Jimmy Hannan (25 August 1937 – 7 January 2019) was an Australian radio and television personality, variety show host, singer, entertainer and game show host of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the pioneers of television, he appeared regularly on variety show ''

In Melbourne Tonight ''In Melbourne Tonight'', also known as ''IMT'', was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian variety show, variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970. Overview Graham Kennedy was the show's mai ...

'', and later hosted his own musical variety show ''Jimmy'', later called ''Tonight with Jimmy Hannan''. Hannan hosted music show '' Saturday Date'' from 1963 until 1967, which featured such performers as

Billy Thorpe William Richard Thorpe AM (29 March 1946 – 28 February 2007) was an English-born Australian singer-songwriter, and record producer. As lead singer of his band Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, he had success in the 1960s with "Blue Day", "Poison Iv ...

and

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

. He won the 1965

Gold Logie The Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, commonly referred to simply as the Gold Logie, is an award presented annually at the Australian Logie Awards. The Gold Logie was first awarded at the 2nd Annual TV We ...

award for most popular personality on Australian television.

Early life and career

Hannan had his start musically performing in a big-band. As a teen idol, he often performed with people such as Johnny Devlin and Little Pattie. He released the single "Beach Ball", originally recorded by the City Surfers, in 1963. The song was written by

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (; born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the band. As a so ...

who went on to become a member of

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

. The single reached number No. 2 on the local charts and featured

the Bee Gees ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

as backing vocalists. He worked on radio in Melbourne at 3UZ and at 2GB Sydney. He hosted game shows including ''Name That Tune'' and ''Celebrity Squares''.

Personal life

Hannan was married to Joanne Goode and had four children, including actress and model Melissa Hannan who won the Miss Australia title in 1981 and was also in the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

competition held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He left the show business industry in 1984, Hannan died on 7 January 2019, aged 84, from cancer in Bellingen, New South Wales.

Filmography

Actor

Soundtrack

Discography

EPs

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannan, Jimmy 1937 births 2019 deaths Australian television personalities Australian male singers Gold Logie winners Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Australian radio personalities