Graeme Ronald Strachan, professionally billed and known as "Shirley" Strachan or Shirl, was an Australian singer, songwriter, radio and television presenter, and carpenter.
25 Facts About Shirley Strachan
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Shirley Strachan was the lead singer of the rock group Skyhooks.
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Shirley Strachan was the host of children's TV program Shirl's Neighbourhood.
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Shirley Strachan born in Malvern, Victoria, on 2 January 1952 and grew up in Mount Waverley.
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Shirley Strachan was the older brother of three sisters, and he was the son of Joyce and Ronald Strachan, who was a carpenter and former World War II Navy sailor.
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Shirley Strachan was a well-known supporter of the Hawthorn Football Club in the AFL.
7.
Shirley Strachan met "Freddy" Strauks, a drummer, at a performance at Village Green.
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Strauks and Greg Macainsh, on bass guitar, were members of Claptrap in 1970, and they asked Shirley Strachan to join on lead vocals in the following year.
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The group's debut performance was on 19 April 1971 at Eltham's Montsalvat, where Shirley Strachan "stood facing the band, too shy to face the audience".
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In November 1972, Shirley Strachan left Frame and moved to Phillip Island to take up surfing and part-time carpentry.
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In March 1974, Shirley Strachan replaced Hill on lead vocals in Skyhooks alongside Macainsh, Strauks and Bob "Bongo" Starkie and Red Symons, both on guitars.
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Shirley Strachan started his solo singing career during his time with Skyhooks.
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Shirley Strachan was replaced on lead vocals by Tony Williams of Reuben Tice.
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Shirley Strachan became known to a new generation as the host of a magazine-style children's TV series, Shirl's Neighbourhood, from 1979 to 1983.
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Shirley Strachan issued his debut solo album, It's all Rock 'n' Roll to Me, in 1980.
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Shirley Strachan organised and participated in several Skyhooks reformations during the 1980s and 1990s.
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In 1984, Shirley Strachan joined a rock supergroup, the Party Boys, for a national tour and was recorded on lead vocals for their third live album, No Song Too Sacred, alongside founding members Graham Bidstrup on drums, Kevin Borich on guitar and Paul Christie on bass guitar, and new guitarist, Robin Riley.
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Shirley Strachan relocated to Queensland in that year and started as a regular presenter on home makeover program, Our House, where he resurrected skills from his pre-Skyhooks carpentry trade.
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Shirley Strachan presented a breakfast radio show, with Gary Belcher and Dean Miller, on the radio station Triple M Brisbane in the 1990s.
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Shirley Strachan left Triple M in 1997 following a pay dispute.
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Shirley Strachan died in August 2001 while solo-piloting a helicopter, aged 49.
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Shirley Strachan was killed in a helicopter crash on 29 August 2001, at the age of 49.
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Shirley Strachan had been a fixed-wing pilot for many years and had been undergoing training for a helicopter pilot's licence, with a view to buying a helicopter and taking friends and family on surfing safaris.
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The day Shirley Strachan died was, coincidentally, the day an ABC documentary episode on rock and roll in Australia, Long Way to the Top, which referred to the Skyhooks, aired on TV.
25.
Shirley Strachan's ashes were scattered into the sea from a helicopter by his wife, Sue.