BON SCOTT DOCUMENTRY ....part 1

Bon sings It's A Long Way To The Top

Voice Over...while most of us remember him leading ac/dc, it was a long way to the top for Bon Scott. He first served a long apprenticeship with a number of very different bands and was 28 years old when he joined Malcolm and Angus Young on what was to be the final stop on his musical journey.
Reporters Voice....Bon Scott the vocalist for Australian band ac/dc has died over night in London, he was found unconscious in a parked car around 8pm but was prounced dead.......

Fifa Riccobono {Albert music}....Bon died on tour, he died in the UK and i got a call from the UK saying he'd died and i found it incredibly hard to believe that he um he wasn't, i had to hear it from 3 people to believe it.

Maria {Bon's ex girlfriend}...I'd spoken to him not that long ago when he'd rung me from America, i knew where he was going at that particular time i knew what was happening to him, we'd talked and ah it was just so surreal

Johnny Young.....when Bon died it was the talk of the music industry for days you know i think everybody was in shock.

Maria....i just slid to the floor and cried and cried and cried

Brian Cadd....it really hit me hard and i hadn't seen him for a long time but I'd known him well when i knew him and it was a shock

Brian Gannon {guitarist with the Spectors}....i was devastated the fact that um he'd paid the dues got there and ah yeah it was so sad.

Johnny Young.....you know just the loneliness of how he died was just, just a real tragedy, it really made me so awfully sad with all that incredible success and to die so alone .

Ted Holloway { guitarist with the Valentines}....i was surprised not shocked so much but surprised that he had allowed that to happen to himself

Di Bailey {ex girlfriend of ac/dc guitarist Rob Bailey}...he got caught out in the end which was a real shame you know...and i don't think there's been any other band in the history that i can remember who has been able to replace such a person as Bon and still continue so , good on them really.

Voice Over.....When Bon Scott died he left behind a volume of work that for many AC/DC fans stand among the bands finest releases. The first 5 albums were produced by former Easybeats Harry Vanda and George Young, the brother of Angus and Malcolm. Over 15 million copies of Bon Scotts final studio album with AC/DC, 1979's Highway To Hell have been sold to date.

After 5 years as a side drummer with WA's Sciottish Pipe band, 18 year old Bon Scott formed his first group in 1964, The Spectors with singer John Collins, guitarist Wim Neilson and bass player Brian Gannon

Brian....it was the first band all of us had been in so we needed a lot of rehearsing, it was all new to us ,all of us

Paul Gadenne {former DJ}.....the sort of material that they did was by and large very bluesy very Eric Burton and the Animals, maybe a bit of Rolling Stones umm pretty raunchy sort of rock n roll blues

Brian.... John'd sing a few tunes, Bon'd drum and then they'd do a change around, Bon'd get up and sing and John'd get up on the drum kit, so it was unique in a way.

Bon sings Gloria

Maria....they were growing together, they were building a band, they were sort of starting at gigs with 5 people and ending up with gigs of 5,000 people or more. They started at small venues ended up on the Fremantle Oval with so many screaming teenagers it was just fantastic, for all of them it was a wonderful experience within the growth of their musical careers so to speak.

Voice Over....Bon Scott and 18 year old Maria Short were an item soon after they met at a Spectors gig in 1965. He was absolutely besotted from the start and remained in touch long after they went their separate ways. Short still regularly recieved his letters when he was a globe trotting rock star with AC/DC.

Maria.....when i first got connected with Bon here in Fremantle he had no money in fact anything and he had arranged with my father to take this present down for me and what he'd done was a year before a whole 12 months before we'd walked past this store and there was this amazing big yellow teddy bear, big and i said to him you know one day i'd really like to have something like that and he had put it on lay by and paid it off at i think 2 shillings a week and it had taken him all year to pay it off and he even had to borrow money to do the final payment, and sent that present down to the farm with my father so when i got up on xmas morning there was this giant teddy sitting in the chair, it was just gorgeous.

Voice Over...one of the best known singers in the Perth music scene was Johnny Young.As well as leading his band Johnny Young and the Strangers, he also hosted the local music show called Club 17

{Johnny.... and here's their drummer Bon Scott, hi Bon, Bon's from Liverpool, sounds like it anyway...from where ?

Bon ....Kirrimuir

Johnny .... Kirrimuir ?

Bon...... that's right

Johnny ..... where's that

Bon....Scotland

Johnny....ah he's a scots man} johnny young was a dick !

Johnny.....Johnny and the Strangers played at the Broadway every saturday night and if Bon wasnt playing with the Spectors somewhere he might come along to our dance and hop on stage and sing a couple of songs and he'd get a terrific reception as a singer because he was basically known as a drummer but thats how i got to know Bon by him jumping up and singing some songs with my band

Ted....i thought the Spectors worked better with Bon as the lead vocalist with all due respect to John Collins. Bon was a great little drummer at the time but he added more to the band when he was out front, as far as the Spectors were concerned.

Maria.....Bon was with the Spectors, he had a group of guys that he obviously built a career with and so they became very important for Bon because they were the people who kind of knew where he started from, where his roots were in music they knew everything about each other actually and so over the years they stayed very close and whenever Bon was away and returned home for any reason he always went to see them because they were the group of people who knew the heart of Bon and his passion for wanting to be a success

Voice Over .....in 1966 Bon Scott and Wim Neilson of the Spectors were invited to form a new band with singer Vince Lovegrove and guitarist Ted Holloway of Perth out fit The Winstons. Featuring Bon Scott and Lovegrove sharing lead vocals the group was called the Valentines.

Glenn A Baker.....i think you had to have lived in Perth to have known of the Spectors um but all of Australia became aware of the Valentines, the pop scene was pretty tight and close in Australia and a new pop sensation spread across the land .

Lyn Gannon.....the Valentines was a more bubble gum type band with 2 singers who dressed up in pretty clothes so they were more of a show act i think than rather a pop band.

Ted.....Bon always struck me as someone who didnt want to be playing the drums as he was with the Spectors he ahh struck me as someone who wanted to be out the front controlling the situation. { the valentines sing Everyday i Have to Cry Some}

Maria....i'll never forget the first night and they were gonna play Broadway and he was getting dressed to go and he was almost shaking and i dont know if it was because he was going to play with the Valentines for the first time or because he had to tell me that i wasnt allowed to come to the gig, he sat me down and said look i dont think this is good this is a bubble gum group its probably not good if they know ive got a girlfriend, as time goes on i'm sure it will be fine but right now you cant come, umm i think it was another 3 gigs before i was allowed to go. Bon was 21 and the band decided they had to go to live in Melbourne.