Ritchie Yorke

Ritchie Yorke
Ritchie Yorke
Born	12 January 1944 Brisbane, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Citizenship	Australian
Occupation	Author, broadcaster, historian, journalist.

Ritchie Yorke is an Australian-born author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist.

Biography

1966

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Yorke left for the UK in 1966 to act as International Operations Manager for Sunshine Records and was responsible for launching Normie Rowe into the European market.

At this time he contributed lyrics to Normie Rowe's song "Mary, Mary."^[1]

1967–69

Yorke managed the international promotions for Chris Blackwell of Island Records. The same year he relocated to Toronto, Canada.^[2] He began working for the Toronto Telegram before being appointed the Globe & Mail’s first full-time rock writer in 1968.^[3]

,^[4]

1970

Yorke worked as International Peace Envoy with John and Yoko Lennon on their War Is Over If You Want It peace campaign. With musician Ronnie Hawkins he traveled the globe, carrying War Is Over! posters around the world in 1970 in a “52,000 mile world tour”.^[5] When they took their placard messages to the Chinese border (25 miles from Hong Kong), they “were stopped by Red Guards [sic] and warned they would be shot if they didn’t leave.”^[6]

Yorke produced Edward Bear's first album Bearings under the pseudonym "Tuft". He also appears on the Bad Manors album by Crowbar, credited with playing the anvil on "Prince Of Peace" and tambourine on "Oh What A Feeling".^[7]

1971

Yorke played a role in connecting the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra with Procol Harum, when Bob Hunka (assistant general manager of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra) was eager to find another group with which to collaborate. He said as much to Yorke, who immediately suggested Procol Harum.^[8][9]

Yorke was involved with the introduction of the Canadian Content legislation in 1971, acting "as the major advocate of the policy from a music industry point of view, testifying both to the adequacy of the supply of Canadian music, as well as to the necessity of radio support to create a viable Canadian music industry."^[10]

Yorke's book on Canadian rock Axes, Chops, & Hot Licks was published, “providing some of the earliest coverage of Canada's music culture and the development of the Canadian Content laws”,^[11] It was the first rock history book, "devoted entirely to a music scene outside of the United States and England".^[12]

1972

Yorke organised the "Maple Music Junket”, in which a number of continental writers, radio and tv programmers, editors and film makers were invited to visit Montreal and Toronto to observe five concerts (three in English, two in French) that were staged in Montreal and Toronto.^[13]

Yorke was named journalist of the year at the annual Juno awards in 1972, being cited for his “contributions to the Canadian music industry through is recently published book “Axes, Chops and Hot Licks,” a survey of the Canadian music industry, his instigation of the Maple Music Junket and magazine writings”.”.^[14]

1976

Yorke published the “History of Rock ’n’ Roll” in 1976. This book represented the “summarised account of Yorke’s original quarter-million word script for the 60-hour CHUM-produced documentary” of the same name.^[15]

Journalism Career Overview

Amongst the many publications he contributed to, Yorke was the Canadian Editor of Rolling Stone (1969–70), Canadian Editor of Billboard (1970–80), and was the Senior Music Writer for the Brisbane Sunday Mail for 20 years (1987–2007).^[2]

He has written biographies on Led Zeppelin and Van Morrison and also written for publications including Billboard, Circus, Jazz & Pop, Los Angeles Free Press, Los Angeles Times, Melody Maker, Miss Chatelaine, Modern Hi-Fi, Mojo, New Musical Express, Ottawa Journal, Rolling Stone and TV Week.

Film

Throughout his career, Yorke has made television appearances in addition to contributing to documentary films. In 1986, he wrote the documentary The Real Patsy Cline.^[16] He also features in the documentary John & Yoko's Year of Peace.^[17] In 2010 he appeared as a guest panelist on music quiz show Spicks and Specks.^[18] He was interviewed for the 2011 documentary, Yonge Street: Toronto Rock & Roll Stories on Toronto's music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[19]

Select Publications

Books by Ritchie Yorke

• Lowdown On The English Pop Scene, Horwitz, 1967.
• Axes Chops & Hot Licks (The Canadian Rock Music Scene), Hurtig Publishers, 1972.
• Into The Music: The Van Morrison Biography, Charisma Books, 1975. (ISBN 0-85947-013-X)
• The Led Zeppelin Biography, Methuen Publications, 1976.
• The History Of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Methuen Publications, 1976. (ISBN 0-8467-0186-3).
• Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography, Virgin Books, 1991. (ISBN 0-86369-744-5)

Contributions by Ritchie Yorke

• Montreux Jazz, Editions de la Tour, Lausanne SA, 1976. (ISBN 2851089765).
• The Ballad Of John And Yoko, M. Joseph/Rolling Stone Publishers, 1982. (ISBN 0-7181-2208-9)
• A Little Bull Goes A Long Way, Pennon Publishing, 2001. (ISBN 1-877029-01-7)
• Memories Of John, Harper Collins, 2005.(ISBN 0-06-059455-1).
• Hendrix On Hendrix, Chicago Review Press, 2012. (ISBN 978-1-61374-324-9).
• Rock Country, Hardie Grant Books, 2013. (ISBN 978-1-74270-521-7).
• Led Zeppelin On Led Zeppelin: Interviews And Encounters, Chicago Review Press, 2014. (ISBN 1-61374-757-8).

References