Johnny O'Keefe was Australia's first rock 'n' roll star. Full of energy, confidence and ambition, he was a dynamic live performer with a raw voice and an exuberant stage presence that earned him the nickname 'the wild one'. He hosted his own television shows and did much to encourage and promote other Australian rock performers, but his greatest legacy was as a performer and recording artist.
These red and gold shoes, decorated with fringed leather and stuffed with faux emeralds, accompany the bright red suit with leopard-print velvet trim made by O'Keefe's mother, Thelma (Powerhouse Museum object 98/32/2). Up to 1960, O'Keefe had a taste for flash stage costumes which accentuated his wild image. He was rough, raw and loud. His talent lay in his genuine feel for rock 'n' roll and his wild, frenzied and overtly sexual stage antics. He would throw himself into each song, shaking his body and grinning at his fans.
O'Keefe adopted more conservative attire when he began hosting the ABC television show 'Six o'clock rock' in late 1959. Mental illness and the effects of a car crash in 1960 caused him to suffer memory loss, depression and breakdowns. Nevertheless he made a television comeback, but by the end of 1964 'Beatlemania' had overtaken O'Keefe. He died in 1978 but will always be remembered as the true pioneer of Australian rock.
Johnny O'Keefe was Australia's first rock'n'roll star. John Michael O'Keefe was born in Sydney in 1935. In the mid-1950s O'Keefe began appearing at dances imitating American singer Johnny Ray. In 1956, inspired by the film 'Blackboard jungle' he formed a band, the Dee Jays. They promoted their own dances at suburban venues until O'Keefe's big break came when the promoter Lee Gordon booked him as a support act on Little Richard's eventful 1957 Australian tour. O'Keefe also got breaks performing supports for overseas touring artists like Bill Haley and Gene Vincent. In 1958 he released 'Wild one' (covered by Iggy Pop in 1985 as 'Real Wild Child') and became the first Australian rock performer to have a chart hit. Early in his career O'Keefe had a taste for flash clothes and overtly sexual stage antics. Pictorial evidence shows that he wore this pair of shoes with more than one of his brightly coloured suits. International tours were not as successful as he hoped, and in the 1960s he went into television as the host of '6 o'clock rock', 'The Johnny O'Keefe show' and 'Sing sing sing'. O'Keefe's career waned after 1964, although he enjoyed a revival in 1973. He died in 1978 aged 43.
This suit was donated by Johnny O'Keefe to the Sydney Opera House around 1974 at the instigation of Barbara Firth, a family friend of the O'Keefes and member of the Ladies Committee at the Opera House. Transferred from the Dennis Wolanski Library, Sydney Opera House to the Powerhouse Museum in 1998.
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