Joe Dolce

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Joe Dolce
Man sitting on back door steps, wearing jeans, boots, black T-shirt and sun glasses. Rests left elbow on left knee with left forefinger pointing to his right. Right fist hidden inside left hand and he is facing forward.

Joe Dolce, 2005
Background information
Born 1947 (age 66–67)
Origin Painesville, Ohio, United States of America
Genres Pop
Occupations Singer-songwriter, poet, essayist
Years active 1978–present
Labels MCA Records Full Moon/Astor, Hammard, PolyGram
Associated acts Joe Dolce Music Theatre
Website joedolce.net
Notable instruments
acoustic and electric guitars, blues harmonica virtuoso, mandolin and ukulele

Joseph "Joe" Dolce[1] (/ˈdoʊltʃeɪ/, originally /ˈdoʊlts/; born 1947 in Painesville, Ohio) is an American-born, Australian singer/songwriter, poet and essayist who achieved international recognition with his multi-million-selling song, "Shaddap You Face", released under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, worldwide, in 1980–1981.[2][3][4] The single reached number one in 15 countries,[5] it has sold more than 350,000+ copies in Australia, and has remained the most successful Australian produced single in music history for over thirty-three years selling an estimated six million worldwide.[6] It reached No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980.[4]

Biography

Dolce was born in 1947 in Painesville, Ohio graduating from Harvey High School in 1965. While attending college at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, he formed various bands including Headstone Circus,[2] with Jonathan Edwards who subsequently went on as a solo artist to have a charting hit song in the US 'Sunshine'. Dolce relocated to Melbourne, Australia in 1978 and his first single there was "Boat People"—a protest song on the poor treatment of Vietnamese refugees—which was translated into Vietnamese and donated to the fledgling Vietnamese community starting to form in Melbourne. His one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, performed in cabarets and pubs with various line-ups including his longtime partner, Lin Van Hek.

In July 1980 he recorded the self-penned "Shaddap You Face",[1] for Full Moon Records label at Mike Brady's new studios in West Melbourne.[2][6] When in Ohio, Dolce would sometimes visit his Italian grandparents—they supplied the inspiration with "What's the matter, you?" and "Eh, shaddap".[6] He wrote the song about Italians living in Australia and first performed it at Marijuana House, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy in 1979.[6] Dolce paid A$500 for the recording and spent $1000 on the music video clip, which was created by Melbourne filmmaker, Chris Lofven. It became a multi-million-selling hit, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980,[4] in UK from February 1981 for three weeks,[2][7] also No. 1 in Germany, France, Fiji, Canada, Austria,[8] New Zealand[9] and Switzerland.[10][11] Dolce received the Advance Australia Award in 1981.[12]

Follow up single, "If You Want to Be Happy" charted in Austria (No. 7) and New Zealand (top 40).[4][8][9] Dolce's subsequent singles included "Pizza Pizza", "Christmas in Australia" and "You Toucha My Car I Breaka You Face" and he released two albums during this period, 'Shaddap You Face' and 'The Christmas Album'. With Lin Van Hek, he formed various performance groups including Skin the Wig, La Somnambule (1984) and the ongoing Difficult Women (1993).[2][3] Van Hek and Dolce co-wrote "Intimacy",[13] for the 1984 film, The Terminator's soundtrack.[14] He was a featured lead actor in the Australian film Blowing Hot and Cold (1988). He has continued to perform solo and with Van Hek as part of their music-literary cabaret Difficult Women. In the past decade, he has been also receiving extensive recognition as a poet and essayist.

Personal

In 1976, he married Zandie Acton, the sister of fashion icon Prue Acton, in Berkeley, California. They had two children in the States and then moved to Australia, in 1979. After a year, they divorced. Soon after, he met singer-writer-painter, Lin van Hek, in 1980, who had four children of her own. They have remained together for thirty-three years. Together, they have six grown children and ten grandchildren.

Recent

Joe Dolce has achieved further recognition as a serious poet and essayist winning the 25th Launceston Poetry Cup in Tasmania in 2010. He has set over one hundred poems to music, including works by Sappho, Sylvia Plath, Les Murray, Ali Cobby Eckermann and C.P. Cavafy. He wrote Hill of Death from a poem of Louisa Lawson's that won Best Folk Gospel Song at the Australian Gospel Awards. Cocaine Lil, a public domain lyric, formed the basis for an up-tempo blues song – both of these poems-set-to-music appeared on his 2007 album The Wind Cries Mary. Cocaine Lil was also included as a featured track in Australian Guitar Player Magazine for Dolce's extraordinary one-take no overdubbed forty-bar guitar break. He has had thirty-four of his own poems and twenty-three new song-lyrics selected by Queen's Medal for Poetry recipient Les Murray for publication in Quadrant (magazine), including two poems in Best of Quadrant Poetry 2001–2010. Quadrant (magazine) has also published nine of his essays including: Biblical Imagery in the Songwriting of the Creative Infidels: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and Paul Kelly (Jan–Feb 2012), Hey Mr Cowbell Man: Sir Christopher Ricks' Dylan's Visions of Sin (Mar 2012), Anti the Anti (June 2012),Who Is This White Fella Fella? (Oct 2012), In the Op Shop With Percy Grainger (Nov 2012),Father Scapegoat (Jan–Feb 2013), Pen Pencil or Keyboard (March 2013) and Elysium in Paraguay (July–Aug 2013). The Monthly published his essay on art censorship, Shaddap You Facebook, in Apr 2013. Dolce's poetry, photographs and song-lyrics have appeared in Meanjin, Overland (magazine), Island magazine, Cordite, Eye of the Telescope, Carmenta, Journey, Vine Leaves, Going Down Swinging, PEN International (in English & Arabic translation), Little Raven and American Association for Australian Literary Studies (Antipodes) (USA). He released his first book of poems HATBOX in 2010.[citation needed]

Recordings and publications

Albums

  • Shaddap You Face (Full Moon, 1981)
  • Christmas in Australia (Hammard, 1981)
  • Memoirs of a Mouth Organ (1997)
  • Difficult Women (1998)
  • Steal Away Home (1999)
  • FreeLoveDays (2000)
  • Flower (2001)
  • The Wind Cries Mary (2007)

Singles

  • "Boat People" (1979)
  • "Shaddap You Face" (Full Moon, 1980)
  • "If You Want to Be Happy" (Full Moon, May 1981) AUT No. 7,[8] NZL No. 33[9]
  • "Reggae Matilda" (1981)
  • "Christmas in Australia" (November 1981)
  • "You Toucha My Car I Breaka You Face" (June 1982)
  • "Pizza Pizza" (Fable, 1984)
  • "Vaffanculo Polka" (February 1989)
  • "Dead Cat Bounce" (November 2011)

Books

  • HATBOX poetry (2010)

Essays

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ""Shaddap You Face" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Joe Dolce'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. "DOLCE, Joe". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1. Retrieved 9 January 2010.  Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.  NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  5. ↑ Joe Dolce official site – biography
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). "Chapter 22: Joe Dolce". Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne, Vic: Wilkinson Publishing. pp. 167–168. ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1. 
  7. ↑ Roberts, David (2005). Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums (18th edition). Guinness World Records Limited. p. 14. ISBN 1-904994-00-8. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Discographie Joe Dolce Music Theatre". Austrian Charts Portal. Retrieved 10 January 2010.  Note: Some information is in German.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Discography Joe Dolce Music Theatre". New Zealand Charts Portal. Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
  10. ↑ "Discographie Joe Dolce Music Theatre". Swiss Charts Portal. Retrieved 10 January 2010.  Note: Some information is in German.
  11. ↑ "Joe Dolce Music Theatre – Shaddap You Face". Australian Charts Portal. Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
  12. ↑ "Joe Dolce". Countdown (Australian TV series). Retrieved 12 January 2010. 
  13. ↑ ""Intimacy" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
  14. ↑ ""Terminator Cues" at The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)". ASCAP. Retrieved 10 January 2010. 

External links

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