Ritchie Yorke
| Ritchie Yorke | |
|---|---|
Ritchie Yorke in 2008
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| Born |
12 January 1944 Brisbane, Australia |
| Died | 6 February 2017 (aged 73) Brisbane, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Citizenship | Australian |
| Occupation | Author, broadcaster, historian, journalist. |
| Website | http://ritchieyorke.com/ |
Ritchie Yorke (12 January 1944 – 6 February 2017) was an Australian-born author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist, whose work was widely published in the U.S., UK, Canada and elsewhere.
Ritchie Yorke was born in 1944 in Brisbane, Australia. He began writing a weekly music column called Teen Topics for the Queensland edition of TV Week magazine in July 1962. From March 1964 to March 1965 he continued writing articles, relocating to work as a publicity and news reader at a radio station in Tamworth before returning to Brisbane to act as public relations director at 4KQ. It was during his time on radio in Tamworth that Yorke was delivered a copy of "Fingertips Pt. 2" by Little Stevie Wonder, a 12 year old blind boy. Impressed, Yorke played the song on his weekend show but was promptly told by higher-ups not too play this kind of music. In protest, the following week Yorke set up in his studio and managed to play "Fingertips Pt. 2" eight times in a row before he was removed from the studio and quickly fired. This caused Yorke's relocation to Brisbane to continue writing and making travel plans for the future.
In 1966, Ritchie left Australia for London, England. From May to November of that year, Ivan Dayman appointed him the international operations director of Sunshine Records. He prepared record deals for, and managed Australian pop star Normie Rowe prior to his arrival in England. In December 1966, Yorke began working for Island Records as an international promotion manager for the Spencer Davis Group. He was tasked with promoting the band outside of England in support of their record "Gimme Some Lovin'". At this time, Yorke’s first book was published, Lowdown on the English Pop Scene, foreword by Spencer Davis. A few months later Stevie Winwood left the Spencer Davis group to form a new band called Traffic, the managerial position of which was offered to Yorke, who declined, choosing instead to embark on a continental tour
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