Allan Fryer, frontman for Australian 80s metal band Heaven, has died at age 60.
Heaven filled the musical hole left in the Sydney rock scene in the early 80s when AC/DC relocated to London. Michael Browning, the former manager of AC/DC, took the opportunity to manage Heaven in the hope of making lightning strike twice and repeat his earlier success.
Browning started a new record label DeLuxe and signed his band to his label. Heaven released three albums but it was only the first one ‘Twilight of Mischief’ that made the album chart, peaking at no 61 in 1982. Browning also signed another new band at the time called INXS to the label.
Fryer claimed that he was considered for the lead singer role in AC/DC following the death of Bon Scott. He was said in an interview that AC/DC producers Harry Vanda and George Young auditioned him for the job in Sydney and told him he had the gig but Angus and Malcolm Young were in London at the time also auditioning singers and chose Geordie frontman Brian Johnson instead.
In a 1999 interview for a Motley Crue fansite Fryer said, “They (Harry and George) took Bon’s voice out of the tapes on songs like Whole Lotta Rosie, Shot Down In Flames, Sin City, and all that stuff. They shoved me in them. I went back to Adelaide and found out from George [Young] and Harry [Vanda] that I had gotten the gig. Then it came on a TV show that local boy Allan Fryer is the new singer for AC/DC. I said, “What the hell?”’ because nobody was supposed to know anything like this. So George and Harry wanted me in the band but meanwhile the boys [AC/DC] were in London at the time and they were trying out Brian [Johnson] from Geordie. So to cut a long story short, he ended up getting the gig”.
Fryer went on to front Heaven. The band at one stage also featured ex-AC/DC member Mark Evans.
Heaven have reformed in 1998, 2001 and most recently in 2012. The Australian tour of 2012 featured Allan Fryer, Joe Turtur, Laurie Marlow and John Haese.
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