Richard Clapton

One of Australia’s foremost singer/songwriters, Richard Clapton comes to MEMO Music Hall for the first time, playing his hits from the records that charted the political landscape of the nation and the turbulent lives of three generations.

When he began his recording career in 1973, Australia was still in the vice-like grip of the cultural cringe. He plunged into the deep water and in his wake followed the Skyhooks and Paul Kelly, Cold Chisel, INXS, Midnight Oil and hundreds of others.

Ten years after his early albums, including “Girls on the Avenue” and “Goodbye Tiger”, Richard Clapton was a tribal elder to whom younger artists like Jimmy Barnes, INXS and Cold Chisel turned as a mentor.

INXS asked Clapton to produce their second album, Underneath the Colours, and they became firm friends. They and Cold Chisel returned the favour on Clapton’s The Great Escape album. INXS drummer Jon Farriss produced The Glory Road album, and few records capture the roller coaster ride of the late 1980s as well as Glory Road.

These albums brought Clapton’s melodic gifts and his love of electric rock & roll into lockstep. There were always the words though. No one better documented the 1980s than Richard. Richard Clapton frequently went to the edge—emotionally, politically, financially—and sent back his incisive postcards.