Ricky May was a musician who found fame in New Zealand and 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...

.

He was of Māori descent. He played a little drums and piano but was known best as a vocalist. He would often introduce unconventional vocalisations, improvisation and spoken-word while singing.He commonly recorded compositions of Nat King Cole, and appeared on many Television Tonight shows including The Don Lane Show, Farnham

John Farnham

John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...

 and Byrne

Debra Byrne

-Career:Byrne made her television debut on Brian and the Juniors, an early predecessor of Young Talent Time, which was hosted by a young Brian Naylor. She stayed with the show for 12 months. In 1971 she was cast as one of the original six Young Talent Time cast members...

, along with regular appearances on the Midday Show. In 1962 he moved to Australia and began a career in cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

. In 1966 he hosted the Sydney teen pop music show Ten on the Town He found national fame and popularity with the show Hey Hey It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...

.

Origin

In 1961 jazz pianist Ronnie Smith set up a group to play at the "Sorrento" in Wellington. The group included Tommy Tamati on bass and a young Ricky May on drums and vocals. Bruno Lawrence was always watching in the audience and was given a chance to play the drums when Ricky got up to sing. He impressed Ronnie enough to become a regular with the group. The group stayed together for about a year, even touring around the lower North Island area.

Recordings

At the end of 1961, Ricky got fed up with Wellington weather and headed back to Auckland. He released a single in 1961 called "Let's Twist Again"/"Hucklebuck" on the La Gloria label and followed this with a second in 1962, "I Could Have Danced All Night"/"Ballin' The Jack".

In 1966 Ricky released another single for RCA (Bluebird Records)

Bluebird Records

Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...

 called "This Little Boy's Gone Rockin' "/"Spanish Harlem".

Beyond this he concentrated on live cabaret performances and television work. It wasn't until 1973 that he released any further material. This was a double album with the Julian Lee Orchestra called "Fats Enough", released on ABC records. In 1974 ABC decided to release a second double album, which was called "Just Foolin' Around - A Tribute To Louis Armstrong". In 1983, the first half of this double album was re-released on CD, called "A Tribute To The Greats". 1981 saw the J&B released album called "Ricky May" and ABC records released "The Best Of Ricky May" in 1983 on CD. In 1986 RCA released a Christmas album called "It's The Christmas Man".

Ricky was involved in one more single in 1983, when he recorded a song as The Big Boys with Jonathan Coleman. It was called "Built For Comfort (I Ain't Built For Speed)"/"Off The Record".

Ricky is credited as the composer of the words and music of the team song of the Newtown Jets Rugby League football club.. May is also credited with writing a tribute song to the show Hey Hey Its Saturday, an arrangement of which the band often played over the final credits.
Successful singles:

• "Let's Twist Again"/"Hucklebuck" La Gloria (1961)
• "I Could Have Danced All Night"/"Ballin' The Jack
  Ballin' the Jack
  "Ballin' the Jack" is a popular song written by Jim Burris with music by Chris Smith. It introduced a popular dance of the same name with "Folks in Georgia's 'bout to go insane." The song and dance were performed in For Me and My Gal, the 1942 movie starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.-Lyrics and...
  
  " La Gloria (1962)
• "This Little Boy's Gone Rockin' "/"Spanish Harlem" RCA (1966)
• "Built For Comfort (I Ain't Built For Speed)"/"Off The Record" WEA 7-259903 (1983)

Successful albums:

• "Ricky May" J&B JB-057 (1980)
• "Fats Enough" ABC L-60011/12 (1983)
• "It's The Christmas Man" Festival L-38686 (1986)
• "Just Foolin' Around - A Tribute To Louis Armstrong" ABC L-60027 (1987)

External links

• Ricky May, recordings.