Swanee

Arriving in Adelaide from Glasgow in 1961, John Swan was soon earning the respect and friendship of many of Australia’s musical legends. He was playing in bands in Adelaide by the age of 14 and took Bon Scott’s place in the blues-rock band Fraternity.

John, aka Swanee, has a formidable blues voice that can also do credit to a soul ballad. His no-nonsense personality comes through in his performances and his incredible work ethic has endeared him to many of Australia’s finest players. He is known as a musician’s musician.

After years as a pub-rock road warrior, he launched his own band (also known as Swanee) and in 1980 released a debut album ‘Into The Night’. A series of hit singles followed, including ‘Matthew’, ‘Lady What’s Your Name’ and ‘If I Were A Carpenter’. In 1987 he joined the Party Boys and enjoyed a #1 hit with ‘He’s Gonna Step On You’ and a multi-platinum, self-titled album.

Six years ago, John came off the road to get sober after too many years of hard partying. A long distance recording project with Australian producer Mark Moffatt, now based in Nashville, soon turned into a full blown album, ‘Have A Little Faith’. The new record features many of Nashville’s finest players working through a selection of new songs from John, some favourite tunes and some updated versions of his biggest hits.

“I started off singing with an acoustic guitar and sending the songs to Mark,” says
John. “It was initially going to be an acoustic album but then it started to rock a bit too much as we settled into that Nashville groove. I love singing hard and pushing myself and I truly believe my singing has gotten much stronger since I’ve been sober.”

According to Mark Moffatt, “We began to put a few tracks together via the internet and as things progressed it became apparent it was going to be much more than an acoustic record, though still a mix of his old & new stuff.

A lot of veteran ‘southern cats’ in town wanted to know who this amazing singer was... so I just kept going at it, building tracks to where I felt they needed to be to support John’s voice.”

The album is called ‘Have A Little Faith’ and is John’s best work to date. Swanee the band is back on the road for special gigs and major tours.

He’s back with the blues where it all started and he couldn’t be happier. “My main thing these days,” he says, “is working with the next generation. I’m trying to show them from my own experiences that you don’t have to screw up your life and that you can be more creative and challenge yourself when you’re straight…in fact, the longer you do it that way, the better you get! Then you can really enjoy and appreciate the rewards that come for your efforts.”

DID YOU KNOW?

1.John was a South Australian amateur boxing champion

2. He became a professional musician at age 14

3. He succeeded Bon Scott as the singer in
Australian blues-rock pioneers, Fraternity

4. Has performed and/or recorded with Australia’s leading musicians including Renee Geyer, Mark Kennedy, Tommy Emmanuel, Jimmy Barnes, Jim Keays, John Brewster, Kevin Borich and many others

5. Swanee supported AC/DC, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Deep Purple, Robin Trower, 10CC and Johnny Winter and appeared as special guest on the ‘Double
Trouble’ Tour featuring both Deep Purple and Status Quo, and recently as special guest for Rod Stewart's Sydney Show.

6. His “1 hit single – “He’s Gonna Step On You” was from the Platinum selling album – The Party Boys, This Time It’s Different.

7. Other hits include “Matthew” “Gloria” “Temporary Heartache” “Hold Your Head Up”, “Is This The Way To Say Goodbye”.

8. John featured in the Countdown Live
Spectacular with “If I Were A Carpenter”

9. Have A Little Faith is his 10th album.