William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born as Johnny Cave in 1950, and originally sang with a Sydney band called The Amazons. In the late 60s and early 70s he was a regular on the Sydney pub and club circuit performing under the name Johnny Cabe.
 
In early 1974, Harry Vanda and George Young (formerly of the Easybeats) had recorded a backing track of ‘Can’t stop myself from loving you’ which Johnny Cabe sang as he was able to reach the high notes to compliment the tune. Johnny Cabe’s name changed again to William Shakespeare and under the guidance of Vanda and Young also became Australia’s answer to Gary Glitter, along with puffed sleeves and glittery attire and a bouffant hairdo.

Shakespeare followed up ‘Can’t stop myself from loving you’ (which reached number one nationally) with another Vanda and Young composition called ‘My little angel’ another national number one.

He returned to the club circuit performing as Billy Shake and other than 70s reunion concerts he has hardly been heard of again. At the time of writing he is living in semi retirement in Sydney.

Timeline:

• 1974 – ‘Can't Stop Myself From Loving You’ was released. It became an instant success flying to number 1 on the charts.
• 1974 - Only a few months later, ‘My Little Angel’ was released and also became a number one hit.
• 1975 - The album, ‘Can't Stop Myself From Loving You’ was released.
• 1975 - Another single, ‘Just The Way You Are’ was released.
• 1976 - William's last single was released, ‘Last Night’.

Bio reference - 'Countdown - The Wonder Years' DVD/CD. Researched and written by Brendon Pearce.

William Shakespeare died on 5 October 2010.