Letty Katts

Katts was born in 1919, the only daughter{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41952777 |title=Enoggera Girl's Engagement |newspaper=The Courier-mail |issue=2413 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=29 May 1941 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} of Anton Katts (22 January 1888 – March 1952) and Lucretia Katts, née Pimblett, who married on 11 June 1921. Anton was born in Ostrog, Russia,{{cite web|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4643247 |title=Katts, Anton |publisher=National Archives of Australia |access-date=18 May 2022}} (perhaps Ostrog, Šentjernej) and in 1912 left as a refugee for Australia, and founded a radiator repair and sheet metal fabrication shop "King & Katts"{{cite web|url=https://www.ozatwar.com/civilian/king&katts.htm |title=King & Katts, Brisbane, Queensland, worked for the 81st Air Depot Group During WW2 |author=Peter Dunn |year=2015}} at 623 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, Queensland.

Around 1925 they built a large house, "Roseneath", in Enoggera where Letty grew up.{{efn|The house, at 12 Gizeh Street, Enoggera, remained in the family until 1975, and has been preserved as an example of inter-war architecture.{{cite web|url=http://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/652 |title=Letty Katts residence |publisher=Government of Queensland |access-date=17 May 2022}}}}

Both parents were musicians: Anton played balalaika and mandolin; Lucretia was a pianist, and Katts had private piano tuition, initially with Constance Hartshorn, organist for the Enoggera Presbyterian church,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21476482 |title=Music Results |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=22,381 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=21 October 1929 |access-date=18 May 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} then from around 1930 with John Ellis, who took out a newspaper advertisement when Kitts graduated ATCL and LTCL in 1939.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40851304 |title=Advertisement |newspaper=The Courier-mail |issue=1854 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=11 August 1939 |accessdate=18 May 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Katts married John Stanton Davis Mellick (born 22 February 1920),{{cite web|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5223651 |title=John Stanton Davis Mellick |publisher=National Archives of Australia |access-date=18 May 2022}} on 8 December 1941.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172356235 |title=Weddings |newspaper=The Telegraph (Brisbane) |location=Queensland, Australia |date=8 December 1941 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} Katts worked as a music teacher while her husband was overseas during the War.

Known as Stanton, or Stan, Mellick, he had a distinguished career in the army, and was promoted to Major.Barrkman, Jen, J. S. D. Mellick, Jen (Jennifer) Barrkman, and J. S. D. (John Stanton Davis) Mellick. [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183495720602061 Stanton (JSD) Mellick Oral History January 2018], 2018. After the war he studied pharmacy, and had a successful practice in the town. He later became a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and was awarded an OAM{{cite web|url=https://stories.uq.edu.au/contact-magazine/2020/writing-his-own-story/index.html |author=Andrew Kidd Fraser |title=Writing His Own Story |publisher=University of Queensland|access-date=17 May 2022}} in 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/stanton-mellick-archive |title=Stanton Mellick Archive |date=24 June 2019 |publisher=State Library of Queensland |access-date=18 May 2022}}

They had one daughter, Jill Mellick (born 29 August 1948).

• "Never Never"{{efn|"Never Never" is an Australian term for the seemingly endless isolated inland of the country.}} won for her a prize of £100 (perhaps $5,000 in today's{{when|date=May 2022}} money) in a contest conducted by the Australian Federation of Broadcasting Stations{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98296660 |title=Love Not Forte of Song Winner |newspaper=The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) |issue=775 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=25 February 1945 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} in March 1945.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48938146 |title=Enoggera Woman's Song Contest Win |newspaper=The Courier-mail |issue=3603 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=26 March 1945 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} The song was regularly performed on Australian radio stations, and topped the "hit parade"{{efn|In those days popularity of a song was judged by the number of copies of sheet music sold.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248305373 |title=Your radio |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |volume=VIII |issue=10 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 January 1947 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}}} for many weeks in 1946.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70504674 |title=Australian Song |newspaper=The Albany Advertiser |volume=19 |issue=2035 |location=Western Australia |date=12 September 1946 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} Its first recording was made by Donald Novis with the Bobby Limb orchestra in 1951{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229728353 |title=George Hart's Radio News |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=13,027 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 October 1951 |access-date=18 May 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} and released in Australia in January 1952.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98357201 |title=Now it is on a disc |newspaper=Sunday Mail (Brisbane) |issue=1633 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=13 January 1952 |access-date=17 May 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• "A Town Like Alice" was written independently of the film A Town Like Alice but Chappell & Co., her publishers, organised for it to be played in conjunction with the film's premiere in Sydney and became the first all-Australian composition to top the hit parade. Its first gramophone recording was by French-Australian Red Perksey and his orchestra, with vocals by Ray Dickson. Many other artists followed, including Slim Dusty, through to Warren H. Williams and Ted Egan 50-odd years later.
• Numerous artists recorded "Never Never" and "A Town Like Alice" 1944–1986.{{cite web |title=Letty Katts |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/2303165-Letty-Katts |website=Discogs |access-date=29 December 2024}}
• In July 2007, Letty Katts spoke to John Nutting from ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) radio about the background to her composition "Never Never"; the interview was broadcast in October 2007.{{cite web |title=Peter Pratt on Saturday Night Country |url=https://www.abc.net.au/snc/stories/s1964554.htm |website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=29 December 2024}}

Other published compositions include

• "I Put My Hand in My Pocket"

:Held by the National Library of Australia:

:*"Riding Home" (piano duet)

:*"This Is Sydney"

:*"A Day in the Bush" (eight little songs for children)

:*"West of the Great Divide"

:*"The Gallop" (piano duet)

:*"Toy Soldiers" (piano solo)

:*"By the Billabong" (piano duet)

:*"Ship Ahoy" (piano duet){{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=author:%22Katts%2C%20Letty%2C%201919-2007%22&iknowwhatimean=1 |title=Catalogue |publisher=National Library of Australia, Canberra |access-date=17 May 2022}}

Two high-profile compositions, mentioned in Narelle McCoy's presentation at the State Library (see External links, below) are:

• "This Old Town" for Graham Kennedy
• "This Is Sydney" for Barry Crocker

Katts' compositions listed by the Australian Performing Right Association to 13 April 1988 are:

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Adelaide
• At the End of the Day
• Because of You
• Bells
• Butterflies
• By the Billabong
• Campbell Town
• Climb a Mountain
• The Dancers
• A Day in the Bush
• Dive, Dive, Dive
• Doll's Lullaby
• The Emu
• For Now I Know
• Good Morning
• Goodnight
• Grenfell
• I Put My Hands in My Pockets
• I Ride Alone
• I'll Ask Her
• I'm Going Back
• The Kangaroo
• The Koala
• The Kookaburra
• Lady Moon
• The Little World
• Long Shadows
• Lost
• Love Will Teach You
• May Shouldn't Marry December
• The Madoke
• The Music Box
• My Heart's Saying Yes
• Never Never [corrected from Never, Never]
• Night Song
• Now You Are Marching Home
• Old Man of the Sea
• On the Beach
• On the Lake
• The Orchid
• Our Evermore
• The Pedestal Song
• Playtime
• The Possum
• Raindrops
• Reading the Paper
• Riding Home
• The River
• S.S. Make Believe
• Sailing into the Sunset
• Sailors' Song
• The See-Saw [corrected from Sea-Saw]
• Ship Ahoy
• The Shiralee
• Sunshine Express
• Tender Loving Care
• There's Beauty Everywhere
• They Also Serve
• They Can't Ration Love
• This Is Sydney
• This Old Town
• The Timeless Land
• A Town Like Alice

{{div col end}}

The State Library of Queensland now holds the Letty Katts collection, 1935-2006. This collection documents the creative life of the Queensland composer and comprises compositions, arrangements, correspondence, certificates, newspaper clippings, personal items, video and sound recordings.{{cite web |title=Collection guide: Letty Katts collection, 1935-2006 |url=https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99285613402061 |website=One Search catalogue (State Library of Queensland) |access-date=29 December 2024}}

The biennial Letty Katts Fellowship was established by Stan Mellick in 2016 to support research into Queensland's music history, and consists of a stipend of $5,000 plus twelve months' access to the Neil Roberts Research Lounge at the State Library of Queensland and documents held by the Library.{{cite web |title=Letty Katts Fellowship |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/awards-and-fellowships/queensland-memory-awards/letty-katts-fellowship |website=State Library of Queensland |access-date=29 December 2024}}{{cite web|url=http://www.iamlaustralia.org.au/inaugural-letty-katts-award-by-the-state-library-of-queensland/ |title=Inaugural Letty Katts Award |year=2016 |access-date=17 May 2022}}

In 2020, the Letty Katts Fellowship was awarded to Narelle McCoy, whose thesis was "Musicians Should Be Heard and Not Seen: the life and music of Letty Katts".{{cite web |title=Letty Katts Fellowship Winners |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/awards-and-fellowships/queensland-memory-awards/letty-katts-fellowship/letty-katts |website=State Library of Queensland |access-date=29 December 2024}}

The Australia Music Centre holds nine manuscripts of songs by Letty Katts, with a digital master at National Library of Australia.{{cite web |title=[Collection of songs] [music] / [words and music by Letty Katts] |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1713426 |website=National Library of Australia |access-date=29 December 2024}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katts, Letty}}

Category:1919 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:Australian women songwriters

Category:Australian women composers

• [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/fellowships-awards-and-residencies/queensland-memory-awards/letty-katts-fellowship Letty Katts Award, State Library of Queensland].
• [https://vimeo.com/670961607 Presentation by Narelle McCoy at the State Library of Queensland]. Research Reveals: Musicians Should Be Heard and Not Seen: the life and music of Letty Katts (1919-2007). (Vimeo footage)
• [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/who-letty-katts Who is Letty Katts?] John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
• [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/1938-cooks-tour-through-europe-and-usa-katts-family 1938: A Cook's Tour through Europe and the U.S.A. with the Katts Family], John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
• [https://www.abc.net.au/snc/stories/s1964554.htm Johnno chats with Letty Katts about writing "Riding On The Never Never" in 1945], Saturday Night Country, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) radio.