Gold

Very nice clean 2LP vinyl, gatefold cover (some ring wear, creasing))

John Rowles was born on 26th March  1947 in Whakatane and raised in Kawerau in the Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand. His  parents were Eddie and Phyllis Rowles. Eddie played on the wing and  three-quarter for the Maori All Black's in 1938, and was also a talented singer.  John had five sisters, Georgina, Carol, Gabrielle, Cheryl and Tania, and two  brothers, Edward and Wally. Edward unfortunately died when John was two, and out  of respect for him, John adopted his name as his middle name throughout his  career. Wally had a small singing career himself, originally going under the  name Frankie Price, before changing to Frankie Rowles.

John's musical background is quite extensive  with his first performance being at the age of 10, when he entered a local  talent quest and sang "All Shook Up", taking out first prize. Whilst still at  school he organised a group called the Shadows, named after the original  group, and John played lead guitar. His father managed the group and they played  at local dances at weekends. He was encouraged by his father and he even bought  him his first electric guitar.

In 1962, when he was 15, John left school and  got a job in a forestry camp. However, music was of prime importance in John's  life and when he was sixteen he moved to Auckland where he acquired a job as a  guitar player in a club. When the vocalist there became ill, John took over the  vocal duties as well. While in Auckland he had a short spell with Sonny Day and the Sundowners, and it  was while with them that he met Eddie Low.

John and Eddie moved to Australia in 1963  after signing a nine month contract to sing at the Riverside Inn in Melbourne.  After that contract expired, John moved to Sydney and joined a group called the Dingdongers. John stayed with them for about a year and during his time  with them, the group changed their name to the Sundowners.

By 1966, still in Australia, John had decided  to go solo and secured the services of New Zealand promoter Graham Dent as his  manager. Graham had previously been responsible for the successful career of Johnny Devlin and had also managed Max Merritt and the Meteors for a while.  Graham gave John a new image, changed his hair style, new mod clothes and  impressed upon him the importance of putting effort and action into his music  and performances. Dent organised to have John appear on Australian television's  "New Faces Of 1966". At this stage Dent had him performing under the name "The  Secret", and he was so popular that there were huge numbers of offers for  work. Dent kept him away from the promoters and press until after he had made an  appearance on "Bandstand". He then launched John to the Australian music world  as JA-AR and promoters were scrambling to sign him up.