Denis Gibbons
Denis Gibons has sung Australian folk songs from Simpson's Gap in Central Australia to Government House in Victoria. In 1982 he received an Advance Australia Award, for ‘his outstanding contribution to Australian Folk Music’.
Denis Gibbons grew up in a small pub at Port Elliot in South Australia, and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy at Victor Harbour and the Christian Brothers at Rostrevor College in Adelaide. He had many jobs before going into radio in 1951.
He spent 20 years with the Macquarie Broadcasting Network and in 1982 he received an Advance Australia Award, for ‘his outstanding contribution to Australian Folk Music’. He has three children and five grandchildren.
Denis has been captivated by Australian folk music since he heard songs from the late Dr Percy Jones collection in 1952. Within a few months he had his own program on 3SR Shepparton and two years later made the first of many recordings.
He has sung Australian folk songs from Simpson's Gap in Central Australia to Government House in Victoria.
In the early days of TV he had a regular spot before the news on Channel nine. sang on Bert Newton's Late Show and appeared with Irish tenor Patrick O'Hagen on ABC TV.
He then worked as a producer at Radio Australia in Melbourne. He died in 2011.
Denis Gibbons is featured on the following titles
The Fair Dinkum Matilda
Songs of the Australian Bush, including the first ever recording of the original version of Waltzing Matilda. Another disc of Australian bush songs? You bet - and brought to life by one of Australia's most respected folk singers, Denis Gibbons.
