Ted Mulry Gang

Born on 2 September 1951 in Oldham, Lancashire, England, Ted Mulry passed away on 1 September 2001 in Sydney, Australia. He relocated to Australia in 1969 and secured employment driving bulldozers for the NSW Main Roads Department. His growing focus on composing songs led him to produce a demo tape that secured a deal with Parlophone Records. The romantic ballad “Julia” served as his first single and achieved modest chart success, after which he moved to the newly established Albert Records and cut Vanda and Young’s “Falling In Love Again.” Mulry also gained recognition writing material for fellow performers and spent a short period back in the UK performing as Steve Ryder. Returning to Australia in 1972, he took up the bass and, together with drummer Herman Kovacs and guitarist Les Hall, launched the Ted Mulry Gang; rhythm guitarist Gary Dixon joined just before the group issued its debut album, Here We Are.

The formation of the Ted Mulry Gang signaled a sharp shift away from Mulry’s earlier ballad-singer persona toward energetic rock ’n’ roll. The band revived classics such as “Darktown Strutters’ Ball,” scored a hit with the self-penned “Jump In My Car,” undertook extensive touring, and drew a youthful teenage audience. After transferring to Mushroom Records in 1977 the ensemble adopted the abbreviated name TMG, yet commercial momentum faded by the close of the decade. The musicians sustained a steady presence on the live circuit without issuing further recordings until the mid-1980s, when Mulry stepped away to operate a garage. They reunited in 1990 for a 1970s nostalgia concert and kept performing alongside Mulry’s additional activities, among them an appearance on the televised Roy & HG Show. Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2000, he died from the illness the following September.