At 20, renowned singer-songwriter Brian Cadd thought he would be lucky to get another 10 years in the music industry.
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This year marks the singer-songwriter’s 51st on stage – a career, he says, which might have been cut short had he been better at golf.
Cadd formed Australia’s first supergroup, Axiom, with Glenn Shorrock in 1969.
Shorrock, who went onto The Little River Band, will play Her Majesty’s Theatre with Cadd next month.
“If over the years I’d become proficient at something that was retirement-like I might have been persuaded,” Cadd said of why he keeps touring.
“I don’t know of anything else to do, I’ve been doing this since I was 15-years-old.
“The most exciting part of every day is that 90 minutes on stage and I don’t know if I’d be able to do anything to fill that.”
Cadd sees playing now as “like putting on a fabulous leather coat”.
“Whenever you put it on it still feels cool, they never wear out, they get a bit more frayed at the edges and they’re better for it.”
He and Shorrock have been friends since they were 20, and watched one another’s records work up and down the charts.
“At that stage everyone was a lot more worried about their hair and their flares and their paisley shirts than they were about their musical content.
“It was all about being impressive to girls and all of that was terrible precious and as you get older you get much more relaxed and you think, the reality is you know the songs really well, the audiences know the songs really well, and in essence what could go wrong?”
If his 20-year-old self saw him now, he would ask ‘how did you get to live so long?’ Cadd said.
“The reality is the 60s was pretty wild, even the 70s was pretty wild and it was also considered to be a pretty temporary thing.
“Nobody ever stayed in the business past 30 and we were thinking we’d get another 10 years out of this, how fabulous.
“I was playing at my 70th, Shorrock was playing as well, and we looked at each other and smiled and both realised it was incredibly fortunate that we’ve were still able to do it.”
Cadd and Shorrock will play Her Majesty’s Theatre on Friday, February 17. Tickets available on 5333 5888.
Jessica Black
Ballarat journalist.
Ballarat journalist.
