Grant McLennan

Grant William McLennan{{cite web|publisher=Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) |title='Black Mule' at APRA search engine |url=https://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch#axd?q=Black%20Mule |access-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130182113/https://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch |archive-date=30 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }} Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g Black Mule; or at 'Performer:' Go Betweens was born on 12 February 1958 in Rockhampton, Queensland.[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1239567/Grant-McLennan "Grant McLennan Biography"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204195819/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1239567/Grant-McLennan |date=4 December 2008 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 23 April 2015 His father was a general practitioner, and McLennan grew up with a younger brother and sister. After the death of their father, when McLennan was four years old, his family moved to Cairns. He spent five years at the Anglican Church Grammar School in Brisbane as a boarder.{{cite news |title=From the cane fields, songs of love and loss |last = Zuel | first = Bernard | author-link = Bernard Zuel |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=8 May 2006 |access-date=8 May 2006 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/from-the-cane-fields-songs-of-love-and-loss/2006/05/07/1146940411087.html }} His mother remarried, and the family then relocated to a cattle station in central Far North Queensland.

McLennan's songs, which often evoke the impressions and imagery of the regional background of his childhood, include "Cattle and Cane",{{cite web|url=http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/MusicAwards/History/2001Top30Songs.aspx |last=Kruger |first=Debbie |author-link=Debbie Kruger |title=The songs that resonate through the years |publisher=Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) |date=2 May 2001 |access-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401091541/http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/apraawards/musicawards/history/2001Top30Songs.aspx |archive-date=1 April 2014 |df=dmy-all }} "Unkind and Unwise", "Dusty in Here" (about his father), "Boundary Rider" and "Bye Bye Pride".

In 1976, McLennan began a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland. Joh Bjelke-Petersen was Premier of Queensland at the time, and McLennan was arrested in a student protest against aspects of that government's conservative policies.{{cite news |title=Go-Betweens frontman McLennan dies |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1632412.htm |author=staff writer |publisher = ABC News Online |access-date=27 November 2015|date=7 May 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303194544/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1632412.htm|archive-date=3 March 2011}}

{{main|The Go-Betweens}}

In 1977, McLennan met Robert Forster at university. Forster encouraged him to learn bass guitar – McLennan had no musical training – and to form an alternative rock band, the Go-Betweens, in Brisbane.{{cite book | title = Pig City: from the Saints to Savage Garden | last = Stafford | first = Andrew |year=2004 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |location=St Lucia, Queensland |isbn=0-7022-3360-9 |pages=65–78 }} For several months they used a succession of interim drummers, with McLennan on bass guitar and Forster on lead guitar and lead vocals.Grant McLennan at the Australian Rock Database:

• Grant McLennan: {{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304184858/http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/m/mclennangrant.html |url=http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/m/mclennangrant.html |work=passagen.se |title=Grant McLennan |publisher=Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) |first1=Magnus |last1=Holmgren |first2=Stefan |last2=Warnqvist |first3=Vincent |last3=Simonetti |archive-date=4 March 2012 |access-date=13 September 2015 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }}
• The Go-Betweens (1977–89, 2000–present): {{cite web |url=http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/g/gobetweens.html |work=passagen.se |title=The Go-Betweens |publisher=Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) |first1=Magnus |last1=Holmgren |first2=Stefan |last2=Warnqvist |access-date=13 September 2015 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921232024/http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/g/gobetweens.html |archive-date=21 September 2012 |url-status=usurped }}
• Tuff Monks (1982): {{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040116200510/http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/t/tuffmonks.html |url=http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/t/tuffmonks.html |work=passagen.se |title=Tuff Monks |publisher=Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) |first1=Magnus |last1=Holmgren |archive-date=16 January 2004 |access-date=13 September 2015 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }}
• Jack Frost (1990–91, 1995): {{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727205010/http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/j/jackfrost.html |url=http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/j/jackfrost.html |work=passagen.se |title=Jack Frost |publisher=Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) |first1=Magnus |last1=Holmgren |first2=Stefan |last2=Warnqvist |archive-date=27 July 2010 |access-date=13 September 2015 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }}
• Far Out Corporation (1998): {{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040116234008/http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/f/faroutcorporation.html |url=http://hem2.passagen.se/honga/database/f/faroutcorporation.html |work=passagen.se |title=Far Out Corporation |publisher=Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) |first1=Magnus |last1=Holmgren |first2=Stefan |last2=Warnqvist |archive-date=16 January 2004 |access-date=13 September 2015 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }} The group released their first single in September 1978, "Lee Remick", which was written by Forster.McFarlane [https://web.archive.org/web/20040829235157/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=845 'The Go-Betweens'] entry. Archived from [http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=845 the original] on 29 August 2004. Retrieved 13 September 2015.

During the group's initial period, Forster provided most of the songwriting and lead vocals. In November 1979, the Go-Betweens' McLennan and Forster travelled to England and then to Scotland, where they recorded new material, including their third single, "I Need Two Heads" (June 1980).{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMZkz3jMlAC&q=the+go-betweens+david+nichols | last = David | first = Nichols | title = The Go-Betweens | publisher = Verse Chorus Press | location = Portland, OR | year = 2003 | isbn = 1-891241-16-8}} Note: [online] version has limited functionality. By the time it appeared, they had returned to Australia. As McLennan's own distinctive compositional style developed, the two shared lead vocal duties almost equally. For Go-Betweens releases from about 1980 forward, some songs were credited to "Forster/McLennan", although the two generally wrote separately, each singing their own compositions.

In November 1981, the Go-Betweens issued their debut album, Send Me a Lullaby, with Lindy Morrison as their permanent drummer. Aside from lead vocals and bass guitar McLennan also provides lead guitar for three of its eight tracks – he wrote four tracks and co-wrote one with Forster. McLennan told Gavin Sawford of Rave magazine, in April 1996, that "[it] is to me an inauspicious debut... if I'd heard that and I wasn't in the band, I think my comment would have been 'What the fuck is going on here.' There's great melodies but then there's changes which to this day I can't work out. There's lyrics to this day which I don't understand and when I actually summon up enough courage to get to the microphone, I sound like a choirboy with a mouthful of fruitcake."{{cite journal | title = Gazing on a Sunny Afternoon| first = Gavin | last = Sawford | journal = Rave | pages = 7–8 | date = 12 April 1996 | publisher = Rave Magazine Pty Ltd| location = Stones Corner, QLD }}

In 1982, they relocated to London and recorded new material, also during that year McLennan was part of a side project, Tuff Monks, with Forster and Morrison joined by label mates, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard of the Birthday Party. The group released only a single, "After the Fireworks", on Missing Link Records.{{rp|93, 114–115}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ni8BHAAACAAJ&q=%22bad+seed%22+johnston|last=Johnston

|first=Ian|title=Bad Seed|publisher=Abacus|location=London|year=1996|page=102|isbn=0-349-10778-5 }} In late 1983 the Go-Betweens added Robert Vickers on bass guitar – which allowed McLennan to shift to lead guitar.

Late in 1986, Amanda Brown joined on oboe, violin, guitar, keyboards and backing vocals. McLennan and Brown were soon in a romantic relationship.{{cite web | url = http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1407504.htm | title = J Files: The Go-Betweens | last = Kingsmill | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Kingsmill | publisher = Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) | work = Triple J | date = 31 August 2000 | access-date = 13 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100919214556/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1407504.htm | archive-date = 19 September 2010 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}{{cite news | url = http://www.bigtakeover.com/news/unfinished-business-rip-grant-mclennan | title = Unfinished Business: R.I.P. Grant McLennan | newspaper = The Big Takeover | publisher = Big Takeover Magazine (Jack Rabid) | last = Beriyant | first = Matthew | date = 7 May 2006 | access-date = 13 September 2015 }} Many of McLennan's new lyrics were about this relationship. John Willsteed replaced Vickers on bass guitar in November 1987.

After recording six albums the Go-Betweens disbanded in December 1989. McLennan and Forster had made tentative plans to form an acoustic duo together. When McLennan told Brown, she ended their relationship.{{cite AV media |people=Stenders, Kriv (Director) |date=2017 |title=The Go-Betweens: Right Here |medium=Motion picture |url=https://iview.abc.net.au/show/go-betweens-right-here |access-date=22 January 2019 |time=43'48" |publisher=Umbrella Entertainment}}

McLennan and Forster each pursued solo careers while Brown and Morrison formed Cleopatra Wong in 1991.

McLennan and Forster reformed The Go-Betweens in 2000, and recorded three more studio albums. Their last one, Oceans Apart (October 2005), won the band their first ARIA Award: for Best Adult Contemporary Album at the 2005 ceremony.{{cite web | url = http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history/search/?view=list&text=Go%20Betweens | title = Search results for 'Go Betweens' | publisher = Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) | access-date = 13 September 2015 }} Their live album, That Striped Sunlight Sound (2006), was nominated for Best Music DVD at the 2006 awards.

{{main|Jack Frost (Australian band)|Far Out Corporation}}

In 1990, on lead vocals, bass guitar, lead guitar and keyboards, McLennan formed the rock band Jack Frost in Sydney with the Church's front man, Steve Kilbey on lead vocals, bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboards and drums.{{rp|180}}McFarlane [https://web.archive.org/web/20040604042607/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=205 'The Church'] entry. Archived from [http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=205 the original] on 4 June 2004. Retrieved 13 September 2015. The group released a self-titled album in 1991 and the pair resumed the collaboration in 1995 for a second album, Snow Job.{{rp|180}}

Also in 1990, McLennan produced the debut single "On and On" for Sydney-based duo Club Hoy.McFarlane [https://web.archive.org/web/20020711172030/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=448 'G. W. McLennan'] entry. Archived from [http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=448 the original] on 11 July 2002. Retrieved 13 September 2015.

In June 1991, McLennan released his debut solo album Watershed under the name G.W. McLennan, which was produced by Dave Dobbyn (DD Smash) on Mushroom Records' White Records label. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt it was an "ambitious and highly personalised collection of songs charted McLennan's emotions in the wake of The Go-Betweens' break-up... [it] revealed McLennan to be, in turns, the introspective singer/songwriter or the carefree and gregarious performer." AllMusic's Norm Elrod noticed that McLennan "isn't the most talented singer; his voice is a bit plain, and his range somewhat limited. He isn't the most gifted guitarist; his playing sometimes amounts to basic acoustic strums. He is, however, a truly exceptional artist who, in the spirit of Lloyd Cole, crafts moments of brilliance to fit his limitations."{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/watershed-mw0000268676 | title = Watershed G. W. McLennan | last = Elrod | first = Norm | work = AllMusic | publisher = All Media Guide | access-date = 13 September 2015 }}

In November 1992, McLennan released the album Fireboy, produced by Dobbyn again. McFarlane compared it with his previous one and found it was "an even more melancholy set of songs that boasted fuller (though never obtrusive) arrangements". Ned Raggett of AllMusic felt it "finds the musician in excellent form, with a baker's dozen worth of songs that won't challenge preconceptions, but do make for a great listen all around" with "sweetly sparkling, sometimes barbed, numbers".{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/watershed-mw0000268676 | title = Fireboy G. W. McLennan | last = Raggett | first = Ned | work = AllMusic | publisher = All Media Guide | access-date = 13 September 2015 }} Robert Christgau, an American journalist, preferred the tracks "The Dark Side of Town", "Riddle in the Rain" and "Whose Side Are You On?", which were "living tunes in studio-rock amber".{{cite web | url = http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=4242 | title = G. W. McLennan [extended] | author = Christgau, Robert | author-link = Robert Christgau | publisher = Robert Christgau | work = Consumer Guide | access-date = 13 September 2015 }} During 1993 he toured Australia with a backing band comprising Michael Barclay on drums, Pedro Bull on keyboards (both ex-ex-Paul Kelly and the Messengers), Maurice Frawley on guitar (ex-Paul Kelly and the Dots) and Phil Kakulas on bass guitar (ex-Blackeyed Susans).

In December 1994, McLennan's released Horsebreaker Star. It was recorded in Athens, Georgia with American session musicians and was produced by John Keane (R.E.M., Indigo Girls, Vic Chesnutt). Christgau found it was McLennan's "most consistently catchy solo album" providing "30 snapshots of a resigned romantic" while "unrolling tune after sweet, simple-seeming tune". McFarlane praised "its wide-screen outlook, the album shifted from country rock to bright acoustic pop with a great deal of optimism and passion". Raggett opined that it was "more of a country/Southern rock bent...his ear for focused, sharp lyrical portraits of life and love, paired with his ever-striking crisp singing style, continues to lead the way".{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/horsebreaker-star-mw0000627868 | title = Horsebreaker Star G. W. McLennan/Grant McLennan | last = Raggett | first = Ned | work = AllMusic | publisher = All Media Guide | access-date = 13 September 2015 }}

In September 1997, McLennan released In Your Bright Ray, with Wayne Connolly producing. AllMusic's Jack Rabid found it "returns him to his more well-trodden ground... [and] is as warm and soft as a cake out of the oven, a just-washed blanket, and an Eskimo coat".{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-your-bright-ray-mw0000596293| title = In Your Bright Ray Grant McLennan | last = Rabid | first = Jack | work = AllMusic | publisher = All Media Guide | access-date = 13 September 2015 }}

In November 1997, he formed Far Out Corporation with Ian Haug, Ross McLennan and Adele Pickvance. McFarlane described them as a "conceptual art group with a pop orientation". They issued their sole album FOC in October 1998, which was co-produced by Tim Whitten with the group.

McLennan died at his Brisbane home on 6 May 2006, aged 48, from a heart attack.{{cite news | title = Band founder dead at 48 | first = Noel | last = Mengel | work = The Courier-Mail | date = 8 May 2006 | access-date = 8 May 2006 |url=http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19056056-7642,00.html | page = 3 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He was preparing for a party to celebrate with his fiancée, Emma Pursey; he complained of feeling unwell, and he went upstairs to rest. He was found dead soon after by Pursey, his flatmate and friends. Over 1,000 people attended his funeral, including musicians Dave Dobbyn, Bernard Fanning, Ian Haug, Lindy Morrison, Dave McCormack, Steve Kilbey, Paul Kelly and Ed Kuepper.{{cite news|last=Moses|first=Alexa|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/05/12/1146940732795.html|title=Rockers go to church and send McLennan a lullaby|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=13 May 2006|access-date=23 April 2015}}

Following McLennan's death, the Queensland Government established the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the Queensland Music Awards.

The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) celebrate Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. In 2006, the inaugural year, McLennan won a Lifetime Achievement Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.queenslandmusicawards.com.au/about|title= About the Queensland Music Awards|website=Queensland Music Awards|access-date=21 March 2021}}{{cite web|url= https://www.queenslandmusicawards.com.au/past-winners/2006|title=Past Winners 2006|website=Queensland Music Awards|access-date=25 March 2021}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite encyclopedia|last=McFarlane |first=Ian |author-link=Ian McFarlane |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop |title=Whammo Homepage |url=http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp |access-date=13 September 2015 |year=1999 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=St Leonards, NSW |isbn=1-86508-072-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405231007/http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp |archive-date=5 April 2004 |df=dmy-all }} Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.

{{refend}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080607120638/http://www.apra.com.au/news/industry/news/060508_GrantMcLennan.asp "Grant McLennan"] obituary by APRA. Archived from the [http://www.apra.com.au/news/industry/news/060508_GrantMcLennan.asp original] on 7 June 2008.
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4984002.stm BBC News – Go-Betweens singer dies in sleep]
• [http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/22/music.mclennan/ CNN news – McLennan obituary]
• [http://www.go-betweens.net http://www.go-betweens.net Official website] of The Go-Betweens
• "[http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=1976 The Very Important Visiting Friend]" – Danceteria anecdote, 1980

{{Grant McLennan}}

{{The Go-Betweens}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLennan, Grant}}

Category:1958 births

Category:2006 deaths

Category:APRA Award winners

Category:Australian pop singers

Category:Musicians from Brisbane

Category:People from Rockhampton

Category:People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School

Category:Australian rock guitarists

Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom

Category:Australian lead guitarists

Category:Australian rock bass guitarists

Category:Australian male bass guitarists

Category:20th-century bass guitarists

Category:20th-century Australian male singers

Category:The Go-Betweens members

Category:Australian male singer-songwriters

Category:20th-century Australian singer-songwriters

Category:Jack Frost (Australian band) members

Category:Tuff Monks members