Jeff St John (born Jeffrey Leo Newton; 22 April 1946 – 6 March 2018), was an Australian musician best known for several Australian hits, such as "Teach Me How to Fly" (1970), "Big Time Operator" (1967) and "A Fool in Love" (1977).

Early life

St John was born Jeffrey Leo Newton on 22 April 1946, in Newtown,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia, and attended Cleveland Street Boys High School in

Surry Hills, New South Wales Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surround ...

. He was born with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...

and spent much of his life in a wheelchair.

Music career

St John appeared with a number of bands during the late 1960s and early 1970s including; John The Syndicate aka The Wild Oats (1965), The Id (1966–67) with

Bob Bertles Bob Bertles is an Australian jazz alto, tenor and baritone saxophonist and bandleader. Life and career A self-taught musician, Bertles in the late 1950s and early 60s was a member of the developing modern jazz scene that grew out of venues like ...

(tenor sax 1967), Jeff St John & Yama (1967–68), Jeff St John & Copperwine (1969–72), with Harry Brus (bass 1970–72) and

Wendy Saddington Wendy June Saddington (26 September 194921 June 2013), also known as Gandharvika Dasi, was an Australian blues, soul and jazz singer, and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. She wrote for teen pop newspaper ''Go-S ...

(co-lead vocals 1970–71), Jeff St John Band (1972–73) and Red Cloud (1975–76) In 1980, St John was the subject of an episode of the documentary series ''The Australians'', presented by Peter Luck. The episode was titled "Jeff St. John – Rock 'n' Roll Man". In 1988, as part of

Australian Bicentenary The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. History The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...

celebrations along with many other Australian celebrities, St John took part in a video shoot at

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...

(once called Ayers Rock), called ''Celebration of a Nation.'' St John was involved in educating people about disabilities and was a member of spina bifida support group MOSAIC. He appeared at the opening of the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

where he sang the

Australian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair" is the national anthem of Australia. Written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, sung in Australia as a patriotic song. It first replaced "God Save the Queen" as the ...

., and a song written for the opening ceremony called ''The Challenge''. St John's autobiography, ''The Jeff St John Story: The Inside Outsider'', edited by James Anfuso, was published by Starman Books in 2015.

Discography

Albums

Charting singles

Death

Jeff St John died in the morning of 6 March 2018, at

Fiona Stanley Hospital Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) is a state government hospital and teaching facility in Murdoch, Western Australia. Completed in December 2013, the hospital is the largest building project ever undertaken for the Government of Western Australia. ...

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. His death was caused by a bacterial infection following surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St John, Jeff 1946 births 2018 deaths Australian male singers Singers from Sydney People with spina bifida