Greg Quill
| Greg Quill | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gregory Raymond Quill 18 April 1947 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 5 May 2013 (aged 66) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Journalist, singer-songwriter, musician |
| Genre | Entertainment |
| Notable works | Toronto Star |
| Spouse | Ellen Davidson |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Gregory Raymond "Greg" Quill (18 April 1947 – 5 May 2013) was an Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter and journalist. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and was an entertainment columnist at the Toronto Star newspaper from the mid-1980s until his death in May 2013. In Australia he came to popular fame as a singer-songwriter for the country rock band, Country Radio (1970–73). Their biggest hit, "Gyspy Queen", was released in August 1972 and was co-written by Quill with band mate, Kerryn Tolhurst, which peaked at No. 12 on the Go-Set National Top 40. After getting an arts grant, Quill travelled to Toronto in 1974 and by mid-1980s had become a journalist at the Toronto Star. By 1983 he was married to Ellen Davidson, a public relations executive. Greg Quill died on 5 May 2013, at the age of 66 years, from "complications due to pneumonia".
Gregory Raymond Quill was born on 18 April 1947 to Raymond and Doris Quill (née Markham). He grew up in Sydney with a younger brother, Christopher. From the age of about 15 years he learned how to play acoustic guitar and his first public performance was in his final year of high school. Quill began his musical career in the 1960s as a solo performer on the Sydney folk scene clustered around the University of Sydney, where he graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature. He worked briefly as a history teacher at a Catholic boys high school in Bankstown. He was hired by David Elfick, then the local editor of the national weekly pop music magazine, Go-Set (later Elfick was a movie producer). Quill worked as a writer from 1969, then feature writer (February 1970 to August 1971) and Sydney regional editor (July 1970 to August 1971) for the Melbourne-based publication. In 2002 Quill recalled that editing Go-Set had prepared him for his later work in journalism.
From 1967 Greg Quill ran The Shack, a folk music venue at Narrabeen on Sydney's northern beaches, he also performed there. In 1999 he described the venue "[i]t was a sort of folk co-operative, and everybody who performed on a particular evening got to share in the door takings – it was never more than a couple of bucks". In 1969 Quill handed over the running of the venue to his younger brother, Christopher. Gus McNeil, a music publisher, record producer and former singer and saxophonist for 1960s rock band, Gus & The Nomads, signed Quill to a publishing deal with his company, Cellar Music. McNeil produced Quill's first commercial recording, the single, "Fleetwood Plain", and the subsequent album of the same name. Quill wrote all the tracks on the album.
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