Melbourne born Johnny O’Keefe strode onto the stage like an Aussie with a mission. He would have his hair slicked back with his suit sharp as a blade before he gripped the microphone with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was. The crowd roared their approval. This was his domain the world of rock and roll a realm where rules were meant to be broken and music was law.
But Johnny knew another kind of law too. He had danced on both sides of it pushed its limits even crashed headfirst into its unforgiving walls. In the early days of his career Melbourne wasn’t ready for his kind of energy. The authorities thought rock and roll was dangerous a reckless noise that would lead the youth astray. Melbourne police watched his concerts like hawks waiting for an excuse to shut them down. And they no doubt had the best Melbourne lawyers on call.
His first real brush with the law came when his performances grew wilder his fans more frenzied. They called it hysteria but Johnny called it freedom. There were nights when chairs went flying when teenagers leapt onto the stage screaming his name and officers waded through the chaos trying to restore order. He was fined more than once for “unruly behavior” though he never let it stop him.
Then came the car crash. It was 1960. A brutal accident on the highway to Kempsey nearly took his life left his face shattered his body broken. But Johnny was nothing if not relentless. He recovered but the law of life had changed for him. Pain clung to his every step. The pressure mounted. The music business was a beast that demanded more than any man could give and Johnny gave it anyway.
The years passed and so did the golden days. The spotlight dimmed but his spirit never did. Trouble with debts trouble with health trouble with the relentless demand of the industry—it all piled up. And yet even when the law of the land pressed against him even when the industry that once worshipped him seemed to turn away Johnny O’Keefe never surrendered.
Rock and roll had been his rebellion and his redemption. It made him and unmade him. It was his greatest ally and his most ruthless adversary. And through it all one truth remained unshaken. The Wild One would never be tamed.