Anthony O’Grady, the founder of Australian music newspaper RAM and before that contributor to predecessor pop paper Go-Set has passed away in Sydney.
O’Grady started RAM in 1975. It was a weekly newspaper about music distributed nationally. O’Grady modeled RAM and England’s New Musical Express and Melody Maker.
RAM was published from 1975 to 1989 and gave an early platform to Australian writers Stuart Coupe, Clinton Walker and Jen Jewel Brown. RAM was also the national exposure for bands like Cold Chisel, Dragon, Split Enz, The Angels, Skyhooks and Australian Crawl.
O’Grady left RAM in 1981 and worked on radio and television specials. He put together the soundtrack for the movie Street Hero in 1985 and won an Australian Film Institute award.
Anthony O’Grady is the author of the book ‘Cold Chisel: The Pure Stuff’. More recently he produced programs for ABC radio.
In a statement on Facebook Stuart Coupe wrote, “This morning Anthony O’Grady passed away. He changed my life in 1978 with the words “Dear boy, how would you like to come to Sydney and work for a real music magazine,” after my latest well intentioned jibe about Roadrunner magazine taking over from RAM. Then he organised for The Angels road crew to put my worldly possessions in the back of their truck and drive them from Adelaide to Sydney. And then he taught me how to write. I’ve told him that in person many times including at the hospital over the past few days. I owe him more than I can say and like so many others I’ll miss him enormously”.
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