Instead of becoming a rock star, Perth-born Brian Cadd could have become a champion tennis player. At the age of ten, his mother offered him the opportunity of taking piano or tennis lessons. Brian chose the piano.
When he was 12, Brian’s mother entered him in a television talent quest and, as a result of his appearance, he was given the position of pianist in a junior band the TV station put together for a children’s program.
When his family moved to Tasmania, then to Melbourne, Brian played in jazz bands for a while before joining The Castaways, a moderately successful rock band on the Melbourne scene, which changed its name to The Jackson Kings.
During the 1960s he was a member of Melbourne band The Groop before forming Axiom, the band for which he penned the hits Arkansas Grass and A Little Ray of Sunshine at the dawn of the 1970s.
When Axiom folded in March 1971, Brian chose a solo career and also began producing other artists.
In this capacity, he wrote, played on and produced Robin Jolley’s 1972 hit Marshall’s Portable Music Machine and Robin’s subsequent solo album.
In 1972, Cadd co-founded the Bootleg record label and put together the studio house band, The Bootleg Family Band who had a hit single with a cover of Betty Everett‘s Shoop Shoop Song in 1974.
In 1973, Brian had the two biggest selling Australian albums – Parabrahm and Brian Cadd. He also penned the music score for the film Alvin Purple, reprising the effort for the sequel Alvin Rides Again (1974).
He moved to the USA in the mid-70s and remained there until 1981, during which time his songs were covered by artists such as Glen Campbell, The Pointer Sisters and Gene Pitney.
