AUSTRALIAN HISTORY ~

James Oswald ‘Jimmy’ Little was a talented musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was a member of the Yorta Yorta people. He was born in 1937 and grew up on the Cummeragunja Mission on the Murray River in NSW. In 1955, he moved to Sydney to pursue a career in country music, and his mellow style, influenced by Nat King Cole and American country singer Jim Reeves, earned him the nickname ‘Balladeer’, ‘Gentleman Jim’ and ‘Honey Voice’.

Little’s first single, ‘Mysteries Of Life/Heartbreak Waltz’, was released in 1956, but he didn’t have his first real hit until ‘Danny Boy’ in 1959. In 1963, he scored a number-one hit with ‘Royal Telephone,’ which helped him become the brightest Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene. The following year, Everybody’s magazine named him Australian Pop Star of the Year.

Apart from his music career, Little also made his acting debut in 1960 in the Billy Graham evangelical feature film Shadow of the Boomerang. In 1989, he made his theatre debut in Michelle Harrison’s Black Cockatoos at Belvoir Street Downstairs and appeared in Tracey Moffitt’s short film The Night Cries – A Rural Tragedy. He was also seen in Andrew Schultz’s opera Black River.

Little was an ambassador for literacy and numeracy for the Department of Education from 2002. He also taught and mentored Indigenous music students at the Eora Centre in Redfern, NSW, in 1985. His teaching and community work earned him the NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year in 1989.

Little’s career spanned over six decades, during which he released fourteen albums, the last of which was Yorta Yorta Man in 1994. His 1999 album Messenger, a collection of contemporary songs, sold more than 20,000 copies.

In 2004, Little was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia and named a Living National Treasure. He and composer Peter Sculthorpe were awarded honorary doctorates in music in recognition of ‘their joint contribution to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians’. That same year, he was diagnosed with kidney failure. He received a kidney transplant, which led him to launch the Jimmy Little Foundation to help Indigenous Australians suffering from kidney disease.

Little received the APRA Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music in 2010. Sean Kennedy chronicled his life in the film Jimmy Little’s Gentle Journey in 2005.

Little passed away in 2012, leaving a rich legacy in the Australian music industry.