The Choirboys (band)

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The Choirboys are an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. They are best known for their track "Run to Paradise", a #2 hit in Australia in late 1987.

1 1980s success
2 Career 1990-Present
3 Band members
4 Discography
5 External links

[edit] 1980s success

The Choirboys started on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney in 1979. The original members of the band were Mark Gable on vocals, Ian Hulme on bass, Lindsay Tebbutt on drums, and Brad Carr on guitar. They started jamming and writing songs, and playing together in venues around Sydney.

In 1983, George Young (formerly of The Easybeats, and older brother of Angus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC) heard a demo from the Choirboys. He recorded their self-titled debut album with his partner Harry Vanda of the famous Vanda & Young production team at the same studio where the early AC/DC and Rose Tattoo albums were recorded.

The first single, "Never Gonna Die," reached #21 in the Australian single charts in 1983. Australian TV musical personality Ian "Molly" Meldrum said the album was "destined to become an Aussie classic." Cold Chisel invited the Choirboys to support them on their "Last Stand", their last tour for 15 years.

The Choirboys returned to the live scene in 1986, opening for Deep Purple on their tour. Brad Carr left the group to be replaced by Brett Williams. They returned to the studio to produce their second album Big Bad Noise with producer Peter Blyton. The first single "Run to Paradise" reached #2 on the ARIA Charts late 1987 and was the 11th highest selling single of the eighties. The Big Bad Noise album went double platinum and ranked #21 for the year 1988 in Australia. Other singles from the album: "Boys Will Be Boys" and "Struggle Town" - also reached the top 30 on the Australian Singles charts.

[edit] Career 1990-Present

The Choirboys recorded Midnight Sun, the follow up to Big Bad Noise in Los Angeles with producer Marc Tanner in 1991. While it generated two top 40 hits in "Empire" and "Rendezvous", Midnight Sun didn't achieve the same level of success as its predecessor.

The band recorded its next album Yo-Yo in Germany during 1996, with Richard Lara (formerly of the Screaming Jets) on guitar and Barton Price (formerly of The Models) on drums. The band supported Cheap Trick on their Australian tour in the same year (with Tony Le Rhodes on drums).

The Choirboys recorded the Evolver album in 2002 and 2003 in between going on an extensive tour of Australia and New Zealand. Former Icehouse drummer Paul Wheeler joined the band replacing Price. The Evolver album was released in 2004 but due to no promotion for the album, it didn't fair well in the charts. It peaked at 174 in the Australian Charts and has since decreased.

The band returned to the Australian singles charts in Australia in July 2004 when dance producer Nick Skitz asked Gable to sing "Run to Paradise" on a dance reworking. The song, billed as "Nick Skitz vs. the Choirboys" debuted in the top 20 of the Australian singles charts and stayed in the charts for nearly 8 weeks before it was knocked out of the top 50.

In 2006, the Choirboys performed their best-known "Run To Paradise" on the Grand Final edition of The AFL Footy Show.

In 2007 The Choirboys resurfaced to bring us their 10th studio album entitled So Easy Here is what the members of the band have to say about "So Easy"

Mark, guitarist Rohan Cannon, bassist Ian Hulme and drummer Paul Wheeler didn’t take on these sixteen songs because they thought they could do them better but because, as Gable puts it, “We thought it a worthwhile exercise to explore them in a more modern light. We felt we could bring out things in songs that they weren’t in a position to do. We could redo things with a greater technical capacity and with the early songs, particularly, we could put in backgrounds that two-track recording wouldn’t allow. With Pretty Girl, for example, we spent quite a bit of time, adding about 80 backing vocals around the lead.”

"So Easy" is mixed with soothing harmonies but has not lost the rock that fans have come to love.

Mark Gable now has his own radio show as the host of the Vega Sunday Session on Vega 95.3FM Sydney and Melbourne. The show features local and international artist talking about their lives and their music.

[edit] Band members

As of 2007, the Choirboys consist of:

Mark Gable - vocals and guitar;
Ian Hulme - bass and vocals; and
Paul Wheeler - drums and vocals.

Other musicians who have been members of the Choirboys include Lindsay Tebbutt (drums 1979-1992), Brett Williams (guitar, 1988-1992), Brad Carr (guitar, 1979-1987), Richard Lara (guitar 1995-1999), Bob Spencer [guitar 1992-2004] Barton Price (drums, 1994-1996), Richard Coleman (drums, 1997-2001), Johnny Ghiselli (guitar, 2002-2003) and Tony Le Rhodes (drums, 1996-1997).