John Farrar

John Clifford Farrar (/ˈfɑrər/;^[1] born 8 November 1946) is an Australian-born music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Strangers (1964–70), Marvin, Welch & Farrar (1970–73), and The Shadows (1973–76); in 1980 he released a solo eponymous album. As a songwriter and producer he worked with Olivia Newton-John from 1971 to 1989. He wrote her number-one hit singles: "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "You're the One That I Want" (1978 duet with John Travolta), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978), and "Magic" (1980). He also produced the majority of her recorded material during that time including her number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975) and Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1982); and he was a co-producer of Grease (1978) – the soundtrack for the film of the same name. Farrar also produced Newton-John's first United States number-one hit single, "I Honestly Love You", which was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1975. In 1969 Farrar married fellow Australian singer, Pat Carroll – formerly Newton-John's singing partner. In July 1970 Farrar and Carroll relocated to the United Kingdom and from late 1975 they have resided in the US. They are the parents of Sam Farrar (Phantom Planet bass guitarist) and Max Farrar (Golden Ghost guitarist and keyboardist).

Biography

John Clifford Farrar was born on 8 November 1946 and grew up in Moonee Ponds, a suburb of Melbourne.^[2][3] He has an older brother, Reginald, and the family lived in a large household with aunts and uncles.^[4] Farrar's mother bought him a country music guitar, which he began playing at twelve years-old.^[4][5] In 1961, he began playing in a band with his older brother and at the age of fifteen years-old the family relocated to nearby Niddrie.^[4][5] In 1963 he joined The Mustangs, which included Farrar on guitar, Johnny Cooper on vocals, Peter Ramis on bass guitar and Billy on drums. In late January 1964 Farrar joined The Strangers replacing founding guitarist Laurie Arthur and adding another lead vocalist to the group.^[6][7] Other members were Peter Robinson on bass guitar and co-lead vocals, Graeme Thompson on drums, and Fred Weiland on guitar and backing vocals.^[7] They had formed as an instrumental band in 1961 working in the Melbourne dance scene.^[6] In June 1964 with Farrar on board, the band issued their first vocal single, "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Someone", which reached the top 30 on the Melbourne charts in July.^[6] They became a popular backing and session band.^[6][7]

In August 1964 The Strangers were hired as the house band for the ATV O pop music program, The Go!! Show.^[7][8] Both Farrar's future wife, Pat Carroll, and their close friend, Olivia Newton-John, appeared on The Go!! Show as singers and were backed by The Strangers. Carroll and Newton-John formed a vocal duo, Pat and Olivia, and in 1967 they first toured the United Kingdom which included a gig at the then infamous Raymond Revue Bar Club in Soho.^[9] After returning to Australia from a tour, Carroll was obliged to remain as her visa had expired, while UK-born Newton-John stayed on. Farrar dated and married Carroll and following their wedding in 1969, Carroll ceased to pursue her head-liner status and settled into occasionally reprising her duo work with Newton-John and session singing on Farrar productions or Newton-John's works.^[6][7] During 1968 The Strangers supported the Australian leg of a tour by UK instrumental group, The Shadows.^[5] In June 1970 The Strangers released their most successful hit, "Melanie Makes Me Smile", which peaked at No. 14 on the Go-Set National Top 60 in August.^[10]

However in July 1970 Farrar had left The Strangers and, with Carrol, moved to the UK where he was invited to become a member of Marvin, Welch & Farrar, a vocal-harmony group featuring two former members of The Shadows, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch.^[6][7] By that time Newton-John and Welch were engaged and Farrar and Welch became two of her songwriters and producers.^[11] Welch and Farrar co-produced and performed on Newton-John's cover of Bob Dylan's track, "If Not for You", and the album of the same name released in November 1971. Farrar also worked with Cliff Richard as a backing guitarist and vocalist.^[6][7] Marvin, Welch & Farrar put out two albums, an eponymous one in 1971 and Second Opinion (in both quadraphonic and stereo formats) in 1972. In 1973 a third album featured just Marvin and Farrar.^[6][7] The Shadows reformed soon after and Farrar joined as second lead guitarist and vocalist. In 1975 the group represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Let Me Be the One".^[12] In 1973 Farrar had appeared at the same contest as a backing guitarist and vocalist for Richard's entry, "Power to All Our Friends"; the following year he backed and produced Newton-John on her effort, "Long Live Love".^[12]

From 1971 to 1976 various members of The Shadows were used as session musicians for Newton-John's early albums which were recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios. Aside from Farrar and Welch, they included Brian Bennett, Alan Hawkshaw, Alan Tarney, Dave Richmond and Trevor Spencer; other session musicians were fellow Australians Kevin Peek and Terry Britten – both also worked with Richard – and some other musicians. They worked under co-producers Farrar and Welch – until mid-way through Newton-John's second album, Olivia, thereafter Farrar was her main producer. He produced her number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975) and Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1982).^[5] Farrar also produced Newton-John's first US number-one hit single, "I Honestly Love You", which was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1975.^[13] His last production for Newton-John was her 1989 album, Warm and Tender.^[5]

In 1974 Farrar used the vocoder SFX unit on an instrumental track, "No, No, Nina", ahead of Peter Frampton's 1975 single, "Show Me the Way", and the associated double live album, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976) which featured the same device for its talk box effect. However Farrar's track was held back from release by EMI until 1997, when it appeared on the CD album, The Shadows at Abbey Road, containing mostly unreleased material. A vocal version of "No, No, Nina" appeared on the Specs Appeal album as a Eurovision contender track; but it was voted sixth out of six initial entries.^{[citation needed]} Aside from instrumentation and vocals Farrar worked as an arranger on The Shadows' albums: Rockin' with Curly Leads, Specs Appeal, Tasty and Live at the Paris Olympia.^[5]

Farrar's work with Newton-John embraced a wide range of styles, from "You're the One That I Want" (duet with John Travolta) to "Physical". Farrar's biggest success with Newton-John as a writer-producer came with the film version of the musical, Grease. In 1977 during filming, its producers required extra songs, so Farrar wrote and submitted two originals, "Hopelessly Devoted To You" and "You're the One That I Want". Both were accepted and became two of the soundtrack's most successful singles, being international number-one hits during 1978. In June 2004 Farrar recalled writing the tracks: "'You're the One That I Want': The weird thing was it was the fastest song I ever wrote. It came so fast, the actual melody and the feel of it. 'Hopelessly Devoted To You': I spent the longest period writing the lyrics of any song I’ve ever written. Every thesaurus and every rhyming dictionary I had, just trying to really make it work properly".^[14] Other number-one hits for Newton-John that were written and produced by Farrar are "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975) and "Magic" (1980). Farrar produced one side of the Xanadu soundtrack for the 1980 film of the same name.^[15] The other side featured tracks by Electric Light Orchestra and was produced by their guitarist-vocalist, Jeff Lynne.^[5] In March 1981 he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the Xanadu track, "Suspended in Time".^[16]

In 1995, Farrar collaborated with Newton-John and lyricist Tim Rice for the musical score of Richard's musical, Heathcliff based on the Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights.^[17] Farrar also co-wrote songs for a musical based on the 1959 film, Gidget, which, as of April 2012, was indefinitely postponed.^[17] Farrar runs the Moonee Ponds Studio at Sweetwater Road in Malibu.^[18]

Personal life

In 1969 Farrar married fellow Australian singer, Pat Carroll formerly Newton-John's singing partner. In July 1970 Farrar and Carroll relocated to the United Kingdom and by late 1975 they resided in the United States.^[5] They are the parents of Sam Farrar (born 29 June 1978, Phantom Planet bass guitarist) and Max Farrar (Golden Ghost guitarist and keyboardist).^[19] As of April 2012 Farrar and Carroll reside in Malibu, California.^[17]

Instruments

According to Allmusic John Farrar has been credited with: vocals (lead, backing), guitars (lead, rhythm, bass, acoustic, slide, acoustic slide, electric slide), piano (electric), keyboards, mellotron, synthesiser, vocoder, synclavier, mandolin, horn.^[15]

Discography

As a performer

As a songwriter and/or producer

Eurovision Song Contest appearances

• 1973 "Power to all Our Friends" (backing Cliff Richard).
• 1974 "Long Live Love" (producer to Olivia Newton-John)
• 1975 "Let Me Be the One" (member of The Shadows).

References

External links

• Interview with John Farrar on Youtube
• John Farrar interview on 88.3 Southern FM
• Photographs of The Strangers, Farrar at right, 1966, Farrar, second from right, 1965, Farrar, second from left, 1969, Farrar at left, 1967 at State Library of Victoria