Judy Stone | |
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Birth name | Judith Anne Stone |
Born | 1 January 1942 |
Origin | Granville, New South Wales, Australia |
Genres | Pop, country |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 1956–present |
Labels | Festival |
Associated acts | Col Joye and the Joy Boys |
Judith Anne "Judy" Stone AM (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian pop and country music singer. For much of the 1960s she was a regular performer on Bandstand, a pop music TV show, hosted by Brian Henderson. Stone's top 20 singles on the national charts are "I'll Step Down" (No. 19, February 1962), "4,003,221 Tears from Now" (April 1964), "Born a Woman" (No. 3, September 1966) and "Would You Lay with Me" (No. 2, June 1974). On the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 2006, Stone was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, with the citation, "For service to the community as an entertainer at fundraising events for a range of charitable organisations, and as a singer."
Judith Anne Stone was born on 1 January 1942 and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Granville. She has two younger sisters, Joyce and Janice. From a young age she sang country music at home and her parents bought her a guitar, which she learned to play. In her early teens Stone entered and won a local talent contest and was noticed by an attendee, Reg Lindsay. By November 1956 she had joined his touring performance troupe, the Reg Lindsay Show, and stayed for 18 months. In July 1957 a reviewer of Lindsay's show in Cabramatta for The Biz wrote that "Little Judy Stone, of Granville, was very pleasing in her turn."
Stone hired Kevin Jacobsen (aka Kevin Joye) as her talent agent. She described meeting him, "I used to sing, with a heavy guitar, Western style numbers. Once I met Kevin he gave me one instruction: 'Throw that guitar out the window.' Although I did not throw it out any window, I am now singing without any of my own musical accompaniment." Jacobesen's older brother, Col Joye, was an established pop singer and regular performer on Bandstand, a TV music show. Stone supported his group, Joye and the Joy Boys, on their tours of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Stone, as a young performer, had been billed as "The Cowgirl from Granville" but on her first appearance on Bandstand she was mistakenly announced as "The Callgirl from Granville". By May 1961 she had also appeared on other TV music shows, Teen Time and Six O'Clock Rock.