Roy Gardnerra's video: Real Wild Child - History of Australian Rock N Roll 4 8

R&B and soul music had a significant impact on Australian popular music, although it is notable that many seminal recordings in this genre by American acts of the late 20th century were not played on Australian radio. Anecdotal evidence suggest that racism was a key factor—in his book on the history of Australian radio, author and broadcaster Wayne Mac recounts that when a local Melbourne DJ of the 1960s played the new Ike and Tina Turner single "River Deep Mountain High" it was immediately pulled from the playlist by the station's program manager for being "too noisy and too black". As a result, many local soul/R&B hits of this period were cover versions recorded by Australian acts. Despite radio's relucatance to play American soul/R&B originals, these styles were avidly adopted by local performers however and covers of soul/R&B standards were staples in the setlists of many acts including Max Merritt and the Meteors, Doug Parksinon, Jeff St John, The Groop, The Groove, The Twilights, Renee Geyer and many others. Renee Geyer is an Australian singer who came to prominence in the mid-1970s, has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World "Rock historian, Ian McFarlane described her as having a "rich, soulful, passionate and husky vocal delivery". Geyer's iconic status in the Australian music industry was recognised when she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on 14 July 2005. (extract from Wikipedia 2011)