Judith Anne Stone AM (born 1940) is an Australian retired singer and musician, who has recorded songs in the pop, rock and country genres. Stone often sang cover versions of popular songs from the United States and the United Kingdom, and on occasion Italy and Sweden. She had top 20 singles on the national charts with "I'll Step Down" (1962), "4,003,221 Tears from Now" (1964), "Born a Woman" (1966), and " Would You Lay with Me" (1974).

Early life

Judith Anne Stone was born in 1940 and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Granville. Note:
photo
of Stone appears in the article. She has two younger sisters, Joyce and Janice. Note: Describes Stone as a 17-year-old: implying she was born in 1944. From a young age she sang country music at home and her parents bought her a guitar, which she learned to play.

Career

Stone entered and won a local talent contest in her early teens and was noticed by country singer

Reg Lindsay Reginald John Lindsay OAM (7 July 1929 – 5 August 2008) was an Australian country music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and radio and television personality. He won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than 500 ...

. By November 1956 she had joined his touring performance troupe, the Reg Lindsay Show, and stayed for 18 months. In July 1957 a reviewer of Lindsay's show in

Cabramatta Cabramatta, also abbreviated as Cabra, is a suburb in South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local gove ...

for '' The Biz'' wrote that "Little Judy Stone, of Granville, was very pleasing in her turn." Stone hired

Kevin Jacobsen Kevin George Jacobsen OAM (born 29 July, 1939) in Sydney) is an Australian entertainment entrepreneur and former musician who is the head of the ''Jacobson Entertainment Group'' Along with brothers Col Joye and Keith, he was a member of the ...

as her talent agent. She described meeting him, "I used to sing, with a heavy guitar, Western style numbers. Once I met Kevin he gave me one instruction: 'Throw that guitar out the window.' Although I did not throw it out any window, I am now singing without any of my own musical accompaniment." Jacobsen's older brother,

Col Joye Colin Frederick Jacobsen (13 April 1937) better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning almost sixty-seven years, starting from the late 50s. Joye was ...

, was an established pop singer and regular performer on ''

Bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

'', a TV music show. Stone supported his group, Joye and the Joy Boys, on their tours of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Stone, as a young performer, had been billed as "The Cowgirl from Granville" but on her first appearance on ''Bandstand'' she was mistakenly announced as "The Callgirl from Granville". By May 1961 she had also appeared on other TV music shows, ''Teen Time'' and ''

Six O'Clock Rock ''Six O'Clock Rock'' was an Australian rock and roll television show broadcast on ABC Television from 28 February 1959 to 1962 at 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Program synopsis Inspired by the BBC program ''Six-Five Special'', it had a similar fo ...

''. Jacobsen had Stone signed with

Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...

and in June 1961 she issued her debut single, "You're Driving Me Mad" – a cover version of the 1958 song by United States singer, Jo Ann Campbell. For the track she was backed by the Joy Boys. In August she relocated to Melbourne, for three months, to appear on Graham Kennedy's ''

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 ...

'' variety TV show. She expected that "While in Melbourne most of my shows will be adult performances, which will be a change from the present teenagers' shows." Her third single, "I'll Step Down", was released in February 1962 and became a top 10 hit in Sydney and top 20 in Brisbane. ''The Biz'' correspondent compared it to her earlier single, "Although very different to 'You're Driving Me Mad', this still possesses the inimitable style of this great little local star." Also in that year Stone issued her debut album, ''I'll Step Down'', on Festival. In 1963 she recorded "It Takes a Lot (To Make Me Cry)" on which the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

( Barry, Robin and

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician and songwriter. He achieved global fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb wer ...

) sing backup vocals; it was released as a single in July. Her seventh single, "4,003,221 Tears from Now", was released in April 1964. It is a cover version of the 1963 single by US singer Kerri Downs (aka Mary Lou Kiernan). According to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, it "became Stone's most popular release of the 1960s. The heart-wrenching ballad...

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

peaked at #8 in Sydney and #7 in Melbourne." In August–September 1974, Stone accompanied Rolf Harris (along with

Ross Ryan Ross Edwin Ryan (born 13 December 1950) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and producer. His signature tune, " I Am Pegasus", was released in September 1973, which peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Singles. Its parent album, ' ...

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

player

David Blanasi David Blanasi ( – disappeared 2001), also known as David Bylanadji, also spelt David Bulanatji, was an Aboriginal Australian player and maker of the didgeridoo, known as master of the "Kunborrk, Kunbjorrk" or "Gunborg" style of playing. He is k ...

) to perform at

Expo '74 Expo '74, officially known as the International Exposition on the Environment, Spokane 1974, was a world's fair held May 4, 1974, to November 3, 1974, in Spokane, Washington, in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States. It was the ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, United States.

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...

and other singers also gave performances at the Expo. Aside from her solo releases, Stone was often teamed with Col Joye in duets for singles, extended plays and albums. McFarlane found their work "contained cutesy material like 'Young and Healthy', 'Angry' and 'Side by Side'." In early 1965 Stone with Col Joye and the Joy Boys undertook a tour of Japan for two months. In September 1966 she covered " Born a Woman" by US singer, Sandy Posey. It was a top 10 hit in Sydney. From the late 1960s and into the early 1970s Stone "consolidated on her early pop successes with regular appearances on the club and country music circuits." Later singles included, "Mare Mare Mare" (January 1974), " Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)" (No. 2, June 1974), "Silver Wings and Golden Rings" (February 1975) and "

Hasta Mañana "Hasta Mañana" (Spanish for "Until tomorrow" or "see you tomorrow") is the fourth track on Swedish pop group ABBA's second studio album, '' Waterloo''. It was released in 1974 as the album's third and final single. Background Initially fearing ...

" (May 1976). In 2007 Stone performed a duet with Scottish singer-songwriter Isla Grant on the track "What's a Girl to Do?" for Grant's album, ''Down Memory Lane''. She retired in around 2011 due to the effects of

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

Charts

Stone had top 20 singles on the national charts with: * "I'll Step Down" (No. 19, February 1962) * "4,003,221 Tears from Now" (April 1964) * "Born a Woman" (No. 3, September 1966) * " Would You Lay with Me" (No. 2, June 1974)

Television

Recognition and honours

On the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 2006, Stone was appointed

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

, "For service to the community as an entertainer at fundraising events for a range of charitable organisations, and as a singer". In January 2014 she was made

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

Ambassador for regional celebrations in Laurieton, Wauchope, and

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

. In 2023, Stone was inducted into the Australian Women in Music's Honour Roll by

Beccy Cole Beccy Cole (born Rebecca Diane Thompson, 27 October 1972), also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, w ...

Personal life

On 25 February 1966, Stone married fellow musician, Leo de Kroo. The de Kroo brothers, Leo and Doug, were a duo who also appeared on ''Bandstand'' and other pop music shows. The marriage ended in divorce five years later, Stone reflected, "I blamed myself when it ended, then I realized something its taken a long time to learn – singing is my life... I don't have a social life – there simply isn't time – but I don't get lonely; I have my family." In January 1992 Stone was diagnosed with

, at the same time as her fellow ''Bandstand'' regular, Peter Allen. Both Stone and Allen were operated on the same day by the same surgeon. In June Stone was still in recovery when she learned of Allen's death, she recalled that after the operation "He came into my room to see me because he was going back to the States and I just wanted to give him a big hug – he looked so ill."

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

* ''I Cried'' – (June 1964)

Singles

Other singles

Awards and nominations

Australian Women in Music Awards

The

Australian Women in Music Awards Australian Women in Music Awards (AWMA) is a not for profit charity which delivers an annual award ceremony and conference program to recognise the vast contributions of women across all areas of the Australian Music industry. The two-day prog ...

is an annual event that celebrates outstanding women in the

Australian Music Industry The Australian music industry refers to the collection of individuals, organisations, businesses and activities that are involved in the creation, production, distribution and promotion of music in Australia. The music industry encompasses a wide r ...

who have made significant and lasting contributions in their chosen field. They commenced in 2018. ! , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, Judy Stone , Honour Roll , ,

King of Pop Awards

The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of

TV Week ''TV Week'' is a weekly Australian magazine that provides television program listings information and highlights, as well as television-related news. Content ranges from previews for upcoming storylines of popular television programs, particu ...

. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978. , - , 1972 , herself , Best Dressed Female , , -

Mo Awards

The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the

Mo Awards The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known as the Mo Awards) were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were last awarded in 2016. ...

), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Judy Stone won nine awards in that time. (wins only) , - , 1981 , Judy Stone , Country Female of the Year , , - , 1982 , Judy Stone , Country Female of the Year , , - , 1983 , Judy Stone , Country Female of the Year , , - , 1984 , Judy Stone , Country Female Entertainer of the Year , , - , 1985 , Judy Stone , Country Female Entertainer of the Year , , - , 1986 , Judy Stone , Country Female Entertainer of the Year , , - , 1987 , Judy Stone , Country Female Entertainer of the Year , , - , 1988 , Judy Stone , Country Female Entertainer of the Year , , - , 2007 , Judy Stone , Hall of Fame , , -

References

* Noel McGrath's Australian Encyclopaedia of Rock & Pop, 1978 * An Australian Rock Discography, Chris Spencer, 1990, Moonlight Publishing * The Who's Who of Australian Rock, Chris Spencer, Moonlight Publishing

External links

*
Judy Stone webpage
ATA All Star Artist {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Judy 1941 births Living people Australian country singers Australian women country singers Australian women pop singers Australian guitarists Australian women guitarists Logie Award winners Singers from Sydney