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John - born John Benjamin de Jong in Rotterdame,
Holland - came from a migrant family,
his father Jan having migrated out from Holland
after the
war.
His father spent some time in Indonesia during the war.
John is proud of his early life in Perth,
with his mother and father.
He grew up on the family farm at Kalamunda, in the Perth Hills.
In 2002 John was interviewed by ABC Television's
Australian Story on his
40 year show business career.
His (then) wife, Rose McKimmie-Young, son Craig and Young Talent Time
Team members shared their memories of working with John.
After he left school, Johnny began work as a trainee
disc jockey on Perth radio, started
singing at local dances, and spent eighteen months as lead vocalist with
local group The Nomads, later known as The Strangers (no relation to the
Melbourne group of the same name).
In 1965, Johnny got his first break into TV when he
became host of a local Perth pop show Club 17.
He also issued two singles, Club 17/Hi Ho (January) and Go Johnny Go (March)
on the 7-Teen label.
In 1966, Johnny signed to Martin Clarke's local
Clarion label,
and formed a new backing band
Kompany which comprised John Eddy (guitar),
Tony Sommers (guitar), Jim Griffiths (bass)
and Warwick Findlay
(drums; ex-Ray Hoff and the Off Beats).
in early 1966 when The Easybeats visited Perth,they gave Johnny the ultimate
seal of approval by presenting him with one of their new songs.
Step Back,
co-written by Stevie Wright and George Young and it was issued as a single in
May 1966,
backed by a foot-stomping cover of The Strangeloves' Cara-lyn.
Luckily for Johnny, Clarion had just signed a distribution deal with
Sydney's Festival Records, and with Festival's added promotional clout and
its national distribution network, the single became a double-sided #1 hit
in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
It was so successful, according to
Noel McGrath, that it became the second biggest-selling Australian single
of the Sixties, surpassed only by Normie Rowe's double-sided mega-hit
Que Sera Sera/Shakin' All
Over.
Johnny's Let It Be Me EP also shot to #1 in Sydney
and #4 in Melbourne in October.
His first hit record Step Back,at the age of 17 went gold after convincing
Vander and Young to write it for him.
Johnny Young and Kompany was most known for the hit single Caroline,(Caralyn)
in 1966.
A little later he took over the roll of presenter for
Australia's premier and national popular music
television show The GO!! Show.
John remained
with this show until its end in 1968.
He went on to be the founding producer and presenter
for one of Australia's longest running national
television programmes Young Talent Time.
Young Talent Time or YTT as it was known to it's fans first aired on Australian
television on 24 April, 1971.
The show is still hosted on Foxtel's Cavalcade Of
Stars on TV1.
John's beaming face from the television each Saturday night, surrounded by his
talented young team, made him a a favourite with the seniors.
Each Young Talent Time episode would finish with him singing "All My Loving"
from the host set,while team members would sway to the music.
John would pause in the song to say goodnight to each of the team members.
John loved his mother and would always remember to
send her a special greeting each week.
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