Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Doug Ashdown
Australian singer-songwriter From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Douglas Wesley Ashdown (born 29 July 1942) is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter from Adelaide. He had a top 40 hit on the Australian singles chart with "Winter in America" or "Leave Love Enough Alone" (1976). It also reached No. 13 on the Dutch Singles Chart in 1978 and charted in 14 of the first 15 editions of the Dutch annual Top 2000 of all time, with a peak position of 820 in 1999. In 1988, "Winter in America" was covered by Dutch singer René Froger, and in 1994 by Australian group the Robertson Brothers. Ashdown also reached the Australian top 50 with "The Saddest Song of All" (1970).[1]
Remove ads
Biography
Summarize
Perspective
Douglas Wesley Ashdown was born in 1942 in Adelaide, South Australia. At the age of 17 he travelled to England to play in a rock band. In 1961, he was back in Adelaide and played guitar alongside Bobby Bright as a vocalist in the Bowmen.[2] By 1965, as a solo singer-songwriter, he released his first album, This Is Doug Ashdown. His 1960s popular singles were "Something Strange" in 1968, and in 1969, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On", a cover of the Jerry Lee Lewis' hit.[3]
In 1970, he signed with the independent label, Sweet Peach, and issued "The Saddest Song of All" in August, which peaked at number 46 on the Kent Music Report singles chart.[1] The song was written by Ashdown and Jim Stewart, who became his long-term producer and co-writer.[4] The associated album, The Age of Mouse, was the first double LP album of original material released by an Australian artist.[2] Ashdown and Stewart produced Fraternity's debut album Livestock (June 1971) and their single, "Seasons of Change" (March). Ashdown and Stewart relocated to the United States, living in Nashville. While there, the pair co-wrote "Just Thank Me",[5] for David Rogers, who released it in 1973. It peaked at No. 17 on the US Country Music Singles Chart.[6] They also co-wrote "Leave Love Enough Alone", which Ashdown released in 1974 after relocating to Sydney.[7] He had a minor hit with it when it was renamed "Winter in America" and released in 1976. It peaked at No. 3 in Brisbane, No. 14 in Melbourne and No. 30 in Sydney.[3]
In 1977, his album Trees won the King of Pop Award for "Best Album Cover" from TV Week, the Australian television entertainment magazine.[8] Ashdown also worked with science fiction writer/songwriter Terry Dowling on recordings of Dowling's song-cycle "Amberjack", about a stranded time traveller. Ashdown contributed lead vocals and guitar to six of the tracks of Dowling's song-cycle, which were broadcast by the ABC in 1977.
He continued to release singles and albums, and had minor chart success into the 1980s.[3] He co-wrote several original songs for the 1995 film Billy's Holiday.
Remove ads
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Charting singles
Remove ads
Awards
Australian Record Awards
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads