Nearly 500 people have gathered at Archies Creek Hotel in South Gippsland to celebrate the life of Skyhooks guitarist Bob “Bongo” Starkie.
Bob – who was dubbed “Bongo” by his bandmate Red Symons – died of leukemia on November 29 last year. He was 73.
He told his daughters, Indiana and Arabella, he didn’t want a funeral. Instead, he wanted a big party.
The celebration of Bongo’s life took its title from Skyhooks’ 1977 single: Party To End All Parties.
More than 1600 people applied for tickets. An all-star cast performed, including Ross Wilson, Joe Camilleri, Frankie J. Holden, and Skyhooks drummer and founding member Freddy Strauks.
And guitarist Bob Spencer – a member of Skyhooks from 1977 to 1980 – flew in from Sydney.
The MC for the day was Wilbur Wilde, who toured with Skyhooks when he was a member of Ol’ 55 with Frankie J. Holden in the ’70s.
Wilde and Holden later played with Bongo in the Ol’ Sky Daddys, a band that celebrated the songs of Ol’ 55, Skyhooks and Daddy Cool.
Bongo’s Skyhooks Show had been booked to appear at Archies Creek in October last year, but unfortunately, the gig was cancelled when his health deteriorated.
Skyhooks archivist Peter Green has posted two clips from the celebration of Bongo’s life, which he shot with Mark Goulding.
Frankie J. Holden opened the show singing the title track of Skyhooks’ groundbreaking debut Living In The 70’s, followed by Ross Wilson performing Hey What’s The Matter and Ego Is Not A Dirty Word.
Wilson produced the first three Skyhooks albums. “I like to call them the ones with the hits,” he joked to the Archies Creek crowd.
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Bongo, Freddy Strauks and bass player Greg Macainsh were the only band members to play on every Skyhooks release, including five studio albums and 14 Top 40 singles.
Fifty years ago this week, Skyhooks embarked on their one and only tour of the US. Their first show was at the Electric Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia, supporting Uriah Heep.
When singer Shirley Strachan left the Hooks at the end of 1978, Bongo believed that the band should have replaced him with a woman.
For his Skyhooks Show, which kept the band’s legacy alive, Bongo had two fine female voices who could hit Shirl’s high notes – Laura Davidson and Sasha Theunissen.
The second clip from the Archies Creek tribute shows Sasha singing You Just Like Me ’Cos I’m Good In Bed and Laura singing Women In Uniform.
(Fun fact: Women In Uniform was covered by Iron Maiden in 1980. They took the song to number 35 on the UK charts.)
The day also featured moving performances by Bongo’s partner, Chrissy Walter, who sang Balwyn Calling, and Bongo’s granddaughter, Lucia, who performed one of his favourite songs, Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke.
Peter Green and Mark Goulding also interviewed the artists, friends and fans for “Bongo TV”, which will soon be posted on YouTube.
“We got everyone – including Gilbert, the first Skyhooks roadie – to tell us their favourite Bongo story,” Green says.
“We got some great stories.”
