Ritchie Yorke
Encyclopedia
Ritchie Yorke is an Australian-born author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist
. Born in Brisbane
in 1944, while his father was serving with the Australian Army, Yorke developed a passion for rock ‘n’ roll in his early teens.
Fingertips
Pt 2 single, which was the number 1 pop R&B hit in the USA at the time. The following Monday morning Yorke was told “never play that nigger shit again”. The following Saturday, Yorke barricaded himself inside the radio station and played the R&B track eight times in a row before management were able to open the studio. He was fired on the spot.
When he departed the "conservative shores of the sub-tropical 19th-Century penal colony town of Brisbane in 1966.” Yorke was on a two-year mission. His desire was to experience and investigate “where rock ‘n’ roll came from”. During his journey Ritchie Yorke discovered what he sought, and much more, when he encountered legendary events – and instigated a few himself. The young Australian did not return home as planned. Instead, he wrote about the records he heard in Europe
, the USA and Canada
in a two-decade-long saga of feature stories, mass syndication's, books, radio documentaries and many exclusive interviews with seriously world-class talent.
After working in London
for a year on the international career of Australian superstar Normie Rowe
, Yorke moved on to manage the international promotions for Chris Blackwell
of Island Records
at a time when the Spencer Davis Group were working international hit records with "Gimme Some Loving" and "I'm a Man
". He later migrated to Toronto, Canada. He started writing for the Toronto Telegram
, kicking off with an obituary for Brian Epstein
, The Beatles
manager who died in 1967. In 1968 Yorke became Canadian Editor of Billboard magazine and was appointed the first full-time rock writer for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail in Toronto, the following year. More than a year in production, the 64-hour "rockumentary" titled The Evolution of Rock (The Music That Made the World Turn 'Round) was syndicated worldwide. It would ultimately be heard by more than 50 million rock fans and won Billboard magazine’s prestigious Documentary of the Year award. To coincide with the international airing of the radio series, Yorke published the acclaimed companion book The History of Rock 'n' Roll (Methuen Publications, 1976).
During the summer of 1970 Ritchie Yorke spent time with Jimi Hendrix
. The resulting interview was one of the last that Hendrix gave before his death in September of the same year. The interview was first published in Hit Parader, a US pop monthly, and in many other publications thereafter.
In 1972, he was named Canadian Journalist of the Year (Juno Music Awards, Toronto). In the view of David Farrell, publisher of Canada’s then foremost music trade weekly, The Record
, “Yorke’s energy, enthusiasm and charisma have touched many people, whipping up support for too many projects to begin counting out, but it is fair to say that his participation and involvement in the Canadian music industry has been acknowledged from coast to coast and left an indelible imprint that has and will benefit musicians for many, many years to come."
Yorke co-published Rainbow magazine in the early '70s, which survived 14 editions before being silenced by financial restraints. While jetting around the planet, Yorke was totally unprepared for the crucial events of counter-culture journalism which would be revealed on his watch. Nobody could have adequately briefed him on some of the astonishing – and historically significant – events which unfolded before his eyes.
In the late '60s, with the rapidly disintegrating Vietnam War
as a backdrop, some form of political change was clearly necessary. Yorke struck up a friendship with John Lennon
and Yoko Ono
in the stormy latter days of The Beatles, and was involved with the Lennons in their celebrated Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, in May 1969.
Yorke later played an important key role in the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
of September 1969. Rolling Stone
magazine calls this "the second most important event in rock history" – John Lennon’s historic first live performance outside The Beatles. Some claim the most important was the arrival in Memphis of Elvis Presley
.
It was Yorke who organised The Beatles’ meeting with communications prophet Marshall McLuhan. Yorke also instigated and organized the first political meeting between a pop star and a Prime Minister... being John Lennon and then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,in December 1969.
By this time, the Editor at The Globe and Mail had told Yorke that he "couldn’t work for John Lennon and the Globe". Yorke had to choose between his job as a rock columnist, or as a player in the Lennons’ “The War Is Over, If You Want It’’ Peace Campaign. It took Yorke "about a sixth of a second" to decide his future career path.
The subsequent journey was unforgettable; Yorke became the Peace Envoy for “The War Is Over, If You Want It’’ peace campaign. Yorke traveled around the world on behalf of the Lennons in early l970, and grabbed headlines when he and rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins
risked their lives by illegally crossing into Red China
to present the "War Is Over" message to the Communists
. They both ended up on the red border holding up posters promoting peace, and miraculously escaped arrest.
He was the first media person to publicly predict the astonishing North American success of Led Zeppelin in 1969, at a time when most critics were panning them for being overly bombastic and “Pommy pretenders’’. Yorke toured with the band and introduced many of their concerts to an intrigued fan base.
In 1973, Yorke cut back on his everyday writing and broadcasting activities to focus on writing books, an area he felt was ripe for quality product. He moved back to London to respond to an invitation from Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin’s manager, to write the sanctioned biography of the foremost band of the ’70s.
For the next five years, Yorke maintained an extremely tight relationship with the reclusive Zeppelin members. He accompanied them on tour as their special guest and wrote more words about the band than any journalist anywhere. As singer Robert Plant has noted: "Ritchie’s alright … he’s been one of us from the beginning."
After completing The Led Zeppelin Biography (Methuen Publications, 1976), which has sold more than 250,000 copies in various languages and is presently available through Virgin Publishing as The Definitive Biography: Led Zeppelin, Yorke moved to Wengen, Switzerland, to write a biography on one of rock’s most misunderstood musicians – the celebrated Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison (Into the Music: The Van Morrison Biography, Charisma Books, 1975). (NME) described this effort as "a balanced and praiseworthy account of Van Morrison and his career to date."
In 1977 Yorke traveled to Los Angeles to assist Van Morrison, as his publicist, in launching his A Period of Transition album. They continue an unorthodox and unique relationship.
Yorke’s eclectic mind and contacts have allowed him to place artistic opposites together on the same stage. He conceptualized and organized the union of classically influenced British rockers Procol Harum with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
, introducing the live gig and earning the band their first gold album in 1972. Yorke also discovered the ‘Song of Joy’ by Spanish singer, composer Miguel Rios
. Yorke introduced it to the English speaking world where it reached the top of the charts in 1970. Yorke later went to Spain after writing the lyrics for the New World Symphony, originally composed by Antonín Dvořák
. Miguel Rios sang the New Worlds Symphony song whilst Yorke oversaw the recording of it by the Madrid Symphony Choir in Spain.
In the past 47 years Yorke has contributed to a huge range of publications around the world including: Bell McClure syndicate, Billboard
, Chicago News
, Circus, The Courier Mail, Detroit Free Press
, Fusion, Gannett syndicate, Hit Parader
, Houston Post
, Jazz & Pop, Los Angeles Free Press
, Los Angeles Times
, Melody Maker, Miss Chatelaine, Modern Hi-Fi, Mojo
, New Musical Express, Ottawa Journal
, Pop, Press, Rainbow Magazine, Rhythms, Rocksbackpages, Rolling Stone,Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Sunday Herald Sun, Sunday Times, The Sunday Mail
, The Sunday Telegraph, Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto Telegram
, TV Week, fyimusic, Brisbane Times
and the Washington Post
.
After the death of John Lennon
, outside the Dakota Building in New York
in late 1980, Yorke – as a confidante of the former Beatle – was besieged by world media for comments on the musician’s anti-war agenda. The day after Lennon‘s death, Yorke drove 100 km through a raging snowstorm to reach a Toronto
studio, appearing on a national TV morning show to discuss John’s special connection with Canada
. He was a key contributor to the Rolling Stone
-sanctioned book, The Ballad of John and Yoko (Doubleday, 1982). Yorke was also appointed media spokesman for Lennon’s Bag One lithograph exhibition which toured the USA in 1983.
In the autumn of 1986, Yorke shocked the Canadian music industry by announcing that he intended to return to his Australian homeland. His departure prompted David Farrell, Canada’s leading music biz commentator, to write: "Yorke needs a new crusade to lead. He’s gone as far as he can in Canada. The Canadian recording industry is a thousand light years from what it was when Ritchie got here (1967) and he has had an incredible amount to do with it."
Back on the sub-tropical soil of his Brisbane birthplace, Ritchie did not seek nor find a new crusade to lead. But he did summon up sufficient written support for Brisbane’s rock music scene that it helped the city to believe in itself and to explode creatively in the later ‘90s.
Yorke linked up with the mass market weekend newspaper The Sunday Mail
and began contributing to its entertainment pages in 1987. Thousands of rock profiles and interviews later, he moved back to freelance writing after 20 years at the Mail, leaving behind his descriptive phrase about local talent - 'Briz-bands'.
Yorke was also involved with ABC Radio both as a presenter and program producer. There was a syndicated documentary series, Classic Conversations with John Lennon, and an array of other documentaries on long-term artists of significance such as Van Morrison
, Pink Floyd
, Little Feat
, The Band
, INXS
, Dire Straits
, the Neville Brothers
and many others.
Yorke has worked closely with Yoko Ono on a number of projects since John Lennon’s death. He was a contributor to the Imagine multi-media project, Yoko’s six-CD box set Onobox, and her widely acclaimed 25th anniversary commemorative book, Memories of John (Harper Collins, 2005). He was honoured to join a collection of distinguished author/contributors on this project including Bono
, James Brown
, Ray Charles
, John Fogerty
, Peter Gabriel
, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Alicia Keys
, Jerry Lee Lewis
and Pete Townshend
.
When an industry celebration of Yorke’s 45 years of writing about rock music took place in Brisbane in June 2007, Yoko sent him flowers to the assembled crowd’s astonishment. As one guest said: "Ritchie never name-drops; so we’re all a bit shocked to see and hear from so many famous people here tonight."
In late 2007 Ono invited Yorke to attend the October 2007 inauguration of her Imagine Peace Tower
project in Reykjavik
, Iceland, on the occasion of what would have been John’s 67th birthday. Yorke wrote widely about that extraordinary experience.
In mid-2008, Yorke returned to his adopted homeland of Canada to research a number of special projects, and to begin writing several books including his memoirs.
Yorke has written many album "liner notes" for great artists, including:
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. Born in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in 1944, while his father was serving with the Australian Army, Yorke developed a passion for rock ‘n’ roll in his early teens.
Biography
At the age of 16, Yorke discovered that equality was far from reality even in the world of rock 'n' roll. During his weekly rural radio program on his Saturday night show, Yorke played Stevie Wonder'sStevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
Fingertips
Fingertips
"Fingertips" is a 1963 number one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States since Johnny Standley's 1952...
Pt 2 single, which was the number 1 pop R&B hit in the USA at the time. The following Monday morning Yorke was told “never play that nigger shit again”. The following Saturday, Yorke barricaded himself inside the radio station and played the R&B track eight times in a row before management were able to open the studio. He was fired on the spot.
When he departed the "conservative shores of the sub-tropical 19th-Century penal colony town of Brisbane in 1966.” Yorke was on a two-year mission. His desire was to experience and investigate “where rock ‘n’ roll came from”. During his journey Ritchie Yorke discovered what he sought, and much more, when he encountered legendary events – and instigated a few himself. The young Australian did not return home as planned. Instead, he wrote about the records he heard in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the USA and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in a two-decade-long saga of feature stories, mass syndication's, books, radio documentaries and many exclusive interviews with seriously world-class talent.
After working in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for a year on the international career of Australian superstar Normie Rowe
Normie Rowe
Norman John "Normie" Rowe AM was a major male solo performer of Australian pop music in the 1960s. Known for his bright and edgy tenor voice and dynamic stage presence, many of Rowe's most successful recordings were produced by Pat Aulton, house producer for the Sunshine Records, Spin Records and...
, Yorke moved on to manage the international promotions for Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
of Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
at a time when the Spencer Davis Group were working international hit records with "Gimme Some Loving" and "I'm a Man
I'm A Man (Spencer Davis Group song)
"I'm a Man" is a song written by Spencer Davis Group singer-songwriter Steve Winwood and record producer Jimmy Miller.-Original version by the Spencer Davis Group:...
". He later migrated to Toronto, Canada. He started writing for the Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
, kicking off with an obituary for Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
manager who died in 1967. In 1968 Yorke became Canadian Editor of Billboard magazine and was appointed the first full-time rock writer for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail in Toronto, the following year. More than a year in production, the 64-hour "rockumentary" titled The Evolution of Rock (The Music That Made the World Turn 'Round) was syndicated worldwide. It would ultimately be heard by more than 50 million rock fans and won Billboard magazine’s prestigious Documentary of the Year award. To coincide with the international airing of the radio series, Yorke published the acclaimed companion book The History of Rock 'n' Roll (Methuen Publications, 1976).
During the summer of 1970 Ritchie Yorke spent time with Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. The resulting interview was one of the last that Hendrix gave before his death in September of the same year. The interview was first published in Hit Parader, a US pop monthly, and in many other publications thereafter.
In 1972, he was named Canadian Journalist of the Year (Juno Music Awards, Toronto). In the view of David Farrell, publisher of Canada’s then foremost music trade weekly, The Record
The Record (magazine)
The Record was a Canadian music industry magazine that featured record charts, trade news and opinions. David Farrell launched the publication in mid-1981, continuing its printed version until August 1999 when The Record continued as a website-based publication...
, “Yorke’s energy, enthusiasm and charisma have touched many people, whipping up support for too many projects to begin counting out, but it is fair to say that his participation and involvement in the Canadian music industry has been acknowledged from coast to coast and left an indelible imprint that has and will benefit musicians for many, many years to come."
Yorke co-published Rainbow magazine in the early '70s, which survived 14 editions before being silenced by financial restraints. While jetting around the planet, Yorke was totally unprepared for the crucial events of counter-culture journalism which would be revealed on his watch. Nobody could have adequately briefed him on some of the astonishing – and historically significant – events which unfolded before his eyes.
In the late '60s, with the rapidly disintegrating Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as a backdrop, some form of political change was clearly necessary. Yorke struck up a friendship with John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
in the stormy latter days of The Beatles, and was involved with the Lennons in their celebrated Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, in May 1969.
Yorke later played an important key role in the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was a one day, twelve hour music festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 13, 1969. It featured a number of popular musical acts from the 1950s and 1960s...
of September 1969. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine calls this "the second most important event in rock history" – John Lennon’s historic first live performance outside The Beatles. Some claim the most important was the arrival in Memphis of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
It was Yorke who organised The Beatles’ meeting with communications prophet Marshall McLuhan. Yorke also instigated and organized the first political meeting between a pop star and a Prime Minister... being John Lennon and then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,in December 1969.
By this time, the Editor at The Globe and Mail had told Yorke that he "couldn’t work for John Lennon and the Globe". Yorke had to choose between his job as a rock columnist, or as a player in the Lennons’ “The War Is Over, If You Want It’’ Peace Campaign. It took Yorke "about a sixth of a second" to decide his future career path.
The subsequent journey was unforgettable; Yorke became the Peace Envoy for “The War Is Over, If You Want It’’ peace campaign. Yorke traveled around the world on behalf of the Lennons in early l970, and grabbed headlines when he and rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
risked their lives by illegally crossing into Red China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
to present the "War Is Over" message to the Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. They both ended up on the red border holding up posters promoting peace, and miraculously escaped arrest.
He was the first media person to publicly predict the astonishing North American success of Led Zeppelin in 1969, at a time when most critics were panning them for being overly bombastic and “Pommy pretenders’’. Yorke toured with the band and introduced many of their concerts to an intrigued fan base.
In 1973, Yorke cut back on his everyday writing and broadcasting activities to focus on writing books, an area he felt was ripe for quality product. He moved back to London to respond to an invitation from Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin’s manager, to write the sanctioned biography of the foremost band of the ’70s.
For the next five years, Yorke maintained an extremely tight relationship with the reclusive Zeppelin members. He accompanied them on tour as their special guest and wrote more words about the band than any journalist anywhere. As singer Robert Plant has noted: "Ritchie’s alright … he’s been one of us from the beginning."
After completing The Led Zeppelin Biography (Methuen Publications, 1976), which has sold more than 250,000 copies in various languages and is presently available through Virgin Publishing as The Definitive Biography: Led Zeppelin, Yorke moved to Wengen, Switzerland, to write a biography on one of rock’s most misunderstood musicians – the celebrated Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison (Into the Music: The Van Morrison Biography, Charisma Books, 1975). (NME) described this effort as "a balanced and praiseworthy account of Van Morrison and his career to date."
In 1977 Yorke traveled to Los Angeles to assist Van Morrison, as his publicist, in launching his A Period of Transition album. They continue an unorthodox and unique relationship.
Yorke’s eclectic mind and contacts have allowed him to place artistic opposites together on the same stage. He conceptualized and organized the union of classically influenced British rockers Procol Harum with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country...
, introducing the live gig and earning the band their first gold album in 1972. Yorke also discovered the ‘Song of Joy’ by Spanish singer, composer Miguel Rios
Miguel Ríos
Miguel Ríos is a Spanish singer, composer, actor. He is one of the pioneers of rock and roll in Spain.-Biography:...
. Yorke introduced it to the English speaking world where it reached the top of the charts in 1970. Yorke later went to Spain after writing the lyrics for the New World Symphony, originally composed by Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
. Miguel Rios sang the New Worlds Symphony song whilst Yorke oversaw the recording of it by the Madrid Symphony Choir in Spain.
In the past 47 years Yorke has contributed to a huge range of publications around the world including: Bell McClure syndicate, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, Chicago News
Chicago News
Chicago News is the ILL district Barbershop quartet that won the 1981 SPEBSQSA international competition.-Discography:* Latest Edition CD* Special Edition LP, cassette * Have You Heard The News? LP cassette...
, Circus, The Courier Mail, Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
, Fusion, Gannett syndicate, Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...
, Houston Post
Houston Post
The Houston Post was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper was absorbed into the Houston Chronicle.-History:The newspaper was established on February 19, 1880, by Gail Borden Johnson...
, Jazz & Pop, Los Angeles Free Press
Los Angeles Free Press
The Los Angeles Free Press , also called “the Freep”, was among the most widely distributed underground newspapers of the 1960s. It is often cited as the first such newspaper...
, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Melody Maker, Miss Chatelaine, Modern Hi-Fi, Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
, New Musical Express, Ottawa Journal
Ottawa Journal
The Ottawa Journal was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario from 1885 to 1980.It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the Ottawa Evening Journal. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1886, it was bought by Philip Dansken Ross.The...
, Pop, Press, Rainbow Magazine, Rhythms, Rocksbackpages, Rolling Stone,Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Sunday Herald Sun, Sunday Times, The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
, The Sunday Telegraph, Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
, TV Week, fyimusic, Brisbane Times
Brisbane Times
Brisbane Times is an Internet-based news site for Brisbane and Queensland, Australia. It was launched on 7 March 2007 by then-Queensland Premier Peter Beattie....
and the Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
.
After the death of John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, outside the Dakota Building in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in late 1980, Yorke – as a confidante of the former Beatle – was besieged by world media for comments on the musician’s anti-war agenda. The day after Lennon‘s death, Yorke drove 100 km through a raging snowstorm to reach a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
studio, appearing on a national TV morning show to discuss John’s special connection with Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was a key contributor to the Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
-sanctioned book, The Ballad of John and Yoko (Doubleday, 1982). Yorke was also appointed media spokesman for Lennon’s Bag One lithograph exhibition which toured the USA in 1983.
In the autumn of 1986, Yorke shocked the Canadian music industry by announcing that he intended to return to his Australian homeland. His departure prompted David Farrell, Canada’s leading music biz commentator, to write: "Yorke needs a new crusade to lead. He’s gone as far as he can in Canada. The Canadian recording industry is a thousand light years from what it was when Ritchie got here (1967) and he has had an incredible amount to do with it."
Back on the sub-tropical soil of his Brisbane birthplace, Ritchie did not seek nor find a new crusade to lead. But he did summon up sufficient written support for Brisbane’s rock music scene that it helped the city to believe in itself and to explode creatively in the later ‘90s.
Yorke linked up with the mass market weekend newspaper The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
and began contributing to its entertainment pages in 1987. Thousands of rock profiles and interviews later, he moved back to freelance writing after 20 years at the Mail, leaving behind his descriptive phrase about local talent - 'Briz-bands'.
Yorke was also involved with ABC Radio both as a presenter and program producer. There was a syndicated documentary series, Classic Conversations with John Lennon, and an array of other documentaries on long-term artists of significance such as Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
, the Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...
and many others.
Yorke has worked closely with Yoko Ono on a number of projects since John Lennon’s death. He was a contributor to the Imagine multi-media project, Yoko’s six-CD box set Onobox, and her widely acclaimed 25th anniversary commemorative book, Memories of John (Harper Collins, 2005). He was honoured to join a collection of distinguished author/contributors on this project including Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
and Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
.
When an industry celebration of Yorke’s 45 years of writing about rock music took place in Brisbane in June 2007, Yoko sent him flowers to the assembled crowd’s astonishment. As one guest said: "Ritchie never name-drops; so we’re all a bit shocked to see and hear from so many famous people here tonight."
In late 2007 Ono invited Yorke to attend the October 2007 inauguration of her Imagine Peace Tower
Imagine Peace Tower
The Imagine Peace Tower is a memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, located on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík, Iceland. It consists of a tall "tower of light", projected from a white stone monument that has the words "Imagine Peace" carved into it in 24 languages...
project in Reykjavik
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland, on the occasion of what would have been John’s 67th birthday. Yorke wrote widely about that extraordinary experience.
In mid-2008, Yorke returned to his adopted homeland of Canada to research a number of special projects, and to begin writing several books including his memoirs.
Yorke has written many album "liner notes" for great artists, including:
Liner notes by Ritchie Yorke
- Aretha Franklin: Soul ’69
- B. B.King: The Electric…Best Of
- Big Mama Thornton: Hound Dog
- Buddy Holly: All Time Greatest Hits
- Carla Thomas: The Best Of
- Edward Bear: Bearings
- Etta James: Peaches
- Frank Mills: Reflections of My Childhood
- Five Bells: Reflections
- Jerry Butler: Ice on Ice
- John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band Live in Toronto '69 (DVD)
- Katie Noonan: Blackbird
- King Biscuit Boy & Crowbar: Official Music
- King Biscuit Boy: Gooduns
- King Curtis: The Best Of
- Kim Fowley: Good Clean Fun
- Leigh Ashford: Kinfolk
- Miguel Rios: A Song of Joy
- Nik Phillips: Songs from the Fourth Floor
- Neil Sedaka: Emergence
- Normie Rowe: Necessarily So…The Collection
- Pepper Tree: You’re My People
- Rock Bottom: Assorted Artists
- Simon Caine: Simon Caine
- Sweet Toronto (D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary of John Lennon’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival appearance) – DVD re-issue
- Sinfonias: Waldo de los Rios
- The Beatles: In the Beginning
- The Cycle: The Cycle
- Tony Joe White …Continued
Books written by Ritchie Yorke
- Peace Man (to be released in 2010)
- Memories of John (contributor), Harper Collins, 2005
- Led Zeppelin – The Definitive Biography, Virgin Books, 2001
- The Definitive Biography: Led Zeppelin, Virgin Books, 1991
- The Ballad of John and Yoko (contributor), Rolling Stone Publishers, 1982
- The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Methuen Publications, 1976
- The Led Zeppelin Biography, Methuen Publications, 1976
- Into the Music: The Van Morrison Biography, Charisma Books, 1975
- Axes Chops & Hot Licks (The Canadian Rock Music Scene), Hurtig Publishers, 1972
- Lowdown on the English Pop Scene, Horwitz, 1967