I've Been Everywhere Man

Geoff Mack

Geoff "Tangletongue" Mack was born in December 20th 1922 at Surry Hills, Victoria, Australia. His greatest claim to fame is that he wrote the 1959 hit song "I've Been Everywhere," recorded so successfully in Australia by Lucky Starr. Hank Snow heard it and modified it to suit an American audience. Geoff also had success with the German and Japanese versions that he wrote.

Geoff had begun performing professionally in 1944 while still in the RAAF. He was in Borneo at the time, just singing around the camps and messes when he was asked to support Gracie Fields with 18,000 troops in the audience. On his return to Australia, Geoff toured in NSW with Barton's Follies tent show. He then went to Japan to perform for the occupation forces.

Moving to England in 1948 he worked there and in Europe for the next 6 years. He met English comedian and dancer Tabby Francis, and they married in 1953. Returning to Australia they helped form Carol's Varieties, the last of the big tent shows, and toured until 1965.

Geoff did a lot of club and festival work in the following years, touring the country with Slim Dusty till 1983. But Geoff still hasn't slowed down - he's still entertaining to this day (20 Dec 2002, he's 80 years old!) - and remains a perennial favourite at each Tamworth Country Music Festival.

John Hore, John Denver, John Grenell

John Denver Hore was born in 1944, in the Central Otago town of Ranfurly. He grew up on the Hore family farm at Kyeburn and developed a deep love of country life, especially horses and dogs. In 1958 John went to board at Otago Boys High School in Dunedin. He and his mates occupied their many hours of boarding-school spare time (no TV in those days) singing and playing guitars.

In 1960, the family settled in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin, and here John joined a folk group known as the Jasons. They won a number of local talent quests. John left school shortly after his eighteenth birthday and worked for a short time on Glenrowan Station, close to the old family farm. While working there he began to interest himself in country and western music and spent many a night singing in the bunkhouse to the enjoyment of the station hands.

He has been everywhere, man!

In 1963, not long after TV broadcasts were started in NZ, he entered a talent contest run by Joe Brown in Dunedin, and came first. Part of the prize was a tour with the 1963 Miss New Zealand Show. Later that year John won the Otago final of 'Have A Shot On TV', and was placed third in the national finals.

In 1964 the first John Hore album was released, and John went to Australia for a round of appearances in night clubs, hotels and on TV.

In 1965 he went to the USA where he performed as John Denver, using his first and middle names.

On one of the shows he was part of, there was another performer, John Deutschendorf. When our John was about to head back to NZ, thinking he would probably never be back in the USA performing, the American John mentioned he loved the name and wondered if our NZ John would allow him to use it. This is how the famous John Denver name came about before the USA John joined the Mitchell Trio for 4 years, then went on to a high profile solo career.

In the 1970s John greatly reduced his performing and recording to concentrate on his business of conducting trail rides on horseback for tourists in Queenstown.

But in the 1980s, he was invited back to the USA for a western festival. This time he used his birth-father's name and sang there as John Grenell. In 1988 he started recording again, using this name, releasing albums in 1988, 1990, 1996 and 1999.

The title tune from the title track of his Welcome To Our World album has become very well known to Kiwi TV watchers as John sings it in the background in a series of TV adverts for Toyota cars. John has also been running his annual Whitecliffs Family Music Festival on his property just outside of Christchurch.

John was a country boy who rose from obscurity to overnight stardom to become New Zealand's best known country singer and most prolific recording artist since Tex Morton. But unlike many others, he has maintained his popularity and is still performing today.

Summarised from the John Hore page on the Sergent.com.au site.