Anthony O'Grady

Anthony Austin O'Grady (28 January 194719 December 2018) was an Australian writer, music journalist, editor and producer. He created and edited Rock Australia Magazine from 1975 to 1981. He wrote articles for The Bulletin. In 1994 O'Grady co-created the Music Network. For 15 years he was an oral history interviewer for National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). O'Grady authored the 2001 biography Cold Chisel: The Pure Stuff detailing the Australian band Cold Chisel.

Biography

Anthony Austin O'Grady was born on 28 January 1947 and was raised in Sydney, New South Wales with two siblings. He attended Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and graduated with honours in English Literature; he entered University of Sydney studying Arts Law. Inspired by seeing Skyhooks perform at the 1975 Sunbury Pop Festival, he established Rock Australia Magazine (RAM), with English-born publisher Phillip Mason in March 1975. At the Australian Rock Music Awards in 1977, he was nominated for Best Rock Journalist. Through his articles, he championed the early careers of Skyhooks, Jeff St John, Wendy Saddington, Chain, the Angels, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and Radio Birdman. He created an inhouse monthly magazine, Music, for retailer Brashs, which included articles on contemporary rock, world music, folk, ambient and rap. According to O'Grady, it was "a tip sheet ... to highlight records that are starting to work at radio and/or retail" before they appeared on the Australian Music Report or ARIA Charts. He provided in-depth interviews, with Australian rock musicians, for the oral history at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) and continued writing for newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald into the 2010s. Clive Shakespeare (February 2012), Vince Lovegrove (March 2012), Jimmy Little (April 2012), Mick Hadley (November 2012), Chris Bailey (April 2013), Chrissy Amphlett (April 2013), and Dave Swarbrick (June 2016).

Personal life

Anthony O'Grady married Linda Campbell, a social worker, in 1987 and the couple had two children before divorcing in the 1990s.