Johnny Young
Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin Arthur de Jong 12 March 1947, Rotterdam, Netherlands) is an Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. He had a number-one hit with the double-A-sided single, "Step Back" and a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-lyn" in 1966. He was concurrently the host of TV pop music program The Go!! Show. In the mid-1960s, he toured with the Rolling Stones and supported Roy Orbison.
As a composer, he penned number-one hits, "The Real Thing" and "The Girl That I Love" for Russell Morris, "The Star" for Ross D. Wyllie and "I Thank You" for Lionel Rose. He also wrote a number-two single, "Smiley" for Ronnie Burns. He presented and produced the TV show, Young Talent Time, which screened on Network Ten from 1971 to 1988. It launched the careers of several teen pop stars and theatre actors, Danni Minogue, Tina Arena, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali, Debra Byrne, Sally Boyden and Karen Knowles. Typically each episode closed with a ballad style sing-along rendition of the Beatles' song, "All My Loving".
At the Logie Awards of 1990, sponsored by TV Week, Young was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association's Hall of Fame in 2010 by Arena who performed Young's song, "The Star". He is the first person inducted into both halls of fame.
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