Biography #3

[Lifted from Noel McGrath's "Australian Encyclopaedia of Rock"]
(Outback Press 1978 Pages 260-261-262)

Dig was born on the 12th September, 1941 at Dunedoo in NSW. His father's work as a mounted policeman kept them in remote areas,
and whilst Dig was still a young child they moved to Narooma where he grew up.

At the age of sixteen he went to Sydney and started work as a trainee manager with a city department store.
Then one day, after a chance meeting with two other boys in a music shop,
a group called the R-Jays was formed with Dig as their vocalist.

They played at dances around the Sydney area and early in 1959 they approached Ken Taylor of Festival Records
in the hope of being granted an audition. Ken gave them a hearing and they performed their complete repertoire in his presence.
Apparently they were only mildly impressive and as a last resort Dig began singing a song that his brother Doug had partly written.
The number was 'I Wanna Love You' and Ken liked it enough to record it for Festival,
and Dig became their third local artist (after Johnny O'Keefe and Col Joye). The single (with 'Kansas City' on the flip)
was released in July, 1959.

Dig scored his first hit with his first record and he became one of Australia's hottest rock stars.
He appeared regularly on Six 0' Clock Rock and toured with top overseas artists such as Crash Craddock,
Lloyd Price and Ricky Nelson. Dig had trouble re-entering the charts during this period though,
but he did release another of his brother's compositions, 'I'm Through' backed with 'You Are My Sunshine' (Festival).

Then tragedy struck when he was seriously injured in a car smash on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It took several months for Dig to recover but he was determined to succeed as a durable entertainer.

By mid 1960 he had released 'Comin' Down With Love' / 'Ain't She Sweet' which became his second hit.
It was followed by a ballad called 'My Little Lover' which was recorded using strings,
and in October he issued an album entitled 'Bad Boy' (with the R-Jays and the Graduates providing accompaniment).
In December, Dig came up with another single, 'You Gotta Love Me', but it wasn't until July,
1961 that he produced his next hit with 'Alice (ln Wonderland)'.

Meanwhile, he began grooming himself to become an all-round entertainer.
He learnt to play the guitar finger-style and took vocal lessons at Sydney's conservatorium of Music.

Early in 1963 he made a brief comeback in the charts with 'Raincoat In The River'.
That same year Dig made his debut as an adult entertainer when he launched his new act at Spellson's Nightclub in Sydney.
This marked a change in his career — in July, 1964 he married Sue Clarke, and went on to host his own TV show
(Dig Richards' Ampol Show), released a ballad entitled 'I Was Yester day's Hero:
Today I'm A Broken Hearted Clown' (July '65) and toured South East Asia.

From there Dig moved to CBS Records and spent the late sixties performing at clubs here and overseas.
In 1970 he travelled to England and he spent a year there writing songs and developing his new contemporary music' style.

Dig returned to Australia in 1971 and signed with RCA Records. He adopted his full christian name of Digby
and recorded a highly acclaimed album called Harlequin. A track entitled 'A Little Piece of Peace'
was lifted from it and it became a moderate hit midway through 1971.  It was followed by 'Just Loving You',
'The Dancer' and then 'People Call Me Country' which became his first national hit for nine years.

He set off on the concert trail, performing all around Australia and in 1973 he recorded his next album for RCA in Los Angeles.
It was simply titled Digby Richards and was released in February, 1974 along with the second single from it
'New York City' (the first track to be cut from the LP was 'If I Could Write A Love Song' which was issued in December '73).

His last record to make the charts was 'Do The Spunky Monkey' which was also from the album.
It was followed by two other releases (also from the LP), 'You Can Lay My Mind (At Rest)' and 'Be My Day'.

Since then Digby has continued to perform, both here and overseas, and more recently he was signed by the Phonogram label.
So we can certainly expect more releases from one of the few artists to successfully transcend the rock era
and evolve with the music of the seventies.