Johnny Chester

John Howard Chester (born 26 December 1941) is an Australian singer-songwriter, who started his career in October 1959 with a group known as The Jaywoods, singing rock music and in 1969, changed to country music. He toured nationally with the Beatles, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and Charley Pride. During his career, he has led various groups including Johnny Chester and The Chessmen, Johnny Chester and Jigsaw, Johnny Chester and Hotspur. With Jigsaw, he had five top 30 hit singles, "Gwen (Congratulations)" (1971), "Shame and Scandal", "Midnight Bus" (both 1972), "World's Greatest Mum" (No. 9, 1973) and "She's My Kind of Woman" (1974). Chester hosted various TV series: Teen Time on Ten (GLV-10, Gippsland, 1963–64), Teen Scene (ABC TV, 1964–65) and Country Road (ABC TV, 1977–78). He also worked as a radio announcer on commercial Melbourne radio station 3UZ and ABC Radio Australia. He wrote a musical comedy, Rebound, that opened in Wagga Wagga. Chester won Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia for best-selling track in 1975 and for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1981, 1982 and 1983. In 1994, he was awarded the Songmaker of the Year Award from the Tamworth Songwriters Association. According to Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane, he is "one of Melbourne's first and best rock'n'roll singers of the early 1960s." Music journalist Ed Nimmervoll acknowledges Chester's "essential inclusion on any major national rock package coming into Melbourne" and later he "helped bring Australian country music to pop respectability."