Australian guitarist Mick Hadley has died at Robina Hospital on the Gold Coast after a battle with cancer.
Mick Hadley
Mick was a founding member of Brisbane’s Purple Hearts in 1964 with Barry Lyde (John Baslington Lyde who later went by the name Lobby Loyde).
Purple Hearts were punk before punk existed.
In 1966 the band relocated to Melbourne and had a minor chart hit with ‘Early In The Morning’.
After the group split in 1967, Hadley moved to London and for a short time he was a member of The Virgil Brothers with Rob Lovett (ex The Loved Ones) and Malcolm McGee (ex Python Lee Jackson). The Virgil Brothers were modelled on the Walker Brothers and lasted only months.
Next, Hadley went back to the essence of Purple Hearts and formed the early version of The Coloured Balls. Loyde, at this stage was a member of Melbourne’s The Wild Cherries and released four singles through Festival Records. After Wild Cherries, Loyde joined Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and then reformed a new line-up of Coloured Balls in 1972 without Hadley.
In 2000, Mick formed Queensland based The Atomic Boogie Band featuring the cream of the regions blues players. He also had a show on Jazz Radio 94.1FM called ‘The Night Train’.
Mick is survived by wife Lyn Trail who posted earlier this morning on Facebook “My beautiful Mick passed peacefully tonight. The absolute love of my life. Rest in peace my darling.”
