Dig Richards

Digby George "Dig" Richards (12 September 194017 February 1983) was an Australian rock and roll singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, musical theatre actor and television presenter, active during the late 1950s and early 1960s as lead singer with the R'Jays. Richards was the first Australian rock and roll artist to record a 12" LP record in Australia, with the self-titled album Dig Richards, released in November 1959. From 1971 he performed as a solo country music artist. According to the Kent Music Report he had four Top 30 national hit singles, "(My) Little Lover" / "Quarrels (Are a Sad Sad Thing)" (September 1960), "A Little Piece of Peace" (June 1971), "People Call Me Country" / "The Dancer" (February 1972), and "Do the Spunky Monkey" (June 1974). On 17 February 1983 Digby Richards died of pancreatic cancer, aged 42. He was survived by his wife, Sue and two children.

Biography Digby George Richards was born on 12 September 1940 in the rural central western New South Wales town of Dunedoo. The group, with Richards, issued three further singles on Rex. Collection (RCA, 1975) The Best of Digby Richards (compilation, RCA, 1977) Whiskey Sundown (RCA, 1978) The Thing is . . . ? (RCA, 1981) If You Could Read My Mind (EMI, 1982) Rock and Roll I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life (compilation, Starcall/Festival, 1984) Jive After Five: The Festival File Volume Two (compilation, Festival, 1988)

Extended plays Dig Richards Sings Ain't She Sweet (Rex/Festival, 1960) At the Melbourne Town Hall (Rex/Festival, 1960) Dig's Big 4 (Rex/Festival, 1960) You Gotta Love Me (Festival, 1961) Dig Richards Gets out of the Groove (Festival, August 1962) Raincoat in the River (Festival, 1962) The Love Express (Festival, 1963) Alison–Digby (Split EP two tracks by Alison McCallum; two tracks, "A Little Piece of Peace" and "People Call Me Country", by Richards; February 1972)

Singles Singles discography | all_albums= yes | charts=2 | include_footnote = yes chartA = 2UE (wins only) 1982 Digby Richards Country Male of the Year