Mike Perjanik
Encyclopedia
Mike Perjanik is a New Zealand
-born musician
, record producer
, composer
, arranger
and bandleader
who became well known in Australia from the late 1960s for his work on pop and rock recordings, and as a composer, arranger, bandleader and producer of music for film, television and advertising
.
. While attending Dargaville High School he joined The Spotlights, an instrumental band formed with fellow students Doug Jerebine (guitar) and Barch Sevren (drums). They entered a talent quest at the Auckland Town Hall
and came third. The group expanded to five, with Ken Lawrie replacing Sevren, and Roy Calkin (guitar) and Ray Mayall (bass) joining.
Although largely self-taught as a keyboard player, arranger and composer, Perjanik's skills soon made him a prominent figure on the thriving New Zealand music scene of the mid-1960s. After moving to Auckland
in 1963 he joined local group The Embers and encouraged his friend Doug Jerebine to follow him; Jerebine eventually joined Perjanik in The Embers after a short stint in the popular band The Keil Isles. Jerebine went on to become one of New Zealand’s best-known rock guitarists as a member of noted psychedelic/progressive band Human Instinct.
When The Embers split up, Perjanik took some of the members to form his own group, The Mike Perjanik Band, which became the leading session group on the Auckland recording scene between 1964 and 1966. They also worked as the backing band for many popular New Zealand solo artists including Tommy Adderley, whom they backed on The Dinah Lee
Spectacular, Dinah’s farewell tour of New Zealand before her move to Australia.
Perjanik began writing music and his songs were recorded by New Zealand pop singers of the day including Dinah Lee
; he also arranged music for Ray Columbus
and toured with visiting international performers like Gene Pitney
. One of the Perjanik Group's first sessions was backing a new singing duo discovered by Viking Records
boss Ron Dalton; the duo, Sue and Judy Donaldson (who were childhood friends of La De Das
guitarist Kevin Borich
) were renamed by Perjanik as The Chicks; The Mike Perjanik Group backed them on their debut single "Heart Of Stone"/"I Want You To Be My Boy" and in 1966 they also backed The Chicks on their single "The Rebel Kind".
Perjanik discovered another talented female singer while he playing at a hotel. Impressed by her powerful voice Perjanik informed Ron Dalton of his discovery and she was soon brouight to the Viking studio to record "Tumblin' Down", which was released under the singer's new stage name Maria Dallas
.
Perjanik played an important part in launching the career of vocalist Allison Durbin
. They first worked together when Durbin was backed by Perjanik's band in the studio and they subsequently began a relationship. Durbin was soon performing as the band's featured singer and in October 1966 they travelled to Australia
for a residency at Sydney's Coogee Bay Hotel, before moving to Sammy Lee's
prestigious Latin Quarter club in May 1967. After nine months with the band, Durbin left to pursue a solo career; she subsequently scored several hit singles in Australia, was named as Australia's "Queen of Pop" and became a prominent recording and TV performer in the 1970s.
The Mike Perjanik Group recorded their own single in 1967, "We Can Make It"/"My Girl", made for HMV Records (NZ), which was released in both Australia and New Zealand. The vocals were performed by Mickey Leyton, a little-known but often-heard singer who became one of Australia’s most in-demand session vocalists in the 1960s and '70s. Around 1969 Mike formed a new band called The Mike Perjanik Complex, which released another single on EMI-Columbia, "She Never Smiles Anymore"/"I'm Gonna Love You".
, including their Top 10 Australian chart hits "Hayride", "La La" and "Run Run Run", their debut LP (1969), the Frontier EP (1970) and their acclaimed second album Prepared in Peace (1971).
In 1973, Perjanik put together a new group called Synthesis, with himself on piano, organ and synthesiser, Dave Donovan (guitar), Dave Ellis (bass) and Will Dower (drums) and they released an album called Lennon and McCartney: Today and Yesterday on the independent Drum label.
By this time Perjanik was in high demand as a session player and arranger and he contributed to many notable Australian rock and pop recordings. In 1972 he was part of the studio band that backed Richard Clapton
on his debut LP Prussian Blue. In 1975 he was part of the all-star studio group Patch, which recorded the concept album Star Suite with producer (and fellow New Zealander) Peter Dawkins
. As well as Perjanik, the Patch LP included Mike McClellan (acoustic guitar), Mike Rudd
(electric guitar), Rod Coe (bass), Tony Esterman (keyboards), Doug Gallacher (drums), Bill Putt (bass), Tim Gaze
(lead guitar) and Tony Ansell (organ).
TV and film music became a mainstay of Perjanik’s work during the 1970s. One of his first soundtracks was for the 1972 movie Private Collection. Since then he has written, recorded and produced themes and incidental music for hundreds of Australian films, TV shows and advertisements. His credits include music for major corporate clients such as Arnott's, Johnson & Johnson
, McDonalds and Wrigley
.
His many TV credits include the themes for some of Australia’s most popular and successful TV series -- The Naked Vicar Show
, Glenview High
, The Restless Years
(including a single version of the theme song performed by Renee Geyer), Chopper Squad
, Kingswood Country
, Arcade
, Holiday Island, Daily At Dawn, A Country Practice
, Rafferty's Rules
, Hey, Dad!, The Family Business, Family and Friends, My Two Wives, Late For School, Bullpitt and the perennial Home & Away, for which Mike has been writing the incidental music since its inception. His mini-series credits include The Power, The Passion
and Grim Pickings and his movie and telemovie scores include Norman Loves Rose, Bush Christmas
, Queen of the Road, Warming Up, Whipping Boy
and Without Warning.
In 1977 he formed The Mike Perjanik Orchestra, who featured as the house band on the hit comedy series The Naked Vicar Show
, which marked the start of a long association with the show’s co-creators Gary Reilly
and Tony Sattler.
As well as his composing, recording and production work, Perjanik has been a board member of the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) for 15 years and chaired the APRA board for over ten years.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
who became well known in Australia from the late 1960s for his work on pop and rock recordings, and as a composer, arranger, bandleader and producer of music for film, television and advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
.
New Zealand career
Perjanik grew up in the New Zealand North Island town of DargavilleDargaville
Dargaville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the bank of the Northern Wairoa River in the Northland region. The town is located 55 kilometres southwest of Whangarei....
. While attending Dargaville High School he joined The Spotlights, an instrumental band formed with fellow students Doug Jerebine (guitar) and Barch Sevren (drums). They entered a talent quest at the Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Town Hall
The Auckland Town Hall is a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions , as well as for its famed Great Hall and its separate Concert Chamber...
and came third. The group expanded to five, with Ken Lawrie replacing Sevren, and Roy Calkin (guitar) and Ray Mayall (bass) joining.
Although largely self-taught as a keyboard player, arranger and composer, Perjanik's skills soon made him a prominent figure on the thriving New Zealand music scene of the mid-1960s. After moving to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
in 1963 he joined local group The Embers and encouraged his friend Doug Jerebine to follow him; Jerebine eventually joined Perjanik in The Embers after a short stint in the popular band The Keil Isles. Jerebine went on to become one of New Zealand’s best-known rock guitarists as a member of noted psychedelic/progressive band Human Instinct.
When The Embers split up, Perjanik took some of the members to form his own group, The Mike Perjanik Band, which became the leading session group on the Auckland recording scene between 1964 and 1966. They also worked as the backing band for many popular New Zealand solo artists including Tommy Adderley, whom they backed on The Dinah Lee
Dinah Lee
Dinah Lee is the stage name of New Zealand-born singer, Diane Marie Jacobs , who performed 1960s pop and then adult contemporary music. Her debut single from early 1964, "Don't You Know Yockomo?", achieved No. 1 chart success in New Zealand and, across the Tasman Sea, in Brisbane and Melbourne...
Spectacular, Dinah’s farewell tour of New Zealand before her move to Australia.
Perjanik began writing music and his songs were recorded by New Zealand pop singers of the day including Dinah Lee
Dinah Lee
Dinah Lee is the stage name of New Zealand-born singer, Diane Marie Jacobs , who performed 1960s pop and then adult contemporary music. Her debut single from early 1964, "Don't You Know Yockomo?", achieved No. 1 chart success in New Zealand and, across the Tasman Sea, in Brisbane and Melbourne...
; he also arranged music for Ray Columbus
Ray Columbus
Ray Columbus is a New Zealand solo singer and entertainer who has had a career spanning six decades. He was lead singer of Ray Columbus & the Invaders who had a hit with She's A Mod in the 1960s. Since then he has been a solo singer and television host.-Links:* *...
and toured with visiting international performers like Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
. One of the Perjanik Group's first sessions was backing a new singing duo discovered by Viking Records
Viking Records
Viking Records was an independent and prominent record label that featured many New Zealand and Polynesian recording artists.-Background:In the 1960s, the company was the largest locally owned record label in the South Pacific with its New Zealand head office in Wellington and a branch in Sydney...
boss Ron Dalton; the duo, Sue and Judy Donaldson (who were childhood friends of La De Das
The La De Das
The La De Das were a leading New Zealand rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in New Zealand in 1963 , they enjoyed considerable success in both New Zealand and Australia until their split in 1975....
guitarist Kevin Borich
Kevin Borich
Kevin Nicholas Borich is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter...
) were renamed by Perjanik as The Chicks; The Mike Perjanik Group backed them on their debut single "Heart Of Stone"/"I Want You To Be My Boy" and in 1966 they also backed The Chicks on their single "The Rebel Kind".
Perjanik discovered another talented female singer while he playing at a hotel. Impressed by her powerful voice Perjanik informed Ron Dalton of his discovery and she was soon brouight to the Viking studio to record "Tumblin' Down", which was released under the singer's new stage name Maria Dallas
Maria Dallas
Maria Dallas was discovered at a talent contest in small town Morrinsville, New Zealand. Her first single "Tumblin' Down", written by Jay Epae, released in 1966 and made it to #11 in the charts...
.
Perjanik played an important part in launching the career of vocalist Allison Durbin
Allison Durbin
Allison Durbin is a New Zealand-born Australian former pop singer. In the early 1970s Durbin's visual 'trademark' was her lustrous waist-length auburn hair....
. They first worked together when Durbin was backed by Perjanik's band in the studio and they subsequently began a relationship. Durbin was soon performing as the band's featured singer and in October 1966 they travelled to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
for a residency at Sydney's Coogee Bay Hotel, before moving to Sammy Lee's
Sammy Lee
Sammy Lee may refer to:*Sammy Lee , expert in vitro fertilisation*Sammy Lee , Korean-American diver and two-time Olympic Games champion...
prestigious Latin Quarter club in May 1967. After nine months with the band, Durbin left to pursue a solo career; she subsequently scored several hit singles in Australia, was named as Australia's "Queen of Pop" and became a prominent recording and TV performer in the 1970s.
The Mike Perjanik Group recorded their own single in 1967, "We Can Make It"/"My Girl", made for HMV Records (NZ), which was released in both Australia and New Zealand. The vocals were performed by Mickey Leyton, a little-known but often-heard singer who became one of Australia’s most in-demand session vocalists in the 1960s and '70s. Around 1969 Mike formed a new band called The Mike Perjanik Complex, which released another single on EMI-Columbia, "She Never Smiles Anymore"/"I'm Gonna Love You".
Australian career
Settling permanently in Australia, Perjanik established himself as a sought-after record producer. Ca. 1969 he was appointed as an A&R manager and house producer for EMI Australia's Columbia label. Among his production credits in this period are most of the 1969-71 recordings by pioneering Australian country-rock band The Flying CircusThe Flying Circus
. For other meanings of this term see the disambiguation page under Flying CircusThe Flying Circus were a short-lived Toronto-based group fronted by singer/songwriter, Bruce Cockburn...
, including their Top 10 Australian chart hits "Hayride", "La La" and "Run Run Run", their debut LP (1969), the Frontier EP (1970) and their acclaimed second album Prepared in Peace (1971).
In 1973, Perjanik put together a new group called Synthesis, with himself on piano, organ and synthesiser, Dave Donovan (guitar), Dave Ellis (bass) and Will Dower (drums) and they released an album called Lennon and McCartney: Today and Yesterday on the independent Drum label.
By this time Perjanik was in high demand as a session player and arranger and he contributed to many notable Australian rock and pop recordings. In 1972 he was part of the studio band that backed Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, New South Wales. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" and "I Am an Island"...
on his debut LP Prussian Blue. In 1975 he was part of the all-star studio group Patch, which recorded the concept album Star Suite with producer (and fellow New Zealander) Peter Dawkins
Peter Dawkins
Peter Dawkins may refer to:*Pete Dawkins, Vice Chairman of the CitiGroup Private Bank and former Chairman/CEO of Primerica Financial Services, Inc.*Peter Dawkins , English founder of the Francis Bacon Research Trust...
. As well as Perjanik, the Patch LP included Mike McClellan (acoustic guitar), Mike Rudd
Mike Rudd
Mike Rudd is a New Zealand born musician and composer who has been based in Australia since the late 1960s, and who is best known as the leader of respected Australian progressive rock bands Spectrum and Ariel in the 1970s....
(electric guitar), Rod Coe (bass), Tony Esterman (keyboards), Doug Gallacher (drums), Bill Putt (bass), Tim Gaze
Tim Gaze
Tim Gaze is an Australian rock and blues guitarist, songwriter, singer and producer. He was a member of several prominent Australian groups of the 1960s and 1970s including Tamam Shud, Kahvas Jute, Ariel and Rose Tattoo.-Biography:...
(lead guitar) and Tony Ansell (organ).
TV and film music became a mainstay of Perjanik’s work during the 1970s. One of his first soundtracks was for the 1972 movie Private Collection. Since then he has written, recorded and produced themes and incidental music for hundreds of Australian films, TV shows and advertisements. His credits include music for major corporate clients such as Arnott's, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, McDonalds and Wrigley
Wrigley
Wrigley may refer to:* Wrigley Company, a chewing gum manufacturer* EG Wrigley and Company, a British car, car component, and mechanical parts manufacturer* Wrigley Building, a skyscraper in Chicago* Wrigley Field, a baseball field in Chicago...
.
His many TV credits include the themes for some of Australia’s most popular and successful TV series -- The Naked Vicar Show
The Naked Vicar Show
The Naked Vicar Show was a satirical Australian radio, television series. The classic Australian sitcom Kingswood Country was spawned from sketches in the series....
, Glenview High
Glenview High
Glenview High is an Australian television drama series produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Seven Network between 1977 and 1978.-Story:...
, The Restless Years
The Restless Years
The Restless Years is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and young adults. It was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for Network Ten. It debuted December 1977 and ran until late 1981. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings...
(including a single version of the theme song performed by Renee Geyer), Chopper Squad
Chopper Squad
Chopper Squad is an Australian television series produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the 0-10 Network .The series was based around the work of a helicopter rescue team operating on Dee Why beach in Sydney...
, Kingswood Country
Kingswood Country
Kingswood Country is an Australian sitcom that screened from 1980 to 1984 on the Seven Network. The series started on 30 January 1980 and was a spin-off from a sketch on comedy program The Naked Vicar Show that had featured Ross Higgins as a blustering bigot...
, Arcade
Arcade (TV series)
Arcade is an Australian television soap opera shown in 1980 that became one of the biggest flops in the history of Australian television. It aired on Network Ten with the premiere episode shown on Sunday, 20 January 1980. The series then ran five nights a week, Mondays to Fridays, as a 30 minute...
, Holiday Island, Daily At Dawn, A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
, Rafferty's Rules
Rafferty's Rules
Rafferty's Rules was an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1990 on the Seven Network.The producers of the series were Posie Graeme-Evans , and Denis Phelen. The directors were Graham Thorburn, Mike Smith and Russell Webb...
, Hey, Dad!, The Family Business, Family and Friends, My Two Wives, Late For School, Bullpitt and the perennial Home & Away, for which Mike has been writing the incidental music since its inception. His mini-series credits include The Power, The Passion
The Power, The Passion
The Power, The Passion is an Australian television daytime soap opera produced by the Seven Network in 1989.The series was devised to lure audiences away from American imports such as The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless but failed to make an impact and was cancelled due to low...
and Grim Pickings and his movie and telemovie scores include Norman Loves Rose, Bush Christmas
Bush Christmas
Bush Christmas is an Australian drama film released in 1983.It is a remake of a 1947 Australian film of the same name, which was based on a novel by Ralph Smart and Mary Cathcart Borer....
, Queen of the Road, Warming Up, Whipping Boy
Whipping boy
A whipping boy was a young boy who was assigned to a young prince and was punished when the prince misbehaved or fell behind in his schooling. Whipping boys were established in the English court during the monarchies of the 15th century and 16th centuries...
and Without Warning.
In 1977 he formed The Mike Perjanik Orchestra, who featured as the house band on the hit comedy series The Naked Vicar Show
The Naked Vicar Show
The Naked Vicar Show was a satirical Australian radio, television series. The classic Australian sitcom Kingswood Country was spawned from sketches in the series....
, which marked the start of a long association with the show’s co-creators Gary Reilly
Gary Reilly
Gary Reilly is an Australian television producer and writer born in New Zealand in 1945. He is most famous for his work on a variety of comedy series such as The Naked Vicar Show, Kingswood Country, Hey Dad..! and Bullpitt!. He also has a strong friendship and was once neighbours with Australian...
and Tony Sattler.
As well as his composing, recording and production work, Perjanik has been a board member of the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) for 15 years and chaired the APRA board for over ten years.