Chad Morgan

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For other uses, see Chad Morgan (actress).
Chad Morgan

Morgan in June 2011
Background information
Birth name Chadwick William Morgan
Also known as The Sheik of Scrubby Creek
Born 11 February 1933
Origin Wondai, Queensland
Genres Country and western
Occupations Comedic singer and guitarist
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1952–present
Labels EMI
Associated acts Slim Dusty Show
All Star Western Show
Chad Morgan Show,
John Mcsweeney,
The Muirs,
Eddie Tapp frequent collaborator,
Gordon Larkin
Website www.chadmorgan.com.au
Notable instruments
Guitar

Chadwick William "Chad" Morgan (born 11 February 1933) is an Australian country music singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording he is known as The Sheik of Scrubby Creek.

Biography

Morgan was born in Wondai, Queensland and raised by his grandparents. He is the eldest of 14 children to Dave and Ivy Morgan. At very early age young Chad was raised by his grandparents Bill & Eva Hopkins, and after the death of his grandfather in 1945 – Chad and his grandmother moved back to Scrubby Creek to live with his parents and siblings.

He was discovered through Australia's Amateur Hour radio program and started recording with Regal Zonophone (a subsidiary of EMI) in 1952. His songs are peppered with Australian slang (one CD compilation is called Sheilas, Drongos, Dills and Geezers).

In 1984 – Chad met and married his 2nd wife Joan (married Sept 14th 1985 on the Gold Coast). Joan was often credited for getting the Sheik back on track – although she may have been supportive, it was Chad who eventually said enough was enough. He gave up the drink and the smokes shortly followed – that was more than 25 years ago.

Morgan has toured extensively, including the Slim Dusty Show, the All Star Western Show and his own Chad Morgan Show. He has been prolific in his recorded output and live performances. He was inducted into the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown in January 1987 and awarded an OAM in 2004.

Morgan has appeared in two films, Newsfront and Dimboola.

When Gordon Parsons wrote the song "Pub With No Beer", Morgan wrote the words down and wrote one verse of his own. He was dubbed the "clown prince of comedy" by Slim Dusty.[citation needed] He has recorded a duet with John Williamson, "A Country Balladeer". He has had platinum and gold album sales and is one of Australia's most popular country music artists.

Morgan has played all over Australia in all manner of places from tents to trucks to clubs and pubs, festivals, the Sydney Opera House and even a circus. Among many others he has toured with Slim Dusty, Normie Rowe and Mental As Anything.

One of Morgan’s highlights of his career – was performing at Sydney Opera House with Slim Dusty in April 1978. He received encore after encore, however this was never released on the actual album. The album itself was kept on multi-tapes for about 3 years then it was released under the title ‘One & Off The Road. . . It was released the same year as ‘Sheilas Drongos Dills & Other Geezers’ which contained 20 of Morgan’s biggest hits from the 50’s & 60’s. The album was released to the tune of $100,000 (one hundred thousand dollars) advertising campaign and it was the first Morgan had outsold Slim Dusty

In 2009 – Chad wrote a song about his Aboriginal heritage, dedicated to his grandparents who raised him as a child titled ‘Balled of Bill & Eva’. It was recorded with his grand-daughter Caitlin Morgan.

Artists who have impersonated Morgan in their shows include Col Elliott, John McSweeney and John Williamson.

Barry Humphries Used Chad Morgan as his inspiration for Les Patterson's teeth [1]

Tex Morton once described Morgan as the only original country music artist in Australia.[citation needed]

While touring Australia Morgan made sure he had fun. If he wasn't racing cars off the highway, he was playing a modern game of William Tell with a .303. Morgan explains "Trevor Day & myself were travelling outback Queensland, we stopped beside a billabong for lunch. Well I had me .303, doing some roo shooting as we went. Trevor yells out "Hey Morgan, you reckon you're good, see if you can take this can off me head at 50 yards." I said "No, better not." Trevor said "You haven't got the guts, uh?" "Well, it was 50 yards off the shoulder, I took that bloody can off his head." [2]

False rumours of his death began to surface after an announcement on radio station 4GY. The radio station later apologised for the rumour.[3]

Morgan is one of the last pioneers of Australian country music and still very active, touring Australia bringing his comical songs to fans of three generations. He is a master of audience control and remains one of the biggest draw cards in the history of Australian country music.[citation needed]

He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2010 CMAA Awards, the first person to be honoured with this award.

Is quite skilled with computers and has built many computers for his family and friends

Morgan has two sons (Chad Jr and Allan) and a daughter (Janelle).

Discography

  • The Sheik
  • Chad Morgan - The Singles Collection
  • It's Only the Depth that Varies
  • Cop This Lot
  • Muckin Round In Muckadilla
  • The Worst of
  • In Person
  • The Shiek Of Scrubby Creek
  • Sheilas Drongos Dills & Other Geezers
  • There's Life In the Old dog yet
  • Double Decker Blowflies
  • More Worst of Chad Morgan
  • Songs My Old Mates sang
  • Chad Charms The Birds
  • At his Sunday Best
  • Morgan Magic
  • Chad Morgan live!
  • In Person
  • Sings John Ashe
  • The Chad Morgan Song Book
  • The Artistry of Chad Morgan
  • You Can't keep a good man down
  • Been there done that gonna do it again
  • One for one
  • Chad charms the birds
  • Don't drink the water in the outback
  • On & off the road
  • The best of Chad Morgan
  • Here I am
  • Booze Ballads and Broads
  • Cock of the walk
  • They Call Me the Sheik
  • One Of The Mob
  • The Singles collection-Regal Zonophone and beyond
  • More Worst Of
  • Recycled
  • The Dues are Paid

Documentary film

A documentary film was made about Morgan's life on and off the road. It was written and directed by the filmmaker Janine Hoskings.

The DVD was released by Umbrella Entertainment on 6 June 2012.

DVD

Live At The Long Yard

Footnotes

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Capital News October 2002 Vol.27 No.10
  3. ↑ Chad Morgan: No, I'm not dead! 21 January 2008, By Mark Chapman, Accessed 11 June 2008

External links

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