R.I.P. Glenn Wheatley

"One of the most influential and much loved characters of the Australian music industry, Glenn Wheatley passed away on this day in 2022, aged 74 (February 1)

Wheatley was bass player for iconic Australian band the Masters Apprentices who rose to prominence during the mid-Sixties "Beat Boom", moved through psychedelia and bubblegum pop, finally becoming one of the first and best Australian progressive/hard rock groups of the early Seventies.

It was during Wheatley's tenure in the Masters that he learned at first hand about the highly exploitative nature of the Australian pop industry at that time. The band endured many "rip-offs" and in their later career they suffered greatly from poor management decisions and inadequate support from their record labels, problems which eventually led to the group's demise in 1972.

Wheatley moved into managing Little River Band in the 1970s, which became the first Australian-based band to achieve multi-platinum record sales in the US.

Former Little River Band member Glenn Shorrock paid tribute to his longtime friend:

"He was a great negotiator and he was a great champion of Australian music, both here and, of course, overseas.

He thought Australian musicians were getting a raw deal, and we did get a raw deal in those days.

He fought for better royalty rates and more money for struggling musicians."

He also began managing an old friend, singer John Farnham, who had been a leading star in the 1960s but was reduced to playing club gigs before replacing Glenn Shorrock in 1982 as lead singer of Little River Band.

Wheatley mortgaged his own house to help pay for the recording of Farnham's 1986 comeback album, “Whispering Jack”.

The gamble paid off and re-established Farnham as a major star and the album became (and remains) the biggest-selling Australian album of all time by a local artist.

Wheatley was also responsible for launching the career of Delta Goodrem, discovering her when she was a teenager and helping guide her to fame with her 2003 debut album “Innocent Eyes”.

The album went on to become one of the highest-selling albums in ARIA history.

A pioneer of FM radio, in 1980 Wheatley led a consortium that founded EON-FM in Melbourne, the first commercial FM radio station in Australia, which went on to become Triple M in 1985.

A giant of Australian music… "

Source: Daily Rock History