Jon English, English-born Australian musician and actor, Died at 66

  Actor, Music

Jonathan James “Jon” English was born on March 26, 1949, and died on March 9, 2016.

He was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, musician and actor.

Jon emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1961.

English was an early vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Sebastian Hardie but left to take on the role of Judas Iscariot in the Australian version of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar from May 1972, which was broadcast on television.

Also, he was a noted solo singer; his Australian top twenty hit singles include “Turn the Page”, “Hollywood Seven”, “Words are Not Enough”, “Six Ribbons” and “Hot Town”.

Jon was acclaimed for his starring role in the 1978 Australian TV series Against the Wind – he won the TV Week Logie Award for ‘Best New Talent in Australia’.

The musician also co-wrote and performed the score with Mario Millo (ex-Sebastian Hardie).

Those particular songs had international release, known as Mot alla vindar (1980) in Swedish, where both “Six Ribbons” and “Against the Wind” were released as singles, both singles and the soundtrack album peaked at No.1 on the Norwegian charts; the first single, “Six Ribbons” and the album, peaked at No.4 on the Swedish charts.

From 1983 to 1985, English won four Mo Awards with three consecutive ‘Entertainer of the Year’ awards and a further ‘Male Vocal Performer’ in 1985.

Jon English has performed in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas ‘The Pirates of Penzance’, The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore from 1984.

And performances of Essgee Entertainment’s productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan trilogy from 1994 to 1997 were broadcast on Australian TV, they were all released on VHS and subsequently on DVD.

Jon English passed away at 66 yrs old.