Johnny Young

Johnny Young
Young Talent Time media event, Luna Park Sydney, January 2012
Background information
Birth name	Johnny Benjamin de Jong
Also known as	John B. Young
Born	(1947-03-12) 12 March 1947 (age 77) Rotterdam, Netherlands
Origin	Perth, Western Australia
Genres	Pop
Occupations	musician singer songwriter record producer disc jockey television presenter television producer radio presenter entrepreneur
Instruments	Vocals piano
Years active	1961–present
Labels	7-Teen >Clarion Festival L&Y Calendar

Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin de Jong; 12 March 1947) is a Dutch Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. Originally from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, his family settled in Perth in the early 1950s. Young was a 1960s pop singer and had a number-one hit with the double-A-sided single , "Step Back" and a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-lyn" in 1966. Young's profile was enhanced by a concurrent stint as host of TV pop music program The Go!! Show. Also in the mid-1960s, Young toured with the Rolling Stones and supported Roy Orbison.^[1]

As a composer, he penned number-one hits, "The Real Thing" and "The Girl That I Love" for Russell Morris, "The Star" for Ross D. Wyllie and "I Thank You" for Lionel Rose. He also wrote a number-two single, "Smiley" for Ronnie Burns. He presented and produced the TV show, Young Talent Time, which screened on Network Ten from 1971 to 1988. It launched the careers of several teen pop stars and theatre actors, Danni Minogue, Tina Arena, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali, Debra Byrne, Sally Boyden and Karen Knowles. Typically each episode closed with a ballad style sing-along rendition of the Beatles' song, "All My Loving".

At the Logie Awards of 1990, sponsored by TV Week, Young was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association's Hall of Fame in 2010 by Arena who performed Young's song, "The Star". He is the first person inducted into both halls of fame.