Swanee

John Swan was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His family immigrated to Australia when he was still a child and settled in Elizabeth, South Australia. Apart from a stint in the Army, where he gained the title of South Australian Amateur Boxing Champion, John's career has always revolved around music.

In 1978 he released his first album Into the night with WEA Records. Swanee's first major chart success was a great rendition of Tim Hardin's ‘If I were a carpenter’ from the album This time it's different. Success with the next two singles from the album immediately followed. ‘Lady What's Your Name’ and ‘Temporary Heartache’ both screamed straight up the charts.

Due to the success of his solo career, John was offered to the role of lead singer with the Party Boys. They released their self titled album which went number one in three weeks thanks to the success of the number one single ‘He's gonna step on you again’ and two top ten hits ‘Hold your head up’ and ‘Gloria’. They also had moderate success with a song penned by Swan and Lancaster, ‘Is this the way to say goodbye’.

After a break Swanee released a new CD with his old record company Warner Music. Titled Heart and soul it contained 14 songs from classic blues ballads and rock compositions including such classics as ‘Lady What's Your Name’, ‘If I Were A Carpenter’, ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Fooled Around And Fell In Love’ and ‘Fire and Rain’ plus some great tracks penned by the man himself.

Swanee played at the Countdown Spectacular concert in 2006.

Countdown appearances

• 24th December 1982 - Live Studio Performance ‘Lady what's your name’
• 29th August 1982 - Live Studio Performance ‘Lady what's your name’
• 4th October 1981 – Co hosted Countdown with Molly
• 27th October 1985 - John Swan and band perform 'Say You'll do Something'

Links:
Bio reference: swanee.com.au