Hunger was the vital ingredient … Brian Cadd, honorary masters degree in music. Photo: Jenny Evans
PROFESSOR BRIAN CADD?
"Is that emeritus?" chuckles the snowy-haired Australian music legend, who will receive an honorary masters degree from the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney today. "No, just call me Caddy."
It is possible Cadd, 63, is as excited about this latest honour as when he was inducted into the ARIA hall of fame a few years back. Even his mother is flying from Melbourne to watch.
"It's such a bizarre thing isn't it, when one has plummeted out of the school system at a relatively young age to finally get some kind of credentials?"
Cadd won't be the first musician to be honoured in this way, of course.
Last year Nick Cave was made a doctor of law by Monash University and Kev Carmody accepted an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Queensland. Bob Dylan wore academic robes when he picked up a doctor of music in Scotland in 2004.
For Cadd, today's honour is one of the few credentials missing from a 40-year career as a songwriter, performer, producer and label head. He has written hits for John Farnham (Don't You Know It's Magic), Ronnie Burns (When I Was Only Six Years Old) Masters Apprentices (Elevator Driver), TV shows and movies (the theme songs for Class Of 74 and Alvin Purple). Then there were his own bands and solo projects (A Little Ray Of Sunshine for Axiom; Ginger Man) and a successful career as a songwriter based in Los Angeles in the '70s.
He even had a couple of hits in France and his song Let Go made No. 1 in South Africa twice, both times in Swahili.
Not bad for the son of two Perth tennis champions who was handy with a racquet but chose music because it was "easier on my body" and he felt the primal urge of any musician, developing a crush on a fellow piano student, Cheryl.
"One of the great thrills of my week was to be in the same, albeit for only a few seconds, waiting room as her. But I never said a word to her."
At today's ceremony he will tell the students that one of the "epiphanies of my life" was realising as a young musician that virtuosity was no guarantee of ability or talent; what was most vital was "hunger".
Timing is also crucial.
"I've always considered the greatest single fortune I've ever had in my life is being born in the year I was born because it enabled me to be 20 years old in 1966 and able to play an instrument, which was just nirvana," he says.
Who knows what might have happened if Cheryl had come across him in 1966, impressed maybe to see "that horrible pimply kid who used to stare at me all the time" turned into a budding rock god. [rc]
Copyright © 2008 Fairfax Digital
July 18, 2009
AUSTRALIA: Old rockers get keys to halls of learning
.
SYDNEY, NSW / The Sydney Morning Herald / Entertainment / Music / July 18, 2009
By Bernard Zuel
Hunger was the vital ingredient … Brian Cadd, honorary masters degree in music. Photo: Jenny Evans
PROFESSOR BRIAN CADD?
"Is that emeritus?" chuckles the snowy-haired Australian music legend, who will receive an honorary masters degree from the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney today. "No, just call me Caddy."
It is possible Cadd, 63, is as excited about this latest honour as when he was inducted into the ARIA hall of fame a few years back. Even his mother is flying from Melbourne to watch.
"It's such a bizarre thing isn't it, when one has plummeted out of the school system at a relatively young age to finally get some kind of credentials?"
Cadd won't be the first musician to be honoured in this way, of course.
Last year Nick Cave was made a doctor of law by Monash University and Kev Carmody accepted an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Queensland. Bob Dylan wore academic robes when he picked up a doctor of music in Scotland in 2004.
For Cadd, today's honour is one of the few credentials missing from a 40-year career as a songwriter, performer, producer and label head. He has written hits for John Farnham (Don't You Know It's Magic), Ronnie Burns (When I Was Only Six Years Old) Masters Apprentices (Elevator Driver), TV shows and movies (the theme songs for Class Of 74 and Alvin Purple). Then there were his own bands and solo projects (A Little Ray Of Sunshine for Axiom; Ginger Man) and a successful career as a songwriter based in Los Angeles in the '70s.
He even had a couple of hits in France and his song Let Go made No. 1 in South Africa twice, both times in Swahili.
Not bad for the son of two Perth tennis champions who was handy with a racquet but chose music because it was "easier on my body" and he felt the primal urge of any musician, developing a crush on a fellow piano student, Cheryl.
"One of the great thrills of my week was to be in the same, albeit for only a few seconds, waiting room as her. But I never said a word to her."
At today's ceremony he will tell the students that one of the "epiphanies of my life" was realising as a young musician that virtuosity was no guarantee of ability or talent; what was most vital was "hunger".
Timing is also crucial.
"I've always considered the greatest single fortune I've ever had in my life is being born in the year I was born because it enabled me to be 20 years old in 1966 and able to play an instrument, which was just nirvana," he says.
Who knows what might have happened if Cheryl had come across him in 1966, impressed maybe to see "that horrible pimply kid who used to stare at me all the time" turned into a budding rock god. [rc]
Copyright © 2008 Fairfax Digital
Hunger was the vital ingredient … Brian Cadd, honorary masters degree in music. Photo: Jenny Evans
PROFESSOR BRIAN CADD?
"Is that emeritus?" chuckles the snowy-haired Australian music legend, who will receive an honorary masters degree from the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney today. "No, just call me Caddy."
It is possible Cadd, 63, is as excited about this latest honour as when he was inducted into the ARIA hall of fame a few years back. Even his mother is flying from Melbourne to watch.
"It's such a bizarre thing isn't it, when one has plummeted out of the school system at a relatively young age to finally get some kind of credentials?"
Cadd won't be the first musician to be honoured in this way, of course.
Last year Nick Cave was made a doctor of law by Monash University and Kev Carmody accepted an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Queensland. Bob Dylan wore academic robes when he picked up a doctor of music in Scotland in 2004.
For Cadd, today's honour is one of the few credentials missing from a 40-year career as a songwriter, performer, producer and label head. He has written hits for John Farnham (Don't You Know It's Magic), Ronnie Burns (When I Was Only Six Years Old) Masters Apprentices (Elevator Driver), TV shows and movies (the theme songs for Class Of 74 and Alvin Purple). Then there were his own bands and solo projects (A Little Ray Of Sunshine for Axiom; Ginger Man) and a successful career as a songwriter based in Los Angeles in the '70s.
He even had a couple of hits in France and his song Let Go made No. 1 in South Africa twice, both times in Swahili.
Not bad for the son of two Perth tennis champions who was handy with a racquet but chose music because it was "easier on my body" and he felt the primal urge of any musician, developing a crush on a fellow piano student, Cheryl.
"One of the great thrills of my week was to be in the same, albeit for only a few seconds, waiting room as her. But I never said a word to her."
At today's ceremony he will tell the students that one of the "epiphanies of my life" was realising as a young musician that virtuosity was no guarantee of ability or talent; what was most vital was "hunger".
Timing is also crucial.
"I've always considered the greatest single fortune I've ever had in my life is being born in the year I was born because it enabled me to be 20 years old in 1966 and able to play an instrument, which was just nirvana," he says.
Who knows what might have happened if Cheryl had come across him in 1966, impressed maybe to see "that horrible pimply kid who used to stare at me all the time" turned into a budding rock god. [rc]
Copyright © 2008 Fairfax Digital
