Jimmy Little

Career

James Oswald Little was born on 1 March 1937, a member of the Yorta Yorta people with his mother, Frances, a Yorta Yorta woman and his father, James Little Sr, from the Yuin people. Little's totem is the long-necked turtle. Jimmy Little Sr was a tap dancer, comedian, musician and singer who led his own vaudeville troupe along the Murray River during the 1930s and 1940s. His mother was a singer and yodeller and had joined Jimmy Sr's troupe. Little grew up, as the oldest of seven children, on the Cummeragunja Mission on the Murray River in New South Wales about 30-km from Echuca in Victoria. Little later recalled his upbringing, "[my parents] taught me well about the value of life, freedom, love, respect, all those basic things that we need. As Vaudevillians, I loved them. It was part of my dream to follow in the footsteps of Mum and Dad. And I'm so proud that I was able to do that". He became a devout non-denominational Christian. He is the uncle of the soprano, writer and composer [[Deborah ,]] and the older brother of the late Aboriginal author/singer/songwriter Betty Little. In February 1939, about 200 to 300 members of the mission participated in the Cummeragunja walk-off – in protest at the low standard living conditions. The Little family moved to his father's tribal land (near Wallaga Lake) and lived for some years on the New South Wales south coast at Nowra and Moruya. Not long after moving, Frances died from a tetanus infection after cutting her finger on an oyster shell. At the age of 13 Little was given a guitar and within a year he was playing at local concerts. When 16 years old he travelled to Sydney to perform on a radio programme, Australia's Amateur Hour. In 1955 Little left home to live in Sydney and pursue a career in country music, he was influenced by Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Jim Reeves. His mellow style earned him the nicknames of "the Balladeer", "Gentleman Jim" and "the Honey Voice".

Early years: 1956–1979

In 1956, Little signed with Regal Zonophone Records and released his first single, "Mysteries of Life"/"Heartbreak Waltz". In 1958, Little married fellow singer, Marjorie Rose Peters. By late 1959, Little was living in Granville with his wife and their daughter Frances Claire – he released the single, "Frances Claire", when she was 18 months-old. It was issued on EMI's Columbia label and was soon followed by "Give the Coloured Boy a Chance", which had been written by his father – the first song released in Australia referring to indigenous issues and first both written and recorded by indigenous musicians. He worked at a towelling factory and supplemented his income with performances at concerts and dances, and TV appearances on Bandstand. Little signed with Festival Records and in September 1959, he had his first charting single, "Danny Boy", from the extended play, Jimmy Little Sings Ballads with a Beat, which peaked at No. 9 in Sydney.

In February 1960, his next single was "El Paso", which reached No. 12 in Sydney. Little made his acting debut in the Billy Graham evangelical feature film Shadow of the Boomerang the same year. Little had the role of Johnny, a devout stockman on a cattle station where his American employer's son Bob refers to him as "that nigger". After Johnny dies, while saving Bob's life, from being gored by a wild boar, Bob has a religious conversion to Graham's cause. Little issued the title song as a single backed by "Little by Little". In September 1961, he appeared on the radio program, Col Joye Show, with fellow Bandstand regulars, Patsy Ann Noble and Judy Stone. By 1962, Little joined a touring stage production, All Coloured Show produced by Ted Quigg, and gained wider public exposure. In July 1963, he toured north west New South Wales with Rob E.G., Noleen Batley and Lonnie Lee and was personally booked out till November.

In October 1963, after 17 singles, Little issued his biggest hit with the gospel song, "Royal Telephone", based upon the Burl Ives' version. In November it peaked at No. 1 in Sydney and No. 3 in Melbourne. The following month Australian Women's Weekly's music writer, Bob Rogers described it as "a sincere ballad with a religious feeling" and that "[i]n only three weeks the record was rising to the top all over Australia, one of the fastest-selling records of the year". It was awarded 3× Gold certification by Festival Records and "Best Male Vocal Disk" (1963) in "The Tunetable Awards", Australia's first disk awards from a major radio source for home-produced disks. In March 1964 the Barry Gibb-penned "One Road" reached No. 19 in Sydney and No. 30 in Melbourne. Gibb was 17 years old when he wrote "One Road" and Little became one of the first artists to record a Gibb song. The magazine Everybody's named him Australian Pop Star of the Year. Little was backed by the Jimmy Little Trio which had an all-indigenous line-up of Cyril Green, Doug Peters and Neville Thorn.

Little's final hit of the era came in September 1974 with "Baby Blue" which peaked at No. 8 in Melbourne and No. 37 in Sydney. Further non-charting singles were released until 1978's "Beautiful Woman". From the end of the 1970s, Little turned from his musical career to focus on his family and becoming qualified as a teacher.

Middle years:1980–1999

By the 1980s Little had turned to full-time acting, making his theatre debut in Black Cockatoos before appearing in director Wim Wenders' 1991 film Until the end of the World. As well as appearing in Tracy Moffatt's The Night Cries and Andrew Schultz's opera Black River, his teaching and community work earned him the title of NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year in 1989. After winning that award Little returned to working in the music industry.

In 1992, Little performed at the Tamworth on Parade and Kings of Country roadshows before releasing his 14th album, Yorta Yorta Man, in 1994. The same year, he was inducted into Tamworth's Country Music Roll of Renown, the highest honour an Australian country music artist can achieve.

Messenger, a collection of contemporary songs reinterpreted through Little's smooth vocals, was released in June 1999 and peaked at No. 26 nationally, selling over 20,000 copies. It had been organised by Brendan Gallagher (from Karma County) and featured covers of well-known songs by Australian artists: "(Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?" by Nick Cave, "The Way I Made You Feel" by Ed Kuepper and "Randwick Bells" by Paul Kelly.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 Messenger won Best Adult Contemporary Album and Little was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. At The Deadly Awards of 1999 – the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Awards – he won Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Single Release of the Year. By 2001 Messenger was certified by ARIA with a gold record for shipments of 35,000 units.

Later years:2000–2012

Little returned in September 2001 with Resonate, an album featuring songs written by Paul Kelly, Don Walker, Bernard Fanning (from Powderfinger), Brendan Gallagher and Dave Graney. In 2002 Little won the Golden Gospel Award at the Australian Gospel Music Awards for his lifetime support of Australian gospel music. He also sang "Happy Day' with Olivia Newton-John that year. In 2003 he was a guest of The Wiggles on their children's DVD Wiggly Wiggly World.

Little released the album Down the Road for ABC Country in 2003. In 2004 he released his 34th album, Life's What You Make It, a collection of distinctive and poignant versions of songs by contemporary artists as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen.

In 2010 Little retired from performing. On 2 April 2012 Little died of natural causes in Dubbo, aged 75 years.

Outreach and recognition

From 1985 Little taught and mentored indigenous music students at the Eora Centre in Redfern and from 2002 he was an ambassador for literacy and numeracy for the Department of Education. Since 2000 Little was a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney's Koori Centre.

At the 1997 Mo Awards, Little was awarded the John Campbell Fellowship for "an outstanding contribution to the community beyond his normal career in the entertainment industry".

On Australia Day (26 January) 2004, Little was made an Officer of the Order of Australia with the citation, "For service to the entertainment industry as a singer, recording artist and songwriter and to the community through reconciliation and as an ambassador for Indigenous culture". Also that year he was named a Living National Treasure. In June 2005, on the last day of National Reconciliation Week, Little and composer Peter Sculthorpe were awarded honorary doctorates in music by the University of Sydney in recognition of "their joint contribution to reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians". Other honorary doctorates have been awarded to Little by Queensland University of Technology and Australian Catholic University.

Little was diagnosed with kidney failure and, in 2004, after two years of self-administered dialysis he received a life saving kidney transplant. The experience led him to launch the Jimmy Little Foundation in 2006 to help the many other indigenous Australians who are succumbing to kidney disease. The foundation works with patients in regional and remote Australia and partnered with the Fred Hollows Foundation in 2009 to develop a nutrition and education program for indigenous children to reduce the cycle of bad nutrition leading to diabetes which can lead to kidney failure.

At the APRA Awards of 2010 Little was awarded the Ted Albert Award for 'Outstanding Services to Australian Music'. "Royal Telephone" was featured on the SBS documentary, Buried Country: The Story of Aboriginal Country Music (2000) and its accompanying CD.

Actor and musician Michael Tuahine proposed a play based on the life of Jimmy Little. The play was written by Reg Cribb and called Country Song; it won the 2013 Rodney Seaborn Playwright's Award for New Work. It was performed by the Queensland Theatre Company in the Cremorne Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in August 2015.

Personal life

In 1958 Little married fellow singer, Marjorie Rose Peters and they had one child, Frances Claire Peters-Little (born ca. March 1958), who is a documentary film-maker, writer and historian. In 1990 Little was diagnosed with kidney disease, "Unfortunately, I didn't get check-ups often enough or soon enough to realise the possibility that my kidneys could fail". In 2002 he was diagnosed with kidney failure and was placed on dialysis and, in 2004, had a kidney transplant. As a result of immunosuppressants Little developed type 2 diabetes. He also developed a heart condition. Marjorie Rose Little died on 25 July 2011, aged 74, in Dubbo – she had been under medical care since early that year for an unspecified illness. On 2 April 2012 Little died at his home in Dubbo, aged 75 years. He is survived by his daughter, Frances, and his grandson, James Henry Little. In 2005 Little told Peter Thompson, on the ABC-TV program Talking Heads, how he would like to be remembered, "I just want people to remember me as a nice person who was fair-minded and had a bit of talent that put it to good use."

Albums

EPs