Jimmy Little, the mellow voice of a generation

Jimmy Little

Jimmy Little … success in an era when indigenous people had few rights. Photo: Janie Barrett

JIMMY LITTLE was a genuinely lovely soul who loomed large in Australian popular music history. The first indigenous singer to have a Top 10 hit died yesterday after a long illness, aged 75. He was a universally loved figure among Aboriginal people and in the wider Australian public.

Little was a warm and gentle person who was born at the Cummeragunja Mission outside Barmah on the banks of the Murray River.

As a young man, he moved to Sydney to further his musical career. His natural, warm singing voice was perfect for the times. He was a consummate mellow balladeer who was often favourably compared to both Nat King Cole and the smooth US country crossover singer Jim Reeves.


Musician Jimmy Little who has just released his new album Resonate. Pyrmont. September 19, 2001.Click for more photos

Jimmy Little, a national treasure

Musician Jimmy Little who has just released his new album Resonate. Pyrmont. September 19, 2001. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

  • Musician Jimmy Little who has just released his new album Resonate. Pyrmont. September 19, 2001.
  • Jimmy Little entertains Mayfield East students Ryan Byrnes 10, Ethan Hicks 8, and Tamara Towers 8. May 11, 2001.
  • Jimmy Little with singer Richard Clapton during a jam session. September 12, 1999.
  • Jimmy Little playing his Guitar in Tamworth. January 19, 2001.
  • Warming-up backstage at the Reconciliation Dinnerwere Jimmy Little and Ernie Dingo. May 30, 2002.
  • Aboriginal singers, Jimmy Little and Marge Peters, in a backyard in Redfern, Sydney. March 20, 1957.
  • Singer, songwriter Jimmy Little pictured before recieving the Red Ochre Award from the Australia Council. December 4, 2003.
  • Singer songwriter Jimmy Little pictured at home in Sydney. May 11, 2004.
  • Jimmy Little. 2004.
  • Indigenous singer Jimmy Little performs at the Naidoc Week celebrations, Shellharbour City Stadium, Albion Park. July 1, 2008.
  • Jimmy Little outside his Lilyfield home on Wednesday afternoon. March 25, 2009.
  • Musican Jimmy Little with his grandson, James Henry. Both are nominated for a Deadly Award this year. September 29, 2004.
  • Launch of the Opera House forecourt venue with Jimmy Little and Troy Cassar-Daley. 2002.
  • Jimmy Little with Brendan Gallagher in Sydney together, as they celebrate 10 years since their recording of the album, Messenger. September 23, 2009.
  • Singer, songwriter Jimmy Little pictured before recieving the Red Ochre Award from the Australia Council. December 4, 2003.
  • Jimmy Little performs with the Black Arm Band in the Domain. January 9, 2010.

Little’s period of greatest success occurred between 1959 and 1964 when he scored minor hits with Danny Boy (1959) and a cover version of Marty Robbins’s El Paso (1960); he became the first Aboriginal musician to have a nationwide No.1 hit, in 1963 with the country gospel song Royal Telephone; and enjoyed Top 20 success in 1964 with the Barry Gibb-written song One Road.

Little’s success with Royal Telephone occurred four years before the 1967 referendum that amended references to Aboriginal people in the constitution. He was a successful indigenous musician at a time when Aborigines had few rights.

Little continued to perform mostly to country music and indigenous audiences. He was a regular at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and was often in demand as an actor. He appeared in Shadow of the Boomerang in 1960 and in Wim Wenders’s Until the End of the World in 1991. He seemed to be little more than a footnote in Australian music until, to the surprise of many, he went into the studio in 1999 and recorded the successful Messenger album on which he recorded highly original versions of Australian songs from the 1980s which had been hits for, among others, the Church, Crowded House, Paul Kelly, Ed Kuepper and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Little was at core a decent man who was widely respected within the Aboriginal community. He worked tirelessly to improve Aboriginal literacy and was always available to add his musical voice to any worthy Aboriginal cause. After being diagnosed with kidney failure in 2004, he established the Jimmy Little Foundation to help deal with kidney disease among indigenous people.

Little had been battling ill health and complications for a decade. He died at home in Dubbo.

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