sides of the Tasman.
People
across the pond in Australia were starting to take notice and Sharon
received 
APRA
awards for her debut work. By now she was spending more
and more time in Australia and was being quickly adopted by the Aussie
audience.
So taken by Sharon was the Australian industry that she won
the APRA Top Top Female Vocalist Award in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
She also won the Countdown Rock Awards three times between 1980 and 1985
and the Sounds Pop Poll in 1983 and 1984.
Sharon was awarded "Most Popular Female Artist" at the Count Down
Awards
in 1980.
(Sharon pictured
left: accepts her 'most popular female performer' award
from
Molly Meldrum and the boys from Duran Duran).
The
soundtrack EP to the Bruce Donaldson movie "Smash
Palace" came next, closely followed by her fourth album, "Foreign Affairs", in 1983.
The "Foreign Affairs" album featured the most
famous of Sharon O'Neill tracks "Maxine".
The song Sharon wrote about a
Kings Cross prostitute was a Top 20 chart success in both Australia and
New Zealand. It caused somewhat of a controversy, with it's clip
being a little too 'real' for TV music shows of the time. The
album also produced the hit single "Losing You".
The good old "record company dispute" followed and Sharon
O'Neill was unable to record anything substantial for the next five
years. The few releases she could make included a contribution the
classic film "Street Hero" which also featured fellow New
Zealanders Dragon with their song "Wilderworld".
Sharon's contribution was "Blood Red Roses". During this
forced hiatus, one from which Sharon's solo career would never fully
recover, she turned to writing for other artists.
A
song Sharon originally penned for the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation's television series "Sweet and Sour" was recorded
by the Takeaways with Deborah Conway as lead vocalist. The
other was Sharon supplemented her income was to
teach aerobics whilst
living in Sydney. The dispute with CBS continued and during this time
Sharon's marriage to Brent Thomas also broke down.
By
1987 her contract with CBS was complete and Sharon signed to Polydor
who released her fifth album "Danced In The Fire".
"Physical Favours", the title track and "We're Only
Human" were the three singles lifted from the album but none of
them, nor the album, enjoyed the same success she'd enjoyed before her
relationship with CBS expired.
A sixth, and ultimately final, album, "Edge Of Winter",
was released in 1990 with the singles "Poster Girl" and
"Satin Sheets". Writing for other artists became Sharon
O'Neill's forte from then on out, as well as some children’s
television contributions. Personally
Sharon had also begun a long-term
relationship with Dragon keyboardist Alan Mansfield while
former husband Thomas spent a considerable amount of time managing The
Divinyls. Sharon and Alan were also writing partners and had
contributed work for Robert Palmer ("True Love") and
Sharon receives writing credits for four tracks on Dragon's 1989 album
"Bondi Road".
In
March 1998 Sharon returned to a large stage with a performance with a host of
other artists at the Good Vibrations benefit concert for the now
late Dragon front-man Marc Hunter. The concert was held at
Selinas in the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney. Sharon performed the
Dragon song she wrote with partner Alan Mansfield for Dragon, the hit
tune "Young Years". Joining Sharon on stage to help her
sing it were fellow Kiwi singer Margaret Urlich and guitarist
Kevin Bennett. Sharon also joined the 'cast of thousands' on
stage for the finale of April Sun In Cuba, alongside Jimmy
Barnes, Peter Garrett, Richard Clapton, Jenny Morris and many
more.
Sharon sang
the song she co-wrote for Dragon in 1989, "Young Years" with Margaret Urlich
at Marc Hunter's benefit
concert at
Selina's in Sydney on
March 27th, 1998. (pictured left).
Sharon returned again to the spotlight in 2001 when she got together
with some other female performers for the "When The Cats Away"
tour of New Zealand. Those other
girls being Margaret Urlich,
Debbie Harwood, Kim Willoughby and Anne Crummer. The
very successful tour spawned the live album "Live In Paradise".
In
2005 Sharon took to the stage with English turned Aussie singing legend
Leo Sayer. Sharon took on the role of keyboard player and
backing singer in Leo's touring band. Concerts were held
throughout Australia and it gave Sharon the desire to perform live
again, for not only was Sharon in Leo's band, but she was given the
opportunity to open for him at each show, performing a half hour live set
of her own. Sharon opened with her first hit in this country
"Words" and included songs such as "Asian Paradise",
"Losing You" and "Maxine" along with
a cover of the Steve Earle song "Goodbye". Sharon also
performed "Young Years", the hit song she co-wrote for
Dragon, with partner Alan Mansfield, to close her set.
In August of 2006, Sharon toured New Zealand for almost a month as part
of the "Best Of
The Best"
concert series. From Dunedin to
Christchurch from Hamilton to Auckland and all in between, Sharon had a
ball of
a time on tour travelling from town to town with a fine bunch of rock
'n' roll legends from the 60's & 70's who included; Johnny
Devlin and The Tornadoes,
Ray Columbus, Tom Sharplin, Larry Morris and Shane performed
throughout New Zealand.
Together they performed a unique blend of rock and roll and Country to
classic ballads left music fans wanting more after every concert in New
Zealand. They were the heavyweights of New Zealand's rock music scene
and they were celebrating 50 years of rock 'n' roll! This was
proven correct as each and every concert during the tour proved.
In 2006 Sharon continued to tour with Leo Sayer and his
band. Sharon enjoys the experience very much, however,
she is
very keen to return to the live scene with her own band and perform
some old favourites and some new songs as well.
In August 2007 Sharon embarked on a National Tour as part of the
CountDown 2 Spectacular.
The tour took in every Australian Capital City in August and
September.
Sharon joined a host of Aussie and overseas artists including;
The Knack, Martha Davis from the Motels
(pictured right with Sharon),
Rick Springfield, Bay City Rollers, Racey. Plus Aussie acts like
The Angels, Richard Clapton, Kate Ceberano and more!
The tour was a big hit with audiences across the country and Sharon
proved to be one of it's most popular acts.
The DVD and CD of the concert has been released in November 2007.
In
November and December of 2007, Sharon embarked on a National Tour
of Australia and New Zealand, touring with the hit show "Let It
Be". On tour with fellow Kiwi singers Mark Williams
and Darryl Lovegrove as well as Aussies Glenn Shorrock and
Doug Parkinson. Backed by the Day Tripper Band
consisting of mainly Leo Sayer's touring band, with Paul Berton
at the helm and Alan Mansfield on keyboards.
The five
vocalists belted out a string of Lennon and McCartney hits
from one side of the Tasman to the other over three weeks.
Sharon performed such Beatles classics as "She's Leaving
Home",
"Carry That Weight", "We Can Work it Out" and "Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds".
Sharon also made several television appearances to promote the
"Let It Be" tour. Performing with the
"LIB" band on Channel 7's "Sunrise"
program in Sydney, As well as being interviewed on Auckland's "Sunrise"
program in New Zealand. Sharon also appeared on
the popular SBS music game show "RocKwiz" and
performed Dragon's "Rain" with
Evermore's Dann Hume.
The "Let It Be" tour was a stand-out success, which
enabled Sharon to connect with audiences once more. It gives her a
great footing to begin work on gathering new material of her own with the
promise of a new album and some solo shows into 2008.
In October and November 2008, Sharon toured as a backing vocalist for
80's idols, UK singers Paul Young and Tony Hadley (of
Spandau Ballet fame).
The tour took in six dates in Australia and six in her homeland of
New Zealand.
The tour was a big hit with audiences both here in Australia and in New
Zealand.
Sharon enjoyed the tour very much and said that Paul and Tony were great
guys to work with.
(Sharon with Paul
Young on tour - pictured left).
Sharon kicked off 2009 with a couple of guest vocal appearances with
guitar whizz Peter Northcote. In January, Sharon played with Peter
at The Basement in Sydney as
well as the Brass Monkey in Cronulla. Sharon sang her hits,
'Losing You' and of course 'Maxine', with Alan Mansfield accompanying
her on keyboards and Peter playing guitar. Sharon's guests spots
were very much enjoyed by audiences and Shaz and Pete had fun onstage as
well.
To
round out 2009, Sharon went back to her native New Zealand in September
to take part in an all girl show titled "Give It A Girl". Sharon
joined the likes of Margaret Urlich, Annie Crummer, Debbie Harwood,
Shona Laing and some new female kiwi talent in Julia Deans and Lisa
Crawley.
The show took centre stage for four nights in Auckland's Sky Casino
Showroom. It was a pleasure for Sharon to perform and catch up
with some of the girls she had previously performed with for the "When
The Cat's Away" tour in 2001.
Be sure to read Sharon's blog about the "GIAG" shows on the
NEWS
page!
Words:
Bmusic / Tourtime / Mish.
Photos: Mish's personal
collection.
Sharon's personal collection.
RocKwiz - SBS
Photos on
this site are not to be copied
or reproduced without permission please.
sharononeill.com.au
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