Mr Bass Man: The Tony Lee Story
- graemebrown101
- Nov 3
- 26 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Walking down the street one day in Melbourne in the early part of 1957, Hillbilly singer/guitarist Tony Lee bumped into an old friend. His friend was not feeling well at the time, and he asked Tony if he would fill in for him in a rock’n’roll band he was to play in that night. Tony had never played in a rock’n’roll band before, but he was willing to give it a go. Tony never saw his friend again and he became part of one of Melbourne’s first rock’n’roll bands. His musical journey then led him to be part of a vocal quartet. As the bass singer in the Thin Men Tony Lee became a recording artist, appeared regularly on TV, and shared the stage with many local and international stars of the ‘60s.
Part 1 – From Hillbilly to Rock'n'Roll 1955 – 1959
Tony Lee was born in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond on May 16th, 1938. He was the youngest of two children and his sister was seven years older than him. Tragically, Tony lost his mother when he was nine years old, so he had to learn to fend for himself from a very young age. Tony has a very clear memory of what sparked his interest in wanting to learn to play the guitar. He was too young to be left at home by himself, so when his sister wanted to go out with her boyfriend, he would come too. On one particular day he recalls being taken to someone’s house and ushered into a bedroom. On the bed was a guitar, something Tony had never seen before. The youngster was intrigued by this instrument and recalls, “I just run my fingers over the strings, and I loved the sound. I’m only a little kid and I think that may have started things off.”
Tony attended Preston Technical College and admits he wasn’t a great student and was more interested in tuning into one of the four radio stations that played hillbilly music. He developed a love of this music style and when he was 14, he asked his dad to buy him a guitar and he started taking lessons. Tony recalls, “I asked dad could I learn the guitar and once I learnt two or three chords, I thought I’d made it, because that’s all you had to play back in those days, playing hillbilly stuff.”
Tony left school at 15 and his stepmother was able to get him a job at Walkers Stores in Coburg selling men’s clothing. He was also learning ticket writing and window dressing. Tony started attending the shows at the Australian Hillbilly Club at the Collingwood Town Hall. These shows were very popular and there were always big crowds attending. During the early to mid-‘50s hillybilly music (also known as country & western) had a big following in Melbourne and Tony could not believe there were so many people interested in the same type of music he loved.
One night Tony got up and performed a few Hank Williams songs at the Hillbilly Club and they seemed to go over well. Bob Petts saw Tony perform that night and was so impressed that he invited the young singer to join a travelling hillbilly show he was organising. Tony was more than keen to accept the offer and he took an extra job at Olympic Tyres to earn a bit more money for the trip. So, in November 1955 Tony set off by car with Bob Petts and another person and headed for Mackay in North Queensland. The trip took four days and when they got there things did not work out as planned. Tony recalls, “We did the first show and there were about six people there and we slept on the stage behind the curtain.”
The attendances at the shows did not pick up and Tony’s savings soon ran out. So, he and another musician from the show, Bevan Johnson decided to travel down to Brisbane and try to earn some money. He recalls, “We left Mackay and came back to Brisbane, and we didn’t have any money at all, and we entered a talent quest at the Tivoli Theatre. We didn’t come anywhere but we got a feed for performing.”
Johnson eventually left and Tony moved into a boarding house and met up with another country singer called Slim Newton. Slim Newton (Ralph Ernest Newton Oct 22nd, 1933 – Jan 8th, 2023) began performing country & western music in Perth in 1949 and had toured Western Australia before travelling to the eastern states to further his career. The two musicians got on well together and Newton had a tape recorder which was quite a novelty in those days. The two spent a lot of time together singing and recording several songs on the portable tape recorder. Newton entered and won a local radio talent quest in early 1956 and he encouraged Tony to do the same thing. The young singer was not keen on the idea as he was nervous about performing in front of a live audience. But Newton talked him into it, and he managed to win as well. During his time in Brisbane Tony would hop aboard one of the tourist boats cruising on the Brisbane River and sing and play guitar to the passengers, not for money but because he liked doing it. Newton would later go on to achieve success in June 1972 when his song Redback On The Toilet Seat peaked at No.3 and sold over 100,000 copies.
During the time Tony was in Brisbane he received a letter from a friend in Melbourne. The friend wrote, “Have you heard of this new singer called Elvis Presley?” Tony had not heard of this emerging American sensation at the time but recalls about a week later he saw life-size cardboard images of Elvis in every music store in Brisbane.
Tony returned to Melbourne in early 1957 and in one of those sliding doors moments, he was walking down the street and bumped into his good friend Joe Pitts. Pitts was the lead guitarist in a newly formed rock’n’roll band called the Fabulous Autocrats and they were playing on a regular basis at the Arcadia Ballroom. Joe was not feeling well that day, and he asked Tony could he fill in for him for one night. Tony had never played rock’n’roll but as he was broke, he was willing to try anything to earn a bit of cash. As it turned out his friend never returned so Tony became a permanent member of the group.
The Fabulous Autocrats were one of about six rock’n’roll bands to form in Melbourne in 1957 (Max Bostock & the Rocketts are considered to be Melbourne’s first r’n’r band). The group’s line-up included: Barrie Boyes (saxophone), Bruce Hargreaves (stand-up bass), Kenny Hargreaves (rhythm guitar), John Frank (drums), Tony Lee (lead guitar). Brian James later replaced Boyes on sax and Bruce Weatherhead replaced Frank on drums. Featured vocalists included Margie Mills, Malcolm Arthur and Judy Cannon. Tony recalls, “I never had a rehearsal with them. I sat on the couch with Kenny Hargreaves and went through a couple of songs, and that was it.”
The Autocrats played three nights a week at the Arcadia Ballroom and initially they shared the stage with the Max Causland Big Band with vocalist Shirlene Clancy. Appearing on the TV documentary ‘Quite A Party’ Tony recalled,
“The Arcadia Ballroom in High St, Thornbury still had the old 60/40 band. Very early 1957 we were set up on the right-hand side of the stage. So, we’d play a bracket each. Eventually rock’n’roll took over as we all know. The 60/40 band, I can’t remember their name, eventually they had to leave, and we took over the whole stage because the kids wanted it that way back then. We used to pack the place, not because of our playing but because it was a new thing, and they were learning to dance to rock’n’roll. From Hillbilly to rock’n’roll.” (Quite A Party, 2018)
Not long after Tony started playing at the Arcadia, he remembers the night a 15-year-old boy with a thick Scottish accent came up and asked him if he could sing a song. His name was Billy Owens, and he was so good that he became a fulltime vocalist with the Autocrats. Tony has a high opinion of Owens’ ability as a singer, “In my mind Billy Owens is a good rock’n’roll singer for that era. That’s what people wanted, and he could belt out a song.”
Owens only stayed with the Autocrats for about year before being approached by Harold Frith to join the Thunderbirds, but he has fond memories of the time he spent with the Autocrats,
“My first band were limited in their talents. Our manager was a canny old Scot named Bob Hargreaves, a very clever man …. Mr Hargreave's only blemish in my eyes was having his sons, Bruce and Kenny in the band. Bruce played slap bass. He got the slap part right, but the strings just got in the way. Kenny played rhythm guitar, problem was, he only had three fingers on his chord hand. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. The one thing about the Hargreaves boys that stood out, was when a fight started, they'd down their instruments and literally dive off the stage into the fray. I always believed that was the only time the Autocrats sounded half decent. Let me make it clear, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Autocrats. It was a super learning curve under the wily guidance of Bob Hargreaves, and they were paying me 4 pound a night.” (billyowens.tripod.com)
Tony and Billy Owens got on so well that as well as working together in the Autocrats, they formed a vocal duo performing Everly Brothers songs. They played at various hotels around Melbourne and called themselves the Leetowens. On one memorable night they opened for the exotic Filipina-born Pilita at the Federal Hotel. Pilita Corales (August 22nd, 1937 – April 12th, 2025) arrived in Australia in 1958 and became very popular on television and for her live shows. During the time she spent in Australia she recorded at least three LPs. Corales returned to the Philippines in 1963 to continue her career and became the country’s most popular singer.
In July 1959 the Leetowens performed at a Charity Hop at Earl’s Court. Among the other artists who performed that day were Mickey Borg & the Tempests, Billy O’Rourke & the Thunderbirds, Judy Cannon, the Moontones, and George Bracken (the singing boxer). Tony also remembers the Leetowens because it was the first time he appeared on television. The duo appeared on ‘Stairway To The Stars’ singing All I Have To Do Is Dream. Their performance received a favourable write up from Merv Williams in the ‘Sporting Globe’ which is unusual because the ‘Sporting Globe’ was a sports newspaper.
One day Tony was with Billy Owens at the Arcadia and Marcus Herman who ran Planet Records came in and offered them the sheet music to Rockin’ Robin. Herman wanted the Leetowens to record this song. Tony recalls,
“I was sitting there with Billy in the Arcadia during the week, nobody was there. We were given the sheet music and Planet offered us to record that. I was trying to pick out the notes on the guitar and it was nothing like the actual record. I think we surrendered and said we can’t do it. We tried for a couple of days.”
According to the magazine ‘Big Beat Of The ‘50s’ a record was planned (PX022) by Planet Records. The A-side label was printed crediting the Leetowens & the Fabulous Autocrats. But no recording was made.
Tony will never forget the night he was performing at the Arcadia, and he was electrocuted. He grabbed a microphone and an electric shock passed between his guitar and the microphone along his arm. The incident could have been fatal if not for the quick actions of one of the bouncers,
“A little bouncer jumped up on stage and he flew through the air and hit me and knocked me away from the guitar. He ended up against the wall and so did I. And it’s not the most pleasant experience getting electrocuted. I screamed twice and in my mind, I had one more scream left before I blacked out.”
The dance at the Arcadia Ballroom was packed every night with young people excited to hear rock’n’roll being played. A regular patron at the dance was a local teenager who had a strong ambition to play in his own rock’n’roll band. Johnny Chester was a drummer but wanted to change to guitar. One night he approached Tony and asked him what type of guitar he should buy. Chester recalls,
“I’d been a regular at the Arcadia Ballroom for two years or more, going three or four times a week just to listen to the band, I never danced. I was more interested in the band as I was a budding drummer having played in the marching band at both Bell Primary and Preston Tech…. During the summer of ‘58/’59 I was on holidays in Rosebud when I went to the movies one afternoon to see a fairly ordinary movie called ‘Rock Pretty Baby’. I had just turned 17 and my main interest was getting to meet girls, and in the movie, it was the guitar player who was succeeding in this department far more than the drummer. No contest, I had to get a guitar. So, I approached Tony, who was extremely helpful and suggested either a Maton or a Levin guitar. I ended up buying a Levin.” (via email Sept 23rd, 2025)
Things were going well for Tony but after working at the Arcadia for two years, he was sacked. Tony had started living at the venue, sleeping behind the drinks counter on coats that were left behind in the cloak room. One of the owners Ron Moore knew Tony was sleeping there, the other owner, Phil did not. One night there was a knock on the door, and it was Tony’s girlfriend Bev (who later became his wife). She’d had an argument with her father and needed somewhere to stay the night. Tony continues the story,
“Not long after I could hear the front door downstairs being opened and people running up the stairway. They couldn’t see us behind the counter and the young daughter of Phil found
us behind the counter. Two policemen came up with guns drawn and Phil got really upset
and we were ordered to leave. I thought it would be in the newspapers. Bev had to go to court. Then the following week when I came to do the normal routine I was barred by the bouncers, I wasn’t allowed in. That’s when I got the sack.”
Immediately following his departure from the Arcadia, Tony formed a brief partnership with Alan Hawking. Tony recalls,
“I never understood that because I’m probably the greatest admirer of the Hawking Brothers, they were great in the country music field. We became great friends, and I could never work out why Alan had me (as a duo partner). We did a couple of songs at the Melbourne Town Hall, and we also went on television on Bert Newton’s Hi-Fi Club.”
Part 2 – From the Planetones to the Thin Men 1959 – 1970
The Planetones were formed in October 1959 and provided vocal backing for the Planets rock’n’roll band and performed as a vocal quartet in their own right. The original line-up included Johnny Edwards, Beverly Dick, Ron Patrick and Billy Dodds. Ron Patrick recalls how the group started,
“There is a bit of a story there, we never planned to be a vocal group. The Planets already had three singers, there was a girl and two other guys, and they asked me to join the band. There were four of us and when someone was singing, we’d just throw in a bit of backing. It turned out that the guy who was running one of the dances had some contact with television and he got the four of us on TV as a group. So, we went on TV and we weren’t even a group, we never formed ourselves as a vocal group, but we kept getting jobs from that time on as a vocal group.”
After only a few months Beverly Dick decided she wanted to return to singing as a solo artist, so the Planetones had to find a replacement. They thought a bass singer would be a good addition to their group. Tony auditioned for the spot and was successful. He recalls,
“Back in those days. The bass singers came in doing the doo wops and that sort of thing. I remember auditioning and Benny Joyner he was the lead guitarist (with the Planets), he played guitar while I tried to sing something with the other three boys. So, I passed the audition and that’s how it all started.”
The line-up when Tony joined the Planetones were Ron Patrick, Tony Lee, Johnny Edwards and Billy Dodds. The quartet performed regularly at Earl’s Court and Brunswick Town Hall and made frequent TV appearances. They always looked very smart wearing matching white cardigans emblazoned with a red ‘P’ or black cardigans with a white ‘P’. When they appeared at a concert headlined by Lucky Star at Festival Hall in October 1960, they were described in the program as “Victoria’s top vocal group’.
In December 1960 the Planetones provided the vocal backing for the Frankie Davidson single, Just For Today/Pretty Baby. It was Tony’s first time in a recording studio, and he recalls, “I had a little line in the song and I was thrilled to do that.”
Things seemed to be moving along nicely for the Planetones but after around 12 months lead singer Billy Dodds had to leave town for legal reasons and he was not seen again. After Dodds left Tony says the Planetones “dwindled away and it all fizzled out.” At the time Tony was living at Moonee Ponds and he had a job at the Defence Explosive Factory in Maribyrnong. It was through a lady Tony worked with at the factory that he was asked to join a rock’n’roll group. The group were called the Dominoes (not to be confused with another Melbourne group of the same name who had a 45 on W&G and often appeared on IMT). The Dominoes played regularly at a dance at the Williamstown Town Hall. Noel Watson was the only member of the group that Tony remembers from that group.
“We didn’t do too many exciting things. I remember Noel clearly; he was very skinny back then and he used to wear glasses and he took off Buddy Holly and he sounded like him too. That was his forte at that stage. It was a 4- or 5-piece band and lasted 8 or 9 months.”
The next job Tony had was in South Melbourne fixing car radios. One day Adrian Ussher came in to see him. Ussher was leader of the Moontones a vocal quartet he had formed in the late ‘50s. The group appeared regularly on television and backed other singers like Brian Penglaze and Johnny Guitar on their Planet label singles. Ussher had heard the Planetones had split up and he wanted Tony to join the Moontones. Towards the end of 1961 Adelaide singer Brian Penglase had parted ways with his group the Hi-Marks and was also a member of this new Moontones line-up. The group were keen to find a new name as there were a lot of groups that had ‘tones’ as part of their name. Tony explains how the new name came about,
“We were at Brian Penglase’s place rehearsing for ‘Sunnyside Up’. We had a 10-minute break, and we were all in the lounge room. Up on Brian’s mantlepiece he had one of those little skeleton statues and I came up with the word ‘thin’ because we were all thin. I suggested to the boys, ‘Why don’t we call ourselves the Thin Men.’ “
The rest of the group agreed with Tony’s suggestion, and they became the Thin Men. The original line-up was Johnny Edwards (tenor), Tony Lee (bass), Brian Penglase (baritone) and Adrian Ussher (baritone). Penglase left and returned to Adelaide in March 1962, and he was replaced by Ron Patrick. Ron Patrick was born in Summerhill, Sydney in 1937. His family moved to North Fitzroy, Melbourne in 1940 when it was hard for his father to get work in Sydney. Ron played bass and harmonica early in his music career, but it was his talents as a vocalist that gained him the most attention. Athol Guy once phoned Ron and asked him to join a vocal quartet he was forming around this time. But Ron decided to stay with the Thin Men.
In April 1962 the Thin Men recorded their first single Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind/Learnin’ The Twist. Tony wrote both sides of the disc and it was released on the W&G label with the Planets providin the instrumental backing. The A-side Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, a country ballad features Tony on lead vocals. After being told that a B-side was needed, Tony thought about a song on the way home and wrote Learnin’ The Twist, only taking around 10 minutes to write it. He was disappointed with the poor sound quality that the W&G studios produced,
“Listening to the end product these days, the production was nowhere near the standard we ended up getting later with HMV. It’s pretty crook actually. The W&G producers were just learning their craft.”
During this period Tony recalls he recorded a Christmas album with the Seekers. They wanted a bass voice for an LP that was recorded at the W&G studios in Melbourne. Tony has never seen a copy of this album and believes it was not issued.
Adrian Ussher did not stay with the Thin Men for long. During 1962 he left the group to pursue a career in advertising although he produced their next two recordings. He was replaced by Adelaide singer Johnny Florence. Johnny Florence (real name John Fiorentino) was born in Egypt in 1933 and came to Australia in 1956 and settled in Adelaide. Tony describes Johnny’s voice as ‘magnificent’ and recalls, “He was a very fit guy who never drank or smoked. He was a champion bike rider as well. He was pretty well known over there on his bike before he came to Australia. He used to sing ‘My Prayer’ by the Platters it was a showstopper a long time ago.”
The Thin Men’s second 45 A Little Bit Now/I Love You In You In The Same Old Way was produced by Adrian Ussher and featured Florence on lead vocals. The original version of A Little Bit Now was by Philadelphia vocal soul group the Majors. I Love You In The Same Old Way was a Paul Anka B-side from 1960. The single made the lower portion of the charts in Melbourne and was the group’s only chart success.
The Thin Men provided the vocal backing for a number of other artists including Barry Greenwood (Found A New Romance), Colin Cook’s debut single It’s Up To You (a Ricky Nelson cover) in 1962, and Bobby Bright’s Girls Never Notice Me in 1963. The Thin Men also sang the vocal backing on several of Johnny Chester’s early W&G singles and Tony is featured on Chester’s version of Summertime Blues (Dec 1962). The vocal quartet were kept busy doing radio commercials and they were the vocal backing group for the TV shows ‘Sunnyside Up’ and ‘Teen Scene’. Tony recalls that on ‘Teen Scene’ which Johnny Chester hosted for two seasons in 1964/65, “We were there fulltime doing our songs but also backing any artist that needed vocal backing. I’d do all the writing, which I got paid for separately.”
The group must have thought they were on a winner when they recorded a great version of Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) for their third single. The song was originally recorded by New York doo-wop group the Impalas in January 1959. The B-side, Here He Comes was written by Adrian Ussher originally as an advertising jingle. In an article in Everybody’s magazine, Sydney surf music writer Stephen McParland commented that the track is interesting “because it was one of Melbourne’s few
surf-related vocals.” (Everybody’s, March 1964). With backing by the Thunderbirds, the disc had all the elements of a hit single, two but unfortunately it failed to chart.
"The Thin Men backed by the Thunderbirds have a fine sound on a W&G single, 'Sorry' backed with 'Here He Comes', which is equally as good." (unknown source)
The group were advised to move to Sydney. There was more work for them there mainly due to the growth of clubs since the introduction of poker machines in 1956. A lucrative club circuit had developed in NSW and in Sydney, Leagues clubs especially, had huge entertainment venues and were providing top line shows to attract patrons. After carefully considering a move to Sydney the Thin Men decided it was a good career move and relocated to the NSW capital in November 1965. But it was not smooth sailing when they first arrived as Tony recalls, “When we arrived in Sydney, we had to go around all the different clubs. I had a little scrapbook, that’s all we had to present to the agents. We’d just open up the scrapbook and tell
them what we used to do. They were hesitant which was understandable. It got to the stage that I was going to return to Melbourne in May because I was behind in everything. Behind in rent, gas, and electricity. Not having a good time.”
But things started to turn around for the Thin Men fairly soon. After doing a few spots on Bobby Limb’s ‘Sound Of Music’ they started to get more bookings at different clubs because the agents recognised them from their television appearances. St George Leagues Club, one of the biggest clubs in Sydney, signed the Thin Men as their resident singing group and they were contracted to appear weekly on Bobby Limb’s ‘Sound Of Music’. They also signed a record contract with HMV records and were in demand for commercials on radio and TV.
Tony sang lead vocals on both sides of the Thin Men’s first single for HMV, Sixteen Tons/Children Go Where I Send You. Originally written and recorded by Merle Travis in 1946, Sixteen Tons became popular US country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford’s biggest hit in 1958. The B-side Children Go Where I Send You is a traditional African American spiritual standard. Despite having a much better sound than their W&G singles, the disc not successful.
The entertainment at the St George Leagues Club was quite outstanding. The club had spent a lot of money building a large auditorium. Their shows included an 8-piece orchestra and a 4- or 5-piece ballet. The Thin Men opened the show, and each show would include a side-act like a comedian, a juggler or an acrobatic act. The first top line act the Thin Men performed with were the Mills Brothers. The show would change every month and a different international act would be brought in to headline the show. Tony only wished he had a camera to photograph some of the great acts he worked with including Tommy Steele, Lonnie Donegan, Bobby Rydell, Winifred Atwell, Sounds Incorporated, to name just a few.
The Thin Men did a four-week season at Sydney’s classiest nightclub Chequers with Shirley Bassey. The Welsh songstress was the biggest nightclub attraction in Sydney in those days, and she demanded a high level of professionalism from the musicians who backed her. Tony recalls,
“When we had rehearsals with the band, Shirley was there too. She had her hair in rollers rehearsing with the band. She told them off, because a couple of members in the band played the wrong notes and she stopped them and got stuck into them rather harshly I thought.”
The Thin Men’s next HMV single was The Diary/Rhinoceros. The Neil Sedaka-penned The Diary was Sedaka’s first hit when it was released in December 1958. The Billboard review of the single when it was released commented, “’Diary’ is a cute topical theme about a lad who wonders how he rates in his chick’s diary.” Probably not a good choice of song for a group predominantly involved in adult cabaret. Johnny Florence takes the lead vocal on Rhinoceros a lively dance number which the group performed on ‘Bandstand’. Again, the single failed to make the Top 40.
The group’s success as a recording group did not improve with the release of their next 45, Sons of the ANZACS/Red Beret. The name Anzac is protected under Australian law and its unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. The single was quickly withdrawn from sale and a new single was issued ‘Till The Check Comes In, coupled with the same B-side, Red Beret a song written by an ex-Australian Army Paratrooper. Tony took lead vocals on ‘Till The Check Comes In which he thought the backing sounded terrific. But unfortunately, this single also failed to make any impression on the charts. “We never picked any of our songs. I just remember going into the studios and the band tracks were down and you just sung over them.’ ’Til The Check Comes In’, I thought it would do alright”
The Thin Men were never able to promote any of their singles by visiting radio stations to encourage DJs to play their latest record. Their heavy workload with TV commitments (which tied them up for three days), club engagements and recording advertising jingles prevented them from doing this. Their busy work schedule is highlighted in this story of Tony’s,
“I remember I had a friend up from Melbourne just visiting me. He was going around with us. We had eight jobs that day. We had four different clubs, we had to do two spots at each club. So, he was running around in a taxi, he must have thought we were making a fortune.”
The next Thin Men’s single Running Around In Circles/Please Don’t Cry was released in 1967. Expertly produced by David McKay, Running Around In Circles is an instantly likable pop tune with a catchy beat. Originally written and recorded by UK pop vocal trio the Ivy League the song was easily the Thin Men’s best effort on disc to date. Tony wrote all the harmonies for the song and was disappointed when the song failed to chart saying, “I thought that was going to be our first hit, it was about the rockiest song we ever did.”
The Thin Men continued their busy work schedule of recording radio commercials, TV appearances and club engagements but it all came to an abrupt end for Tony in late 1970 due to the anxiety attacks he was suffering. The last show Tony did with the Thin Men was at the Newtown RSL Club with Little Pattie and the De Kroo Brothers on November 2nd, 1970. Tony recalls, “After a period I just couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t fly anymore, and I let the group down on different jobs and I thought it best that I leave the group.”
Part 3: Return to Melbourne & back to country 1971 – 1980
Tony returned to Melbourne and got a job driving a truck. The Thin Men continued on and initially did not replace Tony because they thought there was no better bass singer around. Eventually, Norm Day who was formally the Joye Boys lead guitarist joined the group because they needed a musical director for their club engagements. Ron Patrick recalls why Tony was not replaced,
“The whole reason for that was we figured Tony’s bass voice was unique and you’re never going to get anyone to replace him. So, we thought we should get a guitar player who can also be our musical director and just add some backing vocals.”
Johnny Florence left the group in 1975 and took a job driving taxis for a while in Sydney before returning to Adelaide and worked as a solo singer. The Thin Men finally disbanded in 1986. Ron Patrick wanted to continue but he wasn’t allowed to use the name the Thin Men, so he called the group he organised the T-Men. The T-Men kept going for another 11 years and finished up in August 1997.
Tony always had a passion for county music, and he started playing for a band called Crossroads. Crossroads played regularly at the Bridge Inn Hotel, in the Melbourne suburb of Mernda, whose proprietor was champion boxer Lionel Rose. Tony had first met Rose in Sydney when he was with the Thin Men. His good friends the Hawking Brothers were flying to Brisbane for a six-day tour of Queensland, and they had a stop off in Sydney. Johnny O’Keefe and Kamahl were also part of this tour.
Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose became a national hero in Australia when he defeated Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 1968 to become World Bantamweight Champion. When Rose returned to Melbourne after winning the title, 250,000 people turned out to see him. A year later when he went to LA to defend his title, Elvis asked to meet him which was a big thrill for the young boxer. Rose also had a great passion for country music and when Tony finished playing in the room downstairs at the pub Lionel would invite him to stay behind and play music when everyone had gone home. They developed a great friendship. Around this time Tony was living in the Melbourne suburb of Epping and recalls Lionel was a frequent visitor at his home, “Lionel would come around sometimes at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning and I didn’t go crook because at the time he was world champion. It was a bit of an honour to have him as friend.”
Lionel loved the sound of Tony’s voice and during 1971 he wanted to record him on a solo album. Tony went to see Laurie Allan who gave him some songs and Laurie came to Tony’s place with some more songs. But Tony had always recorded as part of a group and was not comfortable recording on his own.
“I felt quite awkward because I’d only ever been with a group. But when Lionel Rose asks you to do something you listen to what he wants you to do. They had me in a recording studio and I felt really silly singing on my own. It only lasted a couple of sessions, they must have thought, he’s not much good and it was scrapped, thankfully.”
Another interesting story Tony has regarding Lionel Rose happened one Sunday in November 1972. Lionel was playing at the Geelong Goal doing a concert with Malcolm Arthur and he asked Tony to back him on guitar,
“We’d driven down in my car and when we finished the show Lionel knew of a sly grog place. We hopped in the back seat and my wife drove the car and Lionel’s wife Jenny was in the front as well. We got these bottles, I don’t know what it was, but by the time we got back to his place we were kicking on a bit. So, the wives weren’t too happy and after a while my wife wanted to go to bed. We were quite happy doing what we were doing, probably playing a bit of a tune on the guitar, enjoying a few drinks. I ended up sleeping in the same bed with Lionel, the only reason was that Jenny went off in a huff to another bedroom. When I woke up, Lionel wasn’t there, so he must’ve snuck off to his wife’s room.”
That day Tony had to get to the ABC television studios at Ripponlea for the taping of the ‘Kamahl’ TV show. Tony did not appear on camera but sang in the backing group accompanied by the ABC Showband. Because his wife took his car Tony had to catch a taxi to the Channel 2 studios. Tony lost touch with Rose but by coincidence during the ‘90s he moved with his second wife Linda to Drouin, a small town in the West Gippsland region of Victoria, where Lionel grew up. After retiring from boxing, he had moved back there. Tony and Lionel renewed their friendship and spent a lot of time together.
“Over a long period of time, we spent a lot of time together musically. We played a lot of tunes together because he played guitar. He was pretty good too.”
In 1973 Tony played in a country group called Night Train. The band members included Harold Frith, Peter Hayes, Tony Lee and Laurie Allen. The group were the resident band at the Epping Hotel and played together for about 12 months. Another group Tony was part of was a country music band called Strings & Things with Stan Green in 1976. The group played in hotels in Melbourne, Broadmeadow and Epping.
Tony’s job as a truck driver ended in the late ‘70s when the company he worked for was taken over by another company. He managed to get another job working for a sales company. He had a company car and oversaw a small spare parts department. Unfortunately, he had to retire in 1991.
“Everyday going to work for me was hell. I call it panic mode, I never knew when I was going to have a panic attack and I suppose that caught up with me in the end.”
Since leaving the Thin Men Tony has always kept in contact with the other three group members saying they were like his second family. Sadly, Johnny Edwards passed away in 2011. Johnny Florence kept singing until early 2025 and passed away in June of that year aged 92. Tony has recently been in contact with Ron Patrick who lives in Sydney. Reflecting about his time with the Thin Men Tony says,
“We weren’t as famous as the Delltones, we didn’t have all these hit records, but we were so versatile. We sang everything that was given to us only because we could sight read music. I can’t think of anybody that did what we did. We did Barber Shop, Rock’n’roll, old stuff, modern stuff with orchestras, not guitars. Pretty classy stuff when I think about it. All the harmonies we did, and the phrasing comes into place. We were pretty clever; nobody could match what we did back then.”
In Peewee Wilson’s memoir ‘Come A Little Bit Closer’, the Delltones bass singer paid Tony a huge compliment,“… out of Melbourne, an excellent harmony group called the Thin Men, with the superior bass voice of Tony Lee, though my vanity would have prevented me from admitting as much.”(Ian Peewee Wilson, Come A Little Bit Closer, 2013)
These days Tony lives independently in a Retirement Village in Traralgon, Victoria. He still plays guitar regularly at Seniors functions in two different groups. As well as playing guitar and keyboards, Tony keeps active by writing music and he has composed over 170 tunes. He recently purchased a new Fender Telecaster guitar.
Tony Lee has had an amazing career in Australian music. He was a pioneer of the Melbourne rock’n’roll scene, he was part of the Sydney club circuit when it was at its peak, and he played with some of Melbourne’s best country music musicians in the ‘70s. He certainly can be proud of all his achievements in music.
Discography:
With the Planetones
Just For Today/Pretty Baby (Frankie Davidson) W&G WG-S-1074 12/60
Found A New Romance/Little Angel (Barry Greenwood) W&G WG-S-1132 07/62
Summertime Blues/I Love Mary (Johnny Chester) W&G WG-S-1453 12/62
It’s Up To You/Just Another Rumour (Colin Cook) W&G WG-S-1550 1962
Girls Never Notice Me/There’s A Great Day A-Comin’ (Bobby Bright)
W&G W&G-S-1583 03/63
With the Thin Men
I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind/ Learning The Twist W&G WG-S-1419 04/62
A Little Bit Now/ I Love You In The Same Old Way W&G WG-S-1544 12/62
Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home)/Here He Comes W&G WG-S-1646 1963
Sixteen Tons / Children, Go Where I Send You HMV EA-4659 04/66
The Diary / Rhinoceros HMV EA-4775 1966
Sons Of The ANZACS / The Red Beret HMV EA-4800 1966
Till The Cheque Comes In / The Red Beret HMV EA-4809 1966
Runnin' 'Round In Circles / Please Don't Cry HMV EA-4864 1967
Sources:
John Chester – via email 23rd Sept, 2025
Tony Lee – Interviews : June 1st, June 15th, July 23rd, 2025
David McLean – Collected Stories Of Australian Rock’n’Roll, Canetoad
Stephen McParland – Surfin’ South Of The Border, Everybody’s, March 4th, 1964
Peter Millan - Rockin’ In The City Of Churches, Brolga Publications, 2020
Zbig Nowara – via email: July 23rd, October 12th, 2025
Billy Owens - billyowens.tripod.com
Ron Patrick – Interview: October 7th, 2025
Quite A Party – TV documentary, 2018
Chris Spencer – Australian Rock Discography 1956 – 1969, Moonlight, 1998
Ian Peewee Wilson, Come A Little Bit Closer, 2013
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