Go and welcome to conversations. David Campbell is my guest today. We know he's a singer, great singer. He performs a musical theater. He's a television host, he's a broadcaster, he writes a column in a newspaper, and he's a dad as well. Can be here for the Cabaret Festival with his new show. It's a tribute to Olivia Newton John. David Campbell, thanks for joining us. How's it going?

Go and welcome to conversations. David Campbell is my guest today. We know he's a singer, great singer. He performs a musical theater. He's a television host, he's a broadcaster, he writes a column in a newspaper, and he's a dad as well. Can be here for the Cabaret Festival with his new show. It's a tribute to Olivia Newton John. David Campbell, thanks for joining us. How's it going?

Good to see a legend? You will he.

Good to see a legend? You will he.

Won pretty well, but it gets harder. Y tell us about the new show. It's a tribute to Oliviaton John. But I sense this is this is quite personal for you.

Won pretty well, but it gets harder. Y tell us about the new show. It's a tribute to Oliviaton John. But I sense this is this is quite personal for you.

Yeah, it is. So the day Olivia passed, Mark Suckliffe, who was working with the MSO at the time, text me and said, look, I think we should do something for Olivia as a tribute, and I was like, I'm in whatever it is. I'm in because Olivia, through the Cabaret Festival and over the years became a friend of mine. And so it was a really hard day that day. I mean, we all knew it was coming, but it was still. It doesn't make it any easier and so you know, I was in on that from the ground floor, and so it took a little while to get going. But basically the show is myself and for incredible female singers Christy will and Brown, Jess Hitchcock, Tody Goldsmith is there hosting with us, and Georgia Hobson is also there as well, and it's just a really great celebration really of her life, and it's sort of an overview of the breadth of her career, the stunning sort of way she maneuvered through many genres and styles. I mean, I think we all immediately think of Sandy, we all immediately think of roller skates, but you know, the country era and how she won Grammys all the way back then was quite a definitive time in introducing her to America. So it's sort of a way of, you know, reminding people about this incredible music, maybe playing songs that are familiar to them or means something to their lives growing up. And one of the things that when I signed on to do it, I had a WhatsApp with the girls, I called them the O NJ Queens, and I said to them, I think, you know Olivia for a lot of us that knew her was funny and she was a pro, but she was very naughty with a humor to you, and anyone who saw her on stage knows that when she would do something like physical and she did it at the Cabaret Festival, the whole audience had to get up and they had to do that moves with her and stuff. So I really wanted to make sure it wasn't mortal, that even though this would be there will be times that would pull out your heartstrings, that it was still a celebration of an incredible Australian's life. And I think we've we walk a fine line with it at a time. Sometimes we're a bit goofier than others, but it's pretty special.

Yeah, it is. So the day Olivia passed, Mark Suckliffe, who was working with the MSO at the time, text me and said, look, I think we should do something for Olivia as a tribute, and I was like, I'm in whatever it is. I'm in because Olivia, through the Cabaret Festival and over the years became a friend of mine. And so it was a really hard day that day. I mean, we all knew it was coming, but it was still. It doesn't make it any easier and so you know, I was in on that from the ground floor, and so it took a little while to get going. But basically the show is myself and for incredible female singers Christy will and Brown, Jess Hitchcock, Tody Goldsmith is there hosting with us, and Georgia Hobson is also there as well, and it's just a really great celebration really of her life, and it's sort of an overview of the breadth of her career, the stunning sort of way she maneuvered through many genres and styles. I mean, I think we all immediately think of Sandy, we all immediately think of roller skates, but you know, the country era and how she won Grammys all the way back then was quite a definitive time in introducing her to America. So it's sort of a way of, you know, reminding people about this incredible music, maybe playing songs that are familiar to them or means something to their lives growing up. And one of the things that when I signed on to do it, I had a WhatsApp with the girls, I called them the O NJ Queens, and I said to them, I think, you know Olivia for a lot of us that knew her was funny and she was a pro, but she was very naughty with a humor to you, and anyone who saw her on stage knows that when she would do something like physical and she did it at the Cabaret Festival, the whole audience had to get up and they had to do that moves with her and stuff. So I really wanted to make sure it wasn't mortal, that even though this would be there will be times that would pull out your heartstrings, that it was still a celebration of an incredible Australian's life. And I think we've we walk a fine line with it at a time. Sometimes we're a bit goofier than others, but it's pretty special.

There's a clip of you doing I Honestly Love You, and you've slowed it right down. Did you have to consider how Olivia would have sung it or how she felt, and how did you feel as a male singing a song which was essentially, you know, a female song song.

There's a clip of you doing I Honestly Love You, and you've slowed it right down. Did you have to consider how Olivia would have sung it or how she felt, and how did you feel as a male singing a song which was essentially, you know, a female song song.

Yeah, Well, Peter wrote it and first had a hit with it, and then Olivia sort of made it her own and that became the iconic version. And so when I was in New York in the nineties and I was doing cabaret, I was looking for songs to do and that was one that I sort of recorded for PolyGram back then when they used to do it and take to tape. It was really fun. And so I recorded the sort of version of that song from I guess a younger man's perspective of being kind of cocky at a party, taken a shot with somebody, didn't matter who it was, but it was like the stakes were low, but you were just going to take a shot anyway. But as a sort of a tribute to Peter and to Olivia, and then I sort of didn't do it for a long while, hadn't done it since then. And when Mark said, okay, what songs. The girls are going to ear mark ZANDADU and they're going to ear my honestly, no, they're going to earmark all the big hits. Which one do you want? And I said, I don't care. I'll support the girls no matter what, but I really need, I honestly love you. I'd like to come back to that in my fifties as a tribute to her. And so it wasn't until god we did the first preview in Melbourne and we decided that it was one of the few songs with no orchestra, and we took it quite slowly because I really want it to be a guy in the middle of his marriage it's not working, and someone walks in that You've always thought, this is my shot. And it's an extraordinary lyric that Peter wrote. And Olivia captured this too. We saw it go, so maybe I hang around here and do that. And then he said the first chorus is I love you, I honestly love you, and he knows that that instance, he's botched it, and it's like, I'm not trying to make you feel comfortable? What am I doing? What am I on? This is the worst idea ever? And you watch somebody have to go I've said it now and now you have to hear it, and I've said it and doesn't matter. But now I'm going to go back to mine. And that's the way that is. And so there's that. And I do imagine on the night. I try to not imagine Olivia as a romantic person, but just I imagine her there guiding me through like it's a scene, like it's a an acting scene. So I try to imagine someone like her there because I know she'd be very generous in that scene and help coach me through it. So yeah, so the spirit is her, but the intent is coming at it from a different level. It's one of those songs that just the lyrics are so pure that you can find something new and I really love it.

Yeah, Well, Peter wrote it and first had a hit with it, and then Olivia sort of made it her own and that became the iconic version. And so when I was in New York in the nineties and I was doing cabaret, I was looking for songs to do and that was one that I sort of recorded for PolyGram back then when they used to do it and take to tape. It was really fun. And so I recorded the sort of version of that song from I guess a younger man's perspective of being kind of cocky at a party, taken a shot with somebody, didn't matter who it was, but it was like the stakes were low, but you were just going to take a shot anyway. But as a sort of a tribute to Peter and to Olivia, and then I sort of didn't do it for a long while, hadn't done it since then. And when Mark said, okay, what songs. The girls are going to ear mark ZANDADU and they're going to ear my honestly, no, they're going to earmark all the big hits. Which one do you want? And I said, I don't care. I'll support the girls no matter what, but I really need, I honestly love you. I'd like to come back to that in my fifties as a tribute to her. And so it wasn't until god we did the first preview in Melbourne and we decided that it was one of the few songs with no orchestra, and we took it quite slowly because I really want it to be a guy in the middle of his marriage it's not working, and someone walks in that You've always thought, this is my shot. And it's an extraordinary lyric that Peter wrote. And Olivia captured this too. We saw it go, so maybe I hang around here and do that. And then he said the first chorus is I love you, I honestly love you, and he knows that that instance, he's botched it, and it's like, I'm not trying to make you feel comfortable? What am I doing? What am I on? This is the worst idea ever? And you watch somebody have to go I've said it now and now you have to hear it, and I've said it and doesn't matter. But now I'm going to go back to mine. And that's the way that is. And so there's that. And I do imagine on the night. I try to not imagine Olivia as a romantic person, but just I imagine her there guiding me through like it's a scene, like it's a an acting scene. So I try to imagine someone like her there because I know she'd be very generous in that scene and help coach me through it. So yeah, so the spirit is her, but the intent is coming at it from a different level. It's one of those songs that just the lyrics are so pure that you can find something new and I really love it.

See that's the artistic sensitive side of you. I couldn't interpret the song like that. I just want the grease stuff, you know, Yeah, the rock, the rock, the rocky stuff that she does. So do you dress up in black leather?

See that's the artistic sensitive side of you. I couldn't interpret the song like that. I just want the grease stuff, you know, Yeah, the rock, the rock, the rocky stuff that she does. So do you dress up in black leather?

Yeah? Absolutely? I mean what I mean, when are we're talking here? We dress up in black leather that we dress up in workout gear for physical, which I won't write it, but CHRISTI WILLI and Brown does physical and it's amazing and we don't know what she's going to do every night, but we have to do what she does. And sometimes we're planking on the stage with microphones in our hands, singing the chorus with her, or sometimes we're doing Jumby dests or whatever she says goes. One of the ideas I had was to get cowboy hats and do like a grand old Opry style. You know those microphones where they sing around it like they were Grand ol Opry like in the old days. And so we have to do country Roads because she had a big hit with country Roads the John Devil once. So we do tight harmonies there. So we try and have a bit of fun with it.

Yeah? Absolutely? I mean what I mean, when are we're talking here? We dress up in black leather that we dress up in workout gear for physical, which I won't write it, but CHRISTI WILLI and Brown does physical and it's amazing and we don't know what she's going to do every night, but we have to do what she does. And sometimes we're planking on the stage with microphones in our hands, singing the chorus with her, or sometimes we're doing Jumby dests or whatever she says goes. One of the ideas I had was to get cowboy hats and do like a grand old Opry style. You know those microphones where they sing around it like they were Grand ol Opry like in the old days. And so we have to do country Roads because she had a big hit with country Roads the John Devil once. So we do tight harmonies there. So we try and have a bit of fun with it.

You know.

You know.

Christy and I pretend to rollerskate because oh and S and Insurances wouldn't let us skate on staff. So it's fun.

Christy and I pretend to rollerskate because oh and S and Insurances wouldn't let us skate on staff. So it's fun.

You know, we're doing a lot of fun stuff getting you roller skate.

You know, we're doing a lot of fun stuff getting you roller skate.

I learned to roller skate at Hillcrest, and when roller skating is real fat and I had certificates for it. I can't say how much more of a loser I was while I'm watching you play footy on the TV, probably like getting young men to be sporty, and I'm rollerskating to you know, ten c c up at Hillcrest.

I learned to roller skate at Hillcrest, and when roller skating is real fat and I had certificates for it. I can't say how much more of a loser I was while I'm watching you play footy on the TV, probably like getting young men to be sporty, and I'm rollerskating to you know, ten c c up at Hillcrest.

I often wondered about that. I've seen you over the years and then you made your mark. Sure, I thought it was a jazz singer when you had success in New York and all the things you can do, But were you sporty?

I often wondered about that. I've seen you over the years and then you made your mark. Sure, I thought it was a jazz singer when you had success in New York and all the things you can do, But were you sporty?

It's one of the great And that's the thing I've just come now from my trainer who gets me to lift weights and stuff. Now is your age. You got lyft weights and a lot of stuff. And he signed out to do this ridiculous competition thing that I shouldn't be doing it at fifty fifty one nearly. And that's and I chase it now because I wasn't sporty, because it was like something that I sort of I was the rock band kid, or I was the kid's school and I really regret it. And so it's something that now I try and instill to my kids. So I've got an older son. He likes rowing. He's very musical, but he likes rowing and stuff like that. He's going to be a giant though. And then my twins both do dance, they do karate. My daughter loves dancing and singing. But they're out of nowhere. And this is where you're going to love this. The Young Fella, the Young Billy. It's AFL Bang and he's on and it's every Sunday and Tuesday. And I as because wen't even New South Wales because it would have been a coin flips, like, please don't choose rugby. I don't know anything about rugby, but with AFL, it's like great and I go and I helped coach on the Sundays because I know because I grew up watching you guys, so I know what to do and when like and the guys like, you're really good at this. I'm like, because I watched it growing up, I was a fan. This is great. I actually understand this one. So while I'm not, I give Vicariously lived through him. But he wants to be an AFL star and a drummer, so we'll see how that goes. Who does he bury for I'm sorry Swans.

It's one of the great And that's the thing I've just come now from my trainer who gets me to lift weights and stuff. Now is your age. You got lyft weights and a lot of stuff. And he signed out to do this ridiculous competition thing that I shouldn't be doing it at fifty fifty one nearly. And that's and I chase it now because I wasn't sporty, because it was like something that I sort of I was the rock band kid, or I was the kid's school and I really regret it. And so it's something that now I try and instill to my kids. So I've got an older son. He likes rowing. He's very musical, but he likes rowing and stuff like that. He's going to be a giant though. And then my twins both do dance, they do karate. My daughter loves dancing and singing. But they're out of nowhere. And this is where you're going to love this. The Young Fella, the Young Billy. It's AFL Bang and he's on and it's every Sunday and Tuesday. And I as because wen't even New South Wales because it would have been a coin flips, like, please don't choose rugby. I don't know anything about rugby, but with AFL, it's like great and I go and I helped coach on the Sundays because I know because I grew up watching you guys, so I know what to do and when like and the guys like, you're really good at this. I'm like, because I watched it growing up, I was a fan. This is great. I actually understand this one. So while I'm not, I give Vicariously lived through him. But he wants to be an AFL star and a drummer, so we'll see how that goes. Who does he bury for I'm sorry Swans.

Yes, he's a pretty easy team to follow.

Yes, he's a pretty easy team to follow.

Them Red and White. That runs to we're having a we're having a belter, it's our year. Said this to him. I was like, I think we should buy grand fid and tickets. Now. I think we should just go and take the chance. I think it's going to happen.

Them Red and White. That runs to we're having a we're having a belter, it's our year. Said this to him. I was like, I think we should buy grand fid and tickets. Now. I think we should just go and take the chance. I think it's going to happen.

Still early days, I know, I know. Did you breath? Did I send s and your break for North Adelaide when you're a kid, what.

Still early days, I know, I know. Did you breath? Did I send s and your break for North Adelaide when you're a kid, what.

Otherwise I would have gotten beaten up?

Otherwise I would have gotten beaten up?

Oh No, I'm from.

Oh No, I'm from.

The Central so my family was Central Districts because We'relizabeth right. But then I went to Norfold High and it was Port adelaide or your scalp.

The Central so my family was Central Districts because We'relizabeth right. But then I went to Norfold High and it was Port adelaide or your scalp.

I get that. Coming back to the leaving Newton John hopeless, she devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton John. Toddy Goldsmith is actually Olivia's niece. Yeah, where was that? I mean, I couldn't. I couldn't work out the family connection and then.

I get that. Coming back to the leaving Newton John hopeless, she devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton John. Toddy Goldsmith is actually Olivia's niece. Yeah, where was that? I mean, I couldn't. I couldn't work out the family connection and then.

Yeah, yeah, that's that's for them, that's the Melbourne connection, you know. So it's like, you know, and and that was the thing is so she was so close to Olivia especially. She sort of represents the family on behalf of the Cancer and Wellness Center as well and sort of speaks to that on stage. But we make sure that because you know, remember Toddy was in the Shantoosy, so we make sure she does one of that you know, if you love me, let me know songs and she joins some country road to which we drag her in, you know. But you know it was tough for Toddy. I remember like doing the Wellness walk with her the year at that Livy Past and you know, Chloe was there, and you know, it was a very emotional walk in Melbourne for a lot of the family and a lot of the boldn tears and stuff because of the first one without her, and you know, it was really tough on the family. She has such a huge imprint, you know, when someone is such a big star as Olivia but also also connects with so many people in a very real way. It's unlike any star I know or met before that everyone who met her felt like that she affected their lives or that they know her. And so it's really important we have someone like Toddy on stage to sort of represent that. It's quite a beautiful thing.

Yeah, yeah, that's that's for them, that's the Melbourne connection, you know. So it's like, you know, and and that was the thing is so she was so close to Olivia especially. She sort of represents the family on behalf of the Cancer and Wellness Center as well and sort of speaks to that on stage. But we make sure that because you know, remember Toddy was in the Shantoosy, so we make sure she does one of that you know, if you love me, let me know songs and she joins some country road to which we drag her in, you know. But you know it was tough for Toddy. I remember like doing the Wellness walk with her the year at that Livy Past and you know, Chloe was there, and you know, it was a very emotional walk in Melbourne for a lot of the family and a lot of the boldn tears and stuff because of the first one without her, and you know, it was really tough on the family. She has such a huge imprint, you know, when someone is such a big star as Olivia but also also connects with so many people in a very real way. It's unlike any star I know or met before that everyone who met her felt like that she affected their lives or that they know her. And so it's really important we have someone like Toddy on stage to sort of represent that. It's quite a beautiful thing.

David Campbell is my guest. He will be here for they had Laid Cabaret Festival. In the special show devoted to Olivia Newton, John hopelessly devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton. John searched the website Adelaide Cabaret Festival a ticket tech you'll find the tickets back shortly. Welcome back everybody. David Campbell is my guest. He will be in Adelaie to the ad Laid Cabaret Festival with his show celebrating Olivia Newton. John hopelessly devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton John, but he revealed if you just tuned in. Growing up in the northern suburbs of Adelaide that he barik for Port Adelaide in those early days, and.

David Campbell is my guest. He will be here for they had Laid Cabaret Festival. In the special show devoted to Olivia Newton, John hopelessly devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton. John searched the website Adelaide Cabaret Festival a ticket tech you'll find the tickets back shortly. Welcome back everybody. David Campbell is my guest. He will be in Adelaie to the ad Laid Cabaret Festival with his show celebrating Olivia Newton. John hopelessly devoted a celebration of Olivia Newton John, but he revealed if you just tuned in. Growing up in the northern suburbs of Adelaide that he barik for Port Adelaide in those early days, and.

I'm still here with you. I appreciate that.

I'm still here with you. I appreciate that.

That's okay, I had to change dramatically because my son's got drafted. Imagine that. I mean, by your early days, I've known you probably asked to talk about lots of times. But give me your earliest memory.

That's okay, I had to change dramatically because my son's got drafted. Imagine that. I mean, by your early days, I've known you probably asked to talk about lots of times. But give me your earliest memory.

Oh man, okay, I remember Elizabeth. I remember sort of the backyard or the front yard of Elizabeth. I remember the trees, you know, those sort of like long sort of like trees that sort of like hangover like that and they're long, thin like leaves. I remember running around a little bit there, and then I kind of remember moving to around the Northfield Ingal Farm area around that time. You know, I moved around a little bit before we settled in Ingle Farm. So we're probably at the back of Northfield or back behind Yatler Prison there for a little bit. And then Parakha Primary and around that time, and so I really spent my time in the northern suburbs around there. And yeah, it was a really it was so it is so crazy how different that time was. You know, I was talking to some of the other day here in Sydney talked about going to downtown in Heinley Street and remembering like they've got a Space Invaders and you know, now where my kids don't even understand. Why would I be interested in that game?

Oh man, okay, I remember Elizabeth. I remember sort of the backyard or the front yard of Elizabeth. I remember the trees, you know, those sort of like long sort of like trees that sort of like hangover like that and they're long, thin like leaves. I remember running around a little bit there, and then I kind of remember moving to around the Northfield Ingal Farm area around that time. You know, I moved around a little bit before we settled in Ingle Farm. So we're probably at the back of Northfield or back behind Yatler Prison there for a little bit. And then Parakha Primary and around that time, and so I really spent my time in the northern suburbs around there. And yeah, it was a really it was so it is so crazy how different that time was. You know, I was talking to some of the other day here in Sydney talked about going to downtown in Heinley Street and remembering like they've got a Space Invaders and you know, now where my kids don't even understand. Why would I be interested in that game?

I love Downtown.

I love Downtown.

Yeah, it's so good. And that was the first time I went on you know, a dodging cars and working out how to get around the corners. And you know, I still think about those dodging cars going around the corners now, which I probably shouldn't, but yeah, it was really it was a really innocent time. It was a very quieter time before my father and before I found out about my mum and dad. Was much quieter time my grandmother and I and so I remember just you know, sort of being going to school, being very quiet, very nerdy, you know, trying to sort of find your way in the world, you know, as you do, and eventually ending up at Eagle Farm and then finding out about my dad. So it was up until that it was quite quiet.

Yeah, it's so good. And that was the first time I went on you know, a dodging cars and working out how to get around the corners. And you know, I still think about those dodging cars going around the corners now, which I probably shouldn't, but yeah, it was really it was a really innocent time. It was a very quieter time before my father and before I found out about my mum and dad. Was much quieter time my grandmother and I and so I remember just you know, sort of being going to school, being very quiet, very nerdy, you know, trying to sort of find your way in the world, you know, as you do, and eventually ending up at Eagle Farm and then finding out about my dad. So it was up until that it was quite quiet.

Was there a further figure in your life until that time?

Was there a further figure in your life until that time?

Well, my last name Campbell is so my grandmother adopted me and she remarried a guy called Peter Campbell, who was a lovely guy was around for a little bit, but it didn't quite work out. So I kept that name. And so when I was so he was around for a little bit. You know, it was kind of a father figure in a way, but not really a lot of people tried but didn't really fit the bill. And so my grandmother kind of raised me by myself. So we really just you know, had that and that's probably why a lot of my influences are the way they are. But you know, I kept his name because I remember when I found out about my dad, A lot of people are like, well, should you change your name to David Barnes? And I was, so I've I've had a lot of therapy now I can laugh back. So traumatized by the event, I'm like, no, I don't want anything to change. I'll just keep my name. So it's funny now that I think about, like I had this name that I have no real connection to, that my wife took, that my kids have taken. But we made the agreement, like you know, she said, nowadays she probably would have kept her own name. But this is you know, eighteen years ago. In fifteen years we've been married, but you know, we thought, let's start our own family and our own legacy, and it was a good name to keep that legacy going with. So funniest stage name becomes your own name. I didn't even plan it to be a stage name.

Well, my last name Campbell is so my grandmother adopted me and she remarried a guy called Peter Campbell, who was a lovely guy was around for a little bit, but it didn't quite work out. So I kept that name. And so when I was so he was around for a little bit. You know, it was kind of a father figure in a way, but not really a lot of people tried but didn't really fit the bill. And so my grandmother kind of raised me by myself. So we really just you know, had that and that's probably why a lot of my influences are the way they are. But you know, I kept his name because I remember when I found out about my dad, A lot of people are like, well, should you change your name to David Barnes? And I was, so I've I've had a lot of therapy now I can laugh back. So traumatized by the event, I'm like, no, I don't want anything to change. I'll just keep my name. So it's funny now that I think about, like I had this name that I have no real connection to, that my wife took, that my kids have taken. But we made the agreement, like you know, she said, nowadays she probably would have kept her own name. But this is you know, eighteen years ago. In fifteen years we've been married, but you know, we thought, let's start our own family and our own legacy, and it was a good name to keep that legacy going with. So funniest stage name becomes your own name. I didn't even plan it to be a stage name.

You thought your grandmother was your mother?

You thought your grandmother was your mother?

Yes, my mother was my sister.

Yes, my mother was my sister.

Can you tell us about that time when you actually found out? Oh?

Can you tell us about that time when you actually found out? Oh?

Sure? So when Peter Campbell left and that relationship just finished, my grandmother had raised us, raised me byself, and was doing her best with that. And I think the story is that she saw Jimmy's mom, my dad's mom like somewhere, or she'd seen one of the relatives somewhere, and so that got back to my dad. And at the same time, he had married, had a child, had Mahalia, my sister with Jane, and he'd had a picture of me in his wallet that fell out and and had said who's this child? And He's like, that's my son, And Jane was very much like, why isn't he in our lives? He's got a sister now, we should find him. So through those concurring events around that time, he came into my life. And so my grandmother and I flew to Sydney to meet with him, cause I think my grandmother because she knew him back in the day, so he knew. She knew he was a good kid, but a wild kid. But she was like, how wild has this been in the last ten years with Colgis or you hear all the stories and you think this is going to be the Rolling Stones in the sixties. So she we went to Sydney and you know, they had the tiny little hat farm in Minigold, which became the Big Farm much much later, but it was still just like a shack, like a two or three bedroom shacked with a couple of horses. And she was like, it's pretty wholesome. Okay, well, I'll I'll allow him to know the truth because I think she thought, should I protect him from the truth until he's a little bit older in case this guy's nuts. But when she saw Jim again my daddy and she'll go, oh, you're the same, Jane, Great, there's a sister. This is very wholesome. So when I came home she told me on the day and you know, I kind of by that stage, I felt like I knew something. I'd spent the week with him and I felt like I knew something. It was harder to understand about my mother being my sister. That was a much harder thing to comprehend. I think because of my age. There was no therapy causy as you know, back in those days, there's no counselors. We're all just flying line into the sun, working these things out as a family. So that was really hard for me to get my head around. And then I sort of got through that, and then I hit puberty, and then he became the biggest star in the country, and then I had to try and deal with that. So, you know, there was a couple, There was a few things to sort of organize my sort of childhood memories through and to sort of navigate, which was really tricky. And I'm glad I had it, and I'm glad I got through it. And I'm also glad I had that separation to get through it, because I think with the personality type that I have, it would have been much harder if I'd been here with him in Sydney. So to have that separation, to keep coming back to my grandmother and having the sort of reality of like Okay, you live an ingle farm, you go to school. Times are tough, grow a mullet just do what you got to do, you know what I mean? That sort of stuff I think that kept me like grounded and sort of gave me my own sense of identity and also gave me a sense of drive, you know, the drive to sort of see what my dad does not take it for granted because I wasn't privileged enough to live with it, but to chase it, to go like, hey, there's an escape route here where I can go do something. I'm not good at school, I'm not good at sports, but there's a route over there that I can follow. How do I get there? How hard do I have to work? And what do I have to do? So while there was things that I had to work out, there were some definite years of therapy that I've done, lots of therapy and lots of things I've had to reorganize and things that I'm still learning about that now, what I am grateful for is like having that separation and having that sort of the time that it was done and dealt with. You just you work it out and you deal with it and you work out it gives you the grit you know that you need for life.

Sure? So when Peter Campbell left and that relationship just finished, my grandmother had raised us, raised me byself, and was doing her best with that. And I think the story is that she saw Jimmy's mom, my dad's mom like somewhere, or she'd seen one of the relatives somewhere, and so that got back to my dad. And at the same time, he had married, had a child, had Mahalia, my sister with Jane, and he'd had a picture of me in his wallet that fell out and and had said who's this child? And He's like, that's my son, And Jane was very much like, why isn't he in our lives? He's got a sister now, we should find him. So through those concurring events around that time, he came into my life. And so my grandmother and I flew to Sydney to meet with him, cause I think my grandmother because she knew him back in the day, so he knew. She knew he was a good kid, but a wild kid. But she was like, how wild has this been in the last ten years with Colgis or you hear all the stories and you think this is going to be the Rolling Stones in the sixties. So she we went to Sydney and you know, they had the tiny little hat farm in Minigold, which became the Big Farm much much later, but it was still just like a shack, like a two or three bedroom shacked with a couple of horses. And she was like, it's pretty wholesome. Okay, well, I'll I'll allow him to know the truth because I think she thought, should I protect him from the truth until he's a little bit older in case this guy's nuts. But when she saw Jim again my daddy and she'll go, oh, you're the same, Jane, Great, there's a sister. This is very wholesome. So when I came home she told me on the day and you know, I kind of by that stage, I felt like I knew something. I'd spent the week with him and I felt like I knew something. It was harder to understand about my mother being my sister. That was a much harder thing to comprehend. I think because of my age. There was no therapy causy as you know, back in those days, there's no counselors. We're all just flying line into the sun, working these things out as a family. So that was really hard for me to get my head around. And then I sort of got through that, and then I hit puberty, and then he became the biggest star in the country, and then I had to try and deal with that. So, you know, there was a couple, There was a few things to sort of organize my sort of childhood memories through and to sort of navigate, which was really tricky. And I'm glad I had it, and I'm glad I got through it. And I'm also glad I had that separation to get through it, because I think with the personality type that I have, it would have been much harder if I'd been here with him in Sydney. So to have that separation, to keep coming back to my grandmother and having the sort of reality of like Okay, you live an ingle farm, you go to school. Times are tough, grow a mullet just do what you got to do, you know what I mean? That sort of stuff I think that kept me like grounded and sort of gave me my own sense of identity and also gave me a sense of drive, you know, the drive to sort of see what my dad does not take it for granted because I wasn't privileged enough to live with it, but to chase it, to go like, hey, there's an escape route here where I can go do something. I'm not good at school, I'm not good at sports, but there's a route over there that I can follow. How do I get there? How hard do I have to work? And what do I have to do? So while there was things that I had to work out, there were some definite years of therapy that I've done, lots of therapy and lots of things I've had to reorganize and things that I'm still learning about that now, what I am grateful for is like having that separation and having that sort of the time that it was done and dealt with. You just you work it out and you deal with it and you work out it gives you the grit you know that you need for life.

I little but thinking as tough as that would have been for you, What was it like for your mother, who you thought was your sister and she had a little.

I little but thinking as tough as that would have been for you, What was it like for your mother, who you thought was your sister and she had a little.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to speak too much for her. She keeps herself pretty private. We have a very strong relationship now, we speak once twice a week. She is someone who's been through a hell of a lot. I think you know they were young. It's in my dad's book. They were bout sixteen seventeen when I was born. I know that's quite common back in those days. And I also know that the it's very common to have a child who goes away and comes back as a cousin or a member of a family that's different. And you know it's Bobby Darren had it, Jack Nicholson had a lot of families go through that in that period of time. It's the sixties and the seventies. So I don't think it's something that I'm fortunate was very common. But I think it's allowed us to reconnect in a different way. It's allowed us to heal in a different way and to really not take our relationship for granted and build from it. And that's been it's been good.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to speak too much for her. She keeps herself pretty private. We have a very strong relationship now, we speak once twice a week. She is someone who's been through a hell of a lot. I think you know they were young. It's in my dad's book. They were bout sixteen seventeen when I was born. I know that's quite common back in those days. And I also know that the it's very common to have a child who goes away and comes back as a cousin or a member of a family that's different. And you know it's Bobby Darren had it, Jack Nicholson had a lot of families go through that in that period of time. It's the sixties and the seventies. So I don't think it's something that I'm fortunate was very common. But I think it's allowed us to reconnect in a different way. It's allowed us to heal in a different way and to really not take our relationship for granted and build from it. And that's been it's been good.

Ironic that you played Bobby Darren in one of your shows.

Ironic that you played Bobby Darren in one of your shows.

It's one of the reasons why it was always appealed to him. I read his book. I was doing stuff in America and I was at an airport. I picked up DoD Darren and Sandra D's book about Bobby. Sandra's married to him, Dodd was his son, and it was called dream Lover, And this is in nineteen ninety eight and I remember reading it going, this is my life. This is amazing. So then I got into all of Bobby's music and I started to meet friends of Bobby's. They would come to my shows because they heard I was doing Mac and I for Beyondes scene, reviving those songs. This is around the time of this first swing revolution of the nineties and it was just so exciting. So to do that and to meet DoD and the family was just, I mean, one of the great moments of my life.

It's one of the reasons why it was always appealed to him. I read his book. I was doing stuff in America and I was at an airport. I picked up DoD Darren and Sandra D's book about Bobby. Sandra's married to him, Dodd was his son, and it was called dream Lover, And this is in nineteen ninety eight and I remember reading it going, this is my life. This is amazing. So then I got into all of Bobby's music and I started to meet friends of Bobby's. They would come to my shows because they heard I was doing Mac and I for Beyondes scene, reviving those songs. This is around the time of this first swing revolution of the nineties and it was just so exciting. So to do that and to meet DoD and the family was just, I mean, one of the great moments of my life.

David Campbell is my guest. It's like backshortly, get over and welcome back to the conversations. If you've just tuned in, were chatting with David Campbell, and he's as you can imagine, as you know just by watching one TV. He's got a large personality. Not only does he have talent on stage, he's just full of energy and goodwill. Hid growing up in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, you realized you had talent to perform at an early age. Am I just assuming that? No?

David Campbell is my guest. It's like backshortly, get over and welcome back to the conversations. If you've just tuned in, were chatting with David Campbell, and he's as you can imagine, as you know just by watching one TV. He's got a large personality. Not only does he have talent on stage, he's just full of energy and goodwill. Hid growing up in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, you realized you had talent to perform at an early age. Am I just assuming that? No?

I knew I could sing. My grandmother used to put me up in front of people to sing along with the record of Bright Eyes in front of a room full of people, so obviously I could hold a tune. Golf Uncle, Yeah, golf Uncle, Yeah, great song Watership down and.

I knew I could sing. My grandmother used to put me up in front of people to sing along with the record of Bright Eyes in front of a room full of people, so obviously I could hold a tune. Golf Uncle, Yeah, golf Uncle, Yeah, great song Watership down and.

You heard that register. Yeah.

You heard that register. Yeah.

So I well, my voice hadn't broken and probably still hasn't, but no, so she knew something then. So that kind of gave me the confidence. And music was a real even before my dad, music was a real solace for me, you know, because I was alone. I didn't have any brothers and sisters. I mean, I didn't have any brother sisters that were close to me in age, So you know, I would listen to her music collection, or listen to five Double A or you know, you know, listen to you know, bas and Pilco and hear what was going on, or go through the charts and try and learn all the songs and the charts and go to carrag Records and go through and like listen to stuff. So you know, music was I was just a music nerd and just and I didn't play an instruments, so singing was my outlet. Once you know, I knew where my dad was, I was like, oh, well that's a connection, so I must be. I would sing because of him. I mean, I didn't know that you had to train, but of course you did.

So I well, my voice hadn't broken and probably still hasn't, but no, so she knew something then. So that kind of gave me the confidence. And music was a real even before my dad, music was a real solace for me, you know, because I was alone. I didn't have any brothers and sisters. I mean, I didn't have any brother sisters that were close to me in age, So you know, I would listen to her music collection, or listen to five Double A or you know, you know, listen to you know, bas and Pilco and hear what was going on, or go through the charts and try and learn all the songs and the charts and go to carrag Records and go through and like listen to stuff. So you know, music was I was just a music nerd and just and I didn't play an instruments, so singing was my outlet. Once you know, I knew where my dad was, I was like, oh, well that's a connection, so I must be. I would sing because of him. I mean, I didn't know that you had to train, but of course you did.

I might be ignorant, but you first came to my awareness as somebody who had made it big in America? Am I just assuming that you went from here to there and it all happened for you, or some hard yards done here as well.

I might be ignorant, but you first came to my awareness as somebody who had made it big in America? Am I just assuming that you went from here to there and it all happened for you, or some hard yards done here as well.

There was a couple couple of hard yards. But I had had so many lucky breaks. I mean, and when you say big, big ish in New York in the two one two area code of them for a little bit of time. No, I had so many lucky and you know, I sort of met a couple of good people in a New South Wales that have helped me along the way. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to go to Nither and be like mel Gibson and do all this stuff, and I didn't get in and I was devastating, and so but I did do some plays, and I worked on stuff, and just some you know theater things. You go to schools and you build sets and all that sort of stuff that you that you do to try and get your chops up. And then when I was sort of running out of gigs to get the manager, I was with, like, look, you can sing. Why aren't you singing? It feels like a waste of time and money. And I'm like, what am I supposed to sing? So I started singing theater songs and I would go to piano bars here and sing theater songs and not know that that was cabaret. And so eventually I quickly put that into an act. And then that act was really structured and rigid, and I wrote scripts and tried to make it really serious and like young man stuff. And then eventually that started to relax. And a man called Leo schofielders many izsies, not through the Adelaide Festival and so many things. An incredible impresario brought out Barbara Cook, who was a big Broadway diva from the fifties and sixties, and then had a big resurgence in the eighties and nineties as a jazz singer and a shan too. It's one of the great voices of our time. She was doing a masterclass in Melbourne. I was doing the Tilbury Hotel here in Sydney. Leo saw me and said, I'm going to get you to do the master class where they want professionals to do the master class with them. I'm like, okay. I went down to Melbourne. I had no real experience. I had a song that I stole from a Michael Feinstein cassette, another cabaret festival, you know, headliner. And I went down the Barbara Cook thing and I said I was the first one up because I had to get to some plane back to Sydney. And I got up and I sang this Michael Feinstein song and I thought, okay, she's about to rip me apart in front of two thousand people. Let's see how we go. And I finished the song and I turned her. I'm sweating. And I turned her. She goes, honey, that was great, do another one. I'm like, I don't have another song to my piano play. He knows he So I ended up doing a Judy Garland song that we all knew I did that. She i't had nothing to tell you. That's great. I went off, and then she proceeded to tear apart the next four artists that came on stage. So I was I felt like I dodged a bullet. And Michael Feinstein was in the audience and he said, I think you should come to New York and do this thing called the Cabaret Convention. There's two songs, see what happens. So he got me into that. A guy then who came who was a piano player, came to see my show in Sydney by chance, and he said, I'll play for you. So I had this succession of like a week at a place called eighty Eight's in the village, and I would do odd times, eight thirty at night, twelve o'clock at night. I did the Cabrea Festival. I kept selling. There was a small room, eighty eight people, and I would sell out and do another room, sell out to another room. And then I got this review in Time Out that changed everything, and then I was doing bigger rooms, and I went to do Rainbow and Stars, and I would do New.

There was a couple couple of hard yards. But I had had so many lucky breaks. I mean, and when you say big, big ish in New York in the two one two area code of them for a little bit of time. No, I had so many lucky and you know, I sort of met a couple of good people in a New South Wales that have helped me along the way. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to go to Nither and be like mel Gibson and do all this stuff, and I didn't get in and I was devastating, and so but I did do some plays, and I worked on stuff, and just some you know theater things. You go to schools and you build sets and all that sort of stuff that you that you do to try and get your chops up. And then when I was sort of running out of gigs to get the manager, I was with, like, look, you can sing. Why aren't you singing? It feels like a waste of time and money. And I'm like, what am I supposed to sing? So I started singing theater songs and I would go to piano bars here and sing theater songs and not know that that was cabaret. And so eventually I quickly put that into an act. And then that act was really structured and rigid, and I wrote scripts and tried to make it really serious and like young man stuff. And then eventually that started to relax. And a man called Leo schofielders many izsies, not through the Adelaide Festival and so many things. An incredible impresario brought out Barbara Cook, who was a big Broadway diva from the fifties and sixties, and then had a big resurgence in the eighties and nineties as a jazz singer and a shan too. It's one of the great voices of our time. She was doing a masterclass in Melbourne. I was doing the Tilbury Hotel here in Sydney. Leo saw me and said, I'm going to get you to do the master class where they want professionals to do the master class with them. I'm like, okay. I went down to Melbourne. I had no real experience. I had a song that I stole from a Michael Feinstein cassette, another cabaret festival, you know, headliner. And I went down the Barbara Cook thing and I said I was the first one up because I had to get to some plane back to Sydney. And I got up and I sang this Michael Feinstein song and I thought, okay, she's about to rip me apart in front of two thousand people. Let's see how we go. And I finished the song and I turned her. I'm sweating. And I turned her. She goes, honey, that was great, do another one. I'm like, I don't have another song to my piano play. He knows he So I ended up doing a Judy Garland song that we all knew I did that. She i't had nothing to tell you. That's great. I went off, and then she proceeded to tear apart the next four artists that came on stage. So I was I felt like I dodged a bullet. And Michael Feinstein was in the audience and he said, I think you should come to New York and do this thing called the Cabaret Convention. There's two songs, see what happens. So he got me into that. A guy then who came who was a piano player, came to see my show in Sydney by chance, and he said, I'll play for you. So I had this succession of like a week at a place called eighty Eight's in the village, and I would do odd times, eight thirty at night, twelve o'clock at night. I did the Cabrea Festival. I kept selling. There was a small room, eighty eight people, and I would sell out and do another room, sell out to another room. And then I got this review in Time Out that changed everything, and then I was doing bigger rooms, and I went to do Rainbow and Stars, and I would do New.

York and stop there. There will be a paragraph or a sentence out of that review that you will remember forever. Is there one? Uh?

York and stop there. There will be a paragraph or a sentence out of that review that you will remember forever. Is there one? Uh?

Yeah, it's embarrassing.

Yeah, it's embarrassing.

Don't be modest.

Don't be modest.

Oh no, yeah, it said that like it said something like the biggest thing to hit the village in Streisand in the sixties or something like that, which if I was Barbara Streisand I'd be more proud of. But because it's me, I felt like a Aussie, you know. So I and that blew up, and it bleought my life because I was over there thinking I was over there for three weeks. I ended up staying there for four years, and I had to chase a green card and do all that sort of stuff, and you know, but I got to work and meet some people who profoundly affected my life that I still know today, people like Stephen Schwartz or work with Stephen Sondheim, and you know, go to how Prince's, you know, Christmas parties and meet Bernadette Peters and all these things which I wouldn't know later on would be the phone called first phone calls I make. When I got the Cabreat Festival with Lisa as the artistic director, I'd pull these people in New York like, Hey, remember me, it.

Oh no, yeah, it said that like it said something like the biggest thing to hit the village in Streisand in the sixties or something like that, which if I was Barbara Streisand I'd be more proud of. But because it's me, I felt like a Aussie, you know. So I and that blew up, and it bleought my life because I was over there thinking I was over there for three weeks. I ended up staying there for four years, and I had to chase a green card and do all that sort of stuff, and you know, but I got to work and meet some people who profoundly affected my life that I still know today, people like Stephen Schwartz or work with Stephen Sondheim, and you know, go to how Prince's, you know, Christmas parties and meet Bernadette Peters and all these things which I wouldn't know later on would be the phone called first phone calls I make. When I got the Cabreat Festival with Lisa as the artistic director, I'd pull these people in New York like, Hey, remember me, it.

Sounds look you make it so big? But were you attempted to stay there but instead you came home?

Sounds look you make it so big? But were you attempted to stay there but instead you came home?

Yeah, I now know what I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, Punsea. I was somebody who I was always a very sensitive kid. Obviously the trauma that I had as a child was becoming more pronounced. And I also knew that I went there for like a couple of weeks as like a folly that I'd go back to Australia. I was not expecting a career to blow up as big as it did. You know, I was getting agents, and now I was being courted by people, and I was doing workshops of musicals. Would that go to Broadway and then it wouldn't fall over? So all these wood bees could bees? And I felt like I was chasing my tail, and I felt a lot of imposter syndrome, and I felt a lot of eyes on me, and I felt very self conscious, and I was trying to make the right decisions and scared I was making the wrong ones. And I was doing this over and over again for a few years, and it just manifested into major panic attacks and major anxiety attacks and like having to get on and you know the Americans, you know, they love to just be like take a bill for it. And so I was on Zoloft and I was on Xanax, and I just was like dying. This is not the way I want to live. And I was doing one of the biggest breaks of my career was doing Saturday Night off Broadway with Stephen Sondheim and this amazing young cast, and I was having a miserable internal time with this amazing stage show that I was so grateful to be and it was a real struggle and I just thought, I can't do this anymore. I need to get out of here. It was doing my head in and so I said, I'm going to go back to Australia, and everyone still you'll never work in this town again. And I'm like, okay, okay, that's fine. I'm okay with that. I've had a great run. I loved it, but I can't do this. I now know that's part of my ADHD, which I've just been diagnosed as I now know what that means. But back then I just thought it was only anxiety or only trauma. So I came back to Australia and thought, okay, I'll start again here, and luckily I had all that success, so I could do some gigs and make a bit of money, and within eight months Shout came along and my life changed forever.

Yeah, I now know what I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, Punsea. I was somebody who I was always a very sensitive kid. Obviously the trauma that I had as a child was becoming more pronounced. And I also knew that I went there for like a couple of weeks as like a folly that I'd go back to Australia. I was not expecting a career to blow up as big as it did. You know, I was getting agents, and now I was being courted by people, and I was doing workshops of musicals. Would that go to Broadway and then it wouldn't fall over? So all these wood bees could bees? And I felt like I was chasing my tail, and I felt a lot of imposter syndrome, and I felt a lot of eyes on me, and I felt very self conscious, and I was trying to make the right decisions and scared I was making the wrong ones. And I was doing this over and over again for a few years, and it just manifested into major panic attacks and major anxiety attacks and like having to get on and you know the Americans, you know, they love to just be like take a bill for it. And so I was on Zoloft and I was on Xanax, and I just was like dying. This is not the way I want to live. And I was doing one of the biggest breaks of my career was doing Saturday Night off Broadway with Stephen Sondheim and this amazing young cast, and I was having a miserable internal time with this amazing stage show that I was so grateful to be and it was a real struggle and I just thought, I can't do this anymore. I need to get out of here. It was doing my head in and so I said, I'm going to go back to Australia, and everyone still you'll never work in this town again. And I'm like, okay, okay, that's fine. I'm okay with that. I've had a great run. I loved it, but I can't do this. I now know that's part of my ADHD, which I've just been diagnosed as I now know what that means. But back then I just thought it was only anxiety or only trauma. So I came back to Australia and thought, okay, I'll start again here, and luckily I had all that success, so I could do some gigs and make a bit of money, and within eight months Shout came along and my life changed forever.

Should shout playing Johnny O'Keefe. Yeah, amazingly, you didn't lose your Australian accent, So it must have been something deep down there.

Should shout playing Johnny O'Keefe. Yeah, amazingly, you didn't lose your Australian accent, So it must have been something deep down there.

Oh I did no ided that was this. The time was like just before Hugh broke and Russell broke, and they were breaking when I was there, and I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I was going seeing movies with Russell Crow in it. But every audition I did, they were like, we can hear your Australian accent. And I was having I was getting the best dialogue training, and so my acting coaches and dialect trade were like, you just need to speak American all the time. And I'm really embarrassed. There's interviews with me talking in a full New York accent, like a moral like that was the thing and that's the thing we known is like, there's no authenticity to that. So once again I'm hiding my true self to please people. But I'm not pleasing myself. I'm just looking like a wanker and knowing it and knowing that I'm faking it.

Oh I did no ided that was this. The time was like just before Hugh broke and Russell broke, and they were breaking when I was there, and I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I was going seeing movies with Russell Crow in it. But every audition I did, they were like, we can hear your Australian accent. And I was having I was getting the best dialogue training, and so my acting coaches and dialect trade were like, you just need to speak American all the time. And I'm really embarrassed. There's interviews with me talking in a full New York accent, like a moral like that was the thing and that's the thing we known is like, there's no authenticity to that. So once again I'm hiding my true self to please people. But I'm not pleasing myself. I'm just looking like a wanker and knowing it and knowing that I'm faking it.

You know.

You know.

It was such a weird thing. So it's good to come back and just be myself.

It was such a weird thing. So it's good to come back and just be myself.

David Campbell is my guest, folks. He'll be here for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He's no stranger to that. He's been the artistic director here and his wife over many years. So we'll talk about that. Back shortly, David Campbell, who's not in the studio. We're doing this by zoom. Where are you living? I assume it's Sydney.

David Campbell is my guest, folks. He'll be here for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He's no stranger to that. He's been the artistic director here and his wife over many years. So we'll talk about that. Back shortly, David Campbell, who's not in the studio. We're doing this by zoom. Where are you living? I assume it's Sydney.

I'm in Sydney. I'm in the Northern I'm just over the Bridge of Sydney near Channel nine. My kids and schools are down the road. So yeah, it's great. I'm so lucky. We've lucked out in a great area with great neighbors. It's fantastic.

I'm in Sydney. I'm in the Northern I'm just over the Bridge of Sydney near Channel nine. My kids and schools are down the road. So yeah, it's great. I'm so lucky. We've lucked out in a great area with great neighbors. It's fantastic.

It's a great city to visit. I find Sydney. It's very hard to live there unless you can nail it. Sounds like you've nailed it.

It's a great city to visit. I find Sydney. It's very hard to live there unless you can nail it. Sounds like you've nailed it.

I just got lucky. I mean, I fell into this TV job and it's been one of the great experiences, such a good learning curve. But also I just love my job. It's fun, you know, you're just interviewing people and talk to interesting people all the times and just trying to make folks laugh.

I just got lucky. I mean, I fell into this TV job and it's been one of the great experiences, such a good learning curve. But also I just love my job. It's fun, you know, you're just interviewing people and talk to interesting people all the times and just trying to make folks laugh.

It's great that you're a co host of Today Extra on the nine network, but I'm more more intrigued. How did you meet your wife Lisa?

It's great that you're a co host of Today Extra on the nine network, but I'm more more intrigued. How did you meet your wife Lisa?

So, Lisa was an actor coming out of London and she was really successful there. She was doing stuff on the West End, she was doing major English tours, she was touring overseas and she was getting out well. She jokes that she left a guy kind of at the altar. It was a couple of weeks out, but she'd had this breakup and it was a big breakup and she's like, I have got to get out of here. So she called her agent and she said, I'll take anything. And they said, ah, Lisa, you're a leading actor. You shouldn't do this. But there's an understudy role in an inspector calls with Stephen Baldery. It's touring Australia. At least like give it to me, I'll take it. And so she took it as an understudy and she came to Australia and went to Sydney first, and I was in Melbourne. If I had a pop career that just floundered. So it's before I did the Swing set. I was working on the swing sessions at the time with Chong Lim. I'd done Dance with the Stars, trying to like scratch and revive a career again and see what I was going to reinvent myself again and hope it worked. And theater popped back up and Simon Phillips was doing a show called the twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Very charming little Broadway show and you play kids in it and then you get audience members up and it's like a spelling bee with music and you drag audience members around. It's really fun. But the cast, and this is why I signed on, The cast was stacked, so it was Magna Zebanski, Marina Pryor, Bert Lebonte, Natalie Mendoz, myself. It was really an incredible cast, so I was like, yes, I mean, I'll take it. So I was down in Melbourne. But at that time Kath and Kim Is still had its great heights, so that had permeated to the UK in some sort of cultish way. So all of the casts from the Inspector Calls had seen Kat and Kim. So they go into Melbourne and when you go into Melbourne there's and the freeway into the city from the airport, there's that billboard there and there's always a theater thing on that billboard, and we were on it and they started to went, Kath and Kim, we're going to go see that show. So they came to see the show. That one of the Leeds came to see the show and Magda and the woman who was the main actor in Inspector Cars went out having a good time and we're talking and having dinner and laughing, and I then was very much unlucky in love. I'd been in a couple of bad relationships it wasn't working out, and Lisa had been the same, and they're like, we should set these two kids up. So we were set up and we met and I just remember thinking, well, first of all, she's amazing looking, but second of all, she's hysterical. She's so funny, and I just wanted to talk to her all the time. And so we had three weeks together and she went back to England and she stopped in Singapore and tre Lanka with a friend of hers, and she sent me just a cooky, crazy little video like miss You though the thing in Singapore, and I called her and said, I can't. I don't think I can do this. I know I've got an album to release. I just finished it. I said, once I finished that I can move to England, and she's like, nice stuff, England, I'll come to Australia. And so I mean, if it was anyone else, we'd say, don't do it. You've known him for three weeks. But for us, it worked and it's been the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. She's now still the person that I you know, trust and love and is my best friend. And we raised three incredibly gorgeous kids and it's been the best thing's ever happened to me. Or because I play the kid on stage and three kids later, three kids later, and it's amazing. And Adelaide's so special to us because Lisa, you know, she was an actor. She came to Australia, she couldn't get work here as an actor, even though she was so good. She started producing my tours and then we got the call to see would we do would I do the Cabaret Fest one. I'm like, there's no way I can run a festival without a producer, and my wife's a producer. So they said, we'll take both of you, and so we both did it together for three amazing years. And now she casts Mulin Rouge the Musical around the world. She's casting Beetlejuice here. She set up the Hayes Theater Company, which is probably one of the Australia's most prominent musical theater companies, and she did that pro bono for twelve years and set that up. She's just left as the chair of that. You know, she says, barely at the top of the game and she's amazing.

So, Lisa was an actor coming out of London and she was really successful there. She was doing stuff on the West End, she was doing major English tours, she was touring overseas and she was getting out well. She jokes that she left a guy kind of at the altar. It was a couple of weeks out, but she'd had this breakup and it was a big breakup and she's like, I have got to get out of here. So she called her agent and she said, I'll take anything. And they said, ah, Lisa, you're a leading actor. You shouldn't do this. But there's an understudy role in an inspector calls with Stephen Baldery. It's touring Australia. At least like give it to me, I'll take it. And so she took it as an understudy and she came to Australia and went to Sydney first, and I was in Melbourne. If I had a pop career that just floundered. So it's before I did the Swing set. I was working on the swing sessions at the time with Chong Lim. I'd done Dance with the Stars, trying to like scratch and revive a career again and see what I was going to reinvent myself again and hope it worked. And theater popped back up and Simon Phillips was doing a show called the twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Very charming little Broadway show and you play kids in it and then you get audience members up and it's like a spelling bee with music and you drag audience members around. It's really fun. But the cast, and this is why I signed on, The cast was stacked, so it was Magna Zebanski, Marina Pryor, Bert Lebonte, Natalie Mendoz, myself. It was really an incredible cast, so I was like, yes, I mean, I'll take it. So I was down in Melbourne. But at that time Kath and Kim Is still had its great heights, so that had permeated to the UK in some sort of cultish way. So all of the casts from the Inspector Calls had seen Kat and Kim. So they go into Melbourne and when you go into Melbourne there's and the freeway into the city from the airport, there's that billboard there and there's always a theater thing on that billboard, and we were on it and they started to went, Kath and Kim, we're going to go see that show. So they came to see the show. That one of the Leeds came to see the show and Magda and the woman who was the main actor in Inspector Cars went out having a good time and we're talking and having dinner and laughing, and I then was very much unlucky in love. I'd been in a couple of bad relationships it wasn't working out, and Lisa had been the same, and they're like, we should set these two kids up. So we were set up and we met and I just remember thinking, well, first of all, she's amazing looking, but second of all, she's hysterical. She's so funny, and I just wanted to talk to her all the time. And so we had three weeks together and she went back to England and she stopped in Singapore and tre Lanka with a friend of hers, and she sent me just a cooky, crazy little video like miss You though the thing in Singapore, and I called her and said, I can't. I don't think I can do this. I know I've got an album to release. I just finished it. I said, once I finished that I can move to England, and she's like, nice stuff, England, I'll come to Australia. And so I mean, if it was anyone else, we'd say, don't do it. You've known him for three weeks. But for us, it worked and it's been the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. She's now still the person that I you know, trust and love and is my best friend. And we raised three incredibly gorgeous kids and it's been the best thing's ever happened to me. Or because I play the kid on stage and three kids later, three kids later, and it's amazing. And Adelaide's so special to us because Lisa, you know, she was an actor. She came to Australia, she couldn't get work here as an actor, even though she was so good. She started producing my tours and then we got the call to see would we do would I do the Cabaret Fest one. I'm like, there's no way I can run a festival without a producer, and my wife's a producer. So they said, we'll take both of you, and so we both did it together for three amazing years. And now she casts Mulin Rouge the Musical around the world. She's casting Beetlejuice here. She set up the Hayes Theater Company, which is probably one of the Australia's most prominent musical theater companies, and she did that pro bono for twelve years and set that up. She's just left as the chair of that. You know, she says, barely at the top of the game and she's amazing.

So three years your artistic director of the Ouelade Cabaret Festival, what do you look for in an artist?

So three years your artistic director of the Ouelade Cabaret Festival, what do you look for in an artist?

Well, I think the wonderful thing about the Cabaret Festival there's every artistic director being a team, whether like it's Eddie and Ali or whether it's a solo like Virginia or Kate Sobrano, is that it sort of molds around that person's taste. And we came from my taste of what cabaret was and Lisa's taste of English cabaret in comedy, and so we really looked for you know, we set it up with Bernadette Peters was our first headliner, and you know, Lisa's idea was to do a gala. But the gala we should just not tell anyone who's in it because we didn't know, and we'll just charge a flat fee. So but it would be like a hodgepodge of what you're going to get. And we didn't know that Bernadette was going to come out and want to do the gal. So it became the sort of thing like you don't never know who's going to be in the galla and that still goes. And then we thought, so we look for. I guess we're a bit show busy and a bit old school. I love old school stuff. I like treasuring old school. I meant Cheeta Rivera, who we just lost in the last few months, was at the Cabaret Festival. I know, Donovan Keckney was there, Michael Firestone came out, we had Natalie cole As, I mean, that was an incredible headliner, and obviously Olivia too. So we had so many wonderful memories, including things like Gillian Cosbert, who we discovered you know who Lia discovered, who's now the toast of Edinburgh and the toast of the comedy festivals around Australia. Or you know the high school cabaret which still continues to this day, which educates kids on how to you know, sort of find themselves through music and connect on stage and get confident. It's been one of the great gifts.

Well, I think the wonderful thing about the Cabaret Festival there's every artistic director being a team, whether like it's Eddie and Ali or whether it's a solo like Virginia or Kate Sobrano, is that it sort of molds around that person's taste. And we came from my taste of what cabaret was and Lisa's taste of English cabaret in comedy, and so we really looked for you know, we set it up with Bernadette Peters was our first headliner, and you know, Lisa's idea was to do a gala. But the gala we should just not tell anyone who's in it because we didn't know, and we'll just charge a flat fee. So but it would be like a hodgepodge of what you're going to get. And we didn't know that Bernadette was going to come out and want to do the gal. So it became the sort of thing like you don't never know who's going to be in the galla and that still goes. And then we thought, so we look for. I guess we're a bit show busy and a bit old school. I love old school stuff. I like treasuring old school. I meant Cheeta Rivera, who we just lost in the last few months, was at the Cabaret Festival. I know, Donovan Keckney was there, Michael Firestone came out, we had Natalie cole As, I mean, that was an incredible headliner, and obviously Olivia too. So we had so many wonderful memories, including things like Gillian Cosbert, who we discovered you know who Lia discovered, who's now the toast of Edinburgh and the toast of the comedy festivals around Australia. Or you know the high school cabaret which still continues to this day, which educates kids on how to you know, sort of find themselves through music and connect on stage and get confident. It's been one of the great gifts.

We assume. People like yourself and Lisa have such an exciting social life. So if you're having a dinner party and you could invite five guests and all those people that you're connected with, who would they be. Who would those five guests be?