Veteran Australian entertainer Col Joye was born Colin Frederick Jacobsen, and his first regular singing engagement was as a warm-up act for the movie The Tommy Steele Story (1957) at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
He then joined The KJ Quintet as rhythm guitarist and singer alongside his brother Kevin (piano), Dave Bridge (lead guitar), Laurie ‘Zeke’ Erwin (sax) and Johnny Bogie (drums). The band subsequently became known as Col Joye & The Joy Boys, with younger brother Keith joining on bass.
The group were signed to Festival Records and made their debut with an EP called Joyride in April 1958. A follow-up EP, Sweet Beat (October 1958) and the single Stagger Lee all failed to make the charts.
The next single, Bye Bye Baby, reached #3 in Melbourne and #1 in Sydney during June 1959, becoming Festival’s first national hit with a local artist.
The band scored three further Top 10 hits in a row; Rockin’ Rollin’ Clementine (September 1959), Oh Yeah Uh Huh (October 1959) and Teenage Baby (January 1960).
When Conway Twitty toured Australia in 1960, he met and was impressed by Joye, who wrote a country-flavoured song titled Bad Man especially for him. The record became an Australian Top 20 hit in April 1960.
Joye and his brothers Kevin and Keith demonstrated their business expertise early in their careers by establishing Joye Enterprises and their own publishing company, Joye Music, in 1960.
He then joined The KJ Quintet as rhythm guitarist and singer alongside his brother Kevin (piano), Dave Bridge (lead guitar), Laurie ‘Zeke’ Erwin (sax) and Johnny Bogie (drums). The band subsequently became known as Col Joye & The Joy Boys, with younger brother Keith joining on bass.
