Mic Conway (born 15 February 1951) is an Australian vocalist and with his brother,
Jim Conway, was a co-founder of the 1970s humour, theatre and rock group,
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway ("Captain Matchbox") on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmon ...
.
[McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry for . Retrieved 31 January 2010.][Spencer et al, (2007]
CAPTAIN MATCHBOX WHOOPEE BAND
entry. Retrieved 31 January 2010.[ NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ]Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...
(ARIA) created their own charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ta ...
in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
Conway also was a founding member of Soapbox Circus and
Circus Oz
Circus Oz is a contemporary circus company based in Australia, collectively owned by its Membership, founded in 1977. Its shows incorporate theatre, satire, rock 'n' roll and a uniquely Australian humour.
History Early years
Circus Oz was inco ...
.
Conway plays an assortment of oddball instruments, and performs magic, juggling, tap dancing and fire eating.
Biography
Conway, along with his brother
Jim, attended
Camberwell High School
Camberwell High School is a government-funded, government run, co-educational high school for years 7 to 12, located on Prospect Hill Road in Canterbury, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Camberwell High School is located on a 3.2-hect ...
. There they formed the Jelly Bean Jug Band which would later become
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway ("Captain Matchbox") on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmon ...
. Captain Matchbox would later find success in the 1970s where the group produced seven records, two of which reached gold status. Also in the 1970s, he joined the Pram Factory Theatre and created the Soapbox Circus with Matchbox where he served as the ringmaster, musician, juggler and acrobat. The act would become
Circus Oz
Circus Oz is a contemporary circus company based in Australia, collectively owned by its Membership, founded in 1977. Its shows incorporate theatre, satire, rock 'n' roll and a uniquely Australian humour.
History Early years
Circus Oz was inco ...
in 1978.
Conway was a member of the Conway Brothers Hiccups Orchestra from 1984–1988 and toured the
UK in 1986 appearing at the
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
, the Capitol Music Festival and the Newcastle Festival. In 1988, the Conway Brothers appeared at the Houston International Festival, World Expo 88 and the Perth festival.
He reinvented himself as a children's performer in the 1990s, appearing on shows such as ''
Humphrey B. Bear'' (on which he was known as 'Magic Mic'), ''
Play School'', ''
Mr. Squiggle'' and ''
ABC 4 Kids
ABC Kids is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's part-time channel, broadcasting shows between the hours of 5am and 7:30pm for children under 6 years old in each local Australian channel. It shares the same bandwidth as ABC TV Plus which ...
'',
[Mic and Jim Conway]
, abc.net.au, 1 June 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2012 and Conway received an ARIA (
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...
) award in 1994. Conway was a regular part of
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Tsehay Hawkins, as well as supporting members Evie Ferris, John Pearce, ...
where he provided the voice of Wags the Dog for the TV series in the 1990s and 2000s, co-wrote songs, and made appearances on various videos, including the group's
feature movie.
He also has a band, Mic Conway's National Junk Band.
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
References
;General
* Note: Archived
n-linecopy has limited functionality.
*
Note:
n-lineversion established a
White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltdin 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
;Specific
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Mic
1951 births
ARIA Award winners
Living people
Australian male singers
Australian multi-instrumentalists
Musicians from Melbourne
Ukulele players
Washboard players
Harmonica players
Australian children's musicians