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John left Adelaide in 1970 after playing in local bands, to become a professional musician at the age of 20.
He played with Barrie McAskill's Levi Smith Clefs at the Whiskey A-Go-Go before being asked to join top national band Fraternity, whose vocalist was the late Bon Scott.
In late 1970 Fraternity won the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. Part of the prize was a trip to London and, in the mid 1972, Fraternity moved to the U.K. to live.
For 18 months the band toured the U.K. and Europe, returning to Australia at the end of 1974 and finally breaking up in 1975 when Bon Scott joined AC/DC.
In 1979 John joined Adelaide band Mickey Finn, which then moved to Sydney to live in 1980. There they recorded a self-titled album for Eureka Records and toured Australia.
Back in Adelaide in 1984, John formed blues band The Flyers with harmonica player David Blight (Cold Chisel).
In 1985 John was the drummer in Jimmy Barnes' first touring band, then returned to The Flyers and also played again with Mickey Finn.
In the early 90's John played drums for The Chris Finnen Blues Band touring East Coast venues from Cairns to Melbourne and recording a live CD.
John left the drum kit in 1994 to pursue a career as a solo blues stylist.
Late in 1987 John had started to listen to the two Robert Johnson albums.
These records sparked his interest and he bought an acoustic guitar and started to teach himself how to play by following the guitar parts on the records as closely as possible.
John's first public performance as a blues singer/guitarist was at the 5th Melbourne Blues Festival in October, 1989. Since then he has been refining his technique and particularly his singing.
In the last few years John has extended his instrumental prowess to the ukulele singing material as diverse as delta blues, swing standards from the 30's and 40's and Beatles songs.
These developments will culminate in the release of his first CD in 2008.