Instruments Guitar Years active 1960–2006 | Name Jimmy Doyle | |
 | ||
Birth name James Vivian Alfred Doyle Born 14 October 1945
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ( 1945-10-14 ) Died 5 May 2006(2006-05-05) (aged 60)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Genres Blues, pop, rock, jazz rock fusion Occupation(s) Musician, radio presenter, songwriter | ||
James Vivian Alfred Doyle (14 October 1945 – 5 May 2006) was an Australian musician, best known as a founding member, and guitarist in Ayers Rock (1973–81), a jazz fusion, progressive rock band. As a member of Ayers Rock, Doyle appeared on all three of their studio albums, Big Red Rock (1974), Beyond (1976) and Hotspell (1980). They toured both nationally and internationally including through the United States, where they supported Bachman–Turner Overdrive (July 1975) at a stadium concert with an audience of 35,000 people in Seattle. For the group's third album, Hotspell, Doyle wrote or co-wrote four tracks.
Contents
Career
Doyle's musical career began at the age of 15, spanned 45 years, and covered a wide range of music from blues to pop/rock to jazz. He was musical director, and guitarist for Winifred Atwell for more than two years, and a member of the backing bands for The Delltones, and Dig Richards. From the late 1960s to 1970, Doyle performed with The Soulmates, Col Nolan and The Soul Syndicate, Aesop's Fables (1968–69), Moonstone and King Harvest (1970). Leon Isackson, in his book Behind the Rock and Beyond, recalled that "Jim was a young 'Humphrey Bogart look-alike" with an excellent style on Gibson guitar. His suave appearance ... earned him the salubrious nickname of 'Diamond Jim'". In the 1980's, English jazz singer, and keyboardist Georgie Fame invited Doyle to play as a member of The Aussie Blue Flames, which was the Australian line-up of Fame's backing band on his national tours.
Elvin Bishop, a United States blues musician, was impressed with Doyle during Bishop's first tour of Australia in 1986, "Jimmy Doyle is a hell of a guitar player — I love him". In his later years, Doyle presented a regular radio program called "In the Deep with Jim" on North Shore's FM99.3 (2NSB), a community radio station in Sydney.
Death
Jimmy Doyle was diagnosed with liver cancer; on 5 May 2006 he died at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. A tribute concert in his honour, on 26 May, raised money for his family. Musicians performing included Billy Field, Col Loughnan (ex-Ayers Rock) and Mother Earth featuring lead vocals by Renée Geyer.