The first wave: local rock 'n' roll stars

After the extraordinary success of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock’ Festival Records took a risk and recorded Australian rock ’n’ roll performers. While other record companies hesitated, Festival jumped in and developed a large roster of local talent. In the early years Festival was the only record company willing to release local artists. When concert promoter Lee Gordon established his own record company, it was the first of many Australian independent labels to work with Festival. This section told the story of how Festival Records made musical history when it signed Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye and a host of local rock ’n’ rollers and took them to the top of the charts.

Images left to right: Dig Richards, Johnny O’Keefe and Johnny Devlin, photo by Frank Gardner, Courtesy Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Glenn A Baker archive; Col Joye with fans, courtesy Cumberland Newspapers; Rex 4 Star label, courtesy Festival Mushroom Records; Conga line, Glenn A Baker archive

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