Glenn Wheatley

Wheatley's first significant foray into music was as guitarist in the Brisbane pop band Bay City Union, which was fronted by singer Matt Taylor, who later achieved considerable fame in Australia as the lead singer of pioneering Australian eccentric blues band Chain.

In early 1968 Wheatley was hired as the bass player in a new line-up of the Melbourne-based pop-rock band the Masters Apprentices, then one of Australia's most popular groups. Wheatley's four-year tenure with the group, which lasted until shortly before their demise in 1972, included the recording of many of their most successful songs including the hit singles "Turn Up Your Radio" (1970) and "Because I Love You" (1971) as well as the 1971 LP Choice Cuts, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.

It was during Wheatley's tenure in the Masters that he learned at first hand about the highly exploitative nature of the Australian pop industry at that time. The band endured many "rip-offs" and in their later career they suffered greatly from poor management decisions and inadequate support from their record labels, problems which eventually led to the group's demise in 1972.[3]

According to Wheatley's memoir, a key incident took place in late 1969 when the Masters took part in a nationwide package tour, "Operation Starlift". The concert at Brisbane Festival Hall, drew a then record crowd of over 7000 people, breaking the venue's previous attendance record set by the Beatles in 1964. After the concert Wheatley reflected on the event and it became the turning point in his life and career, because it finally drove home just how badly the group were being ripped off. Wheatley knew that patrons had paid A$5 per ticket, so the receipts for the night would have been around A$35,000, but the Masters Apprentices, like all the other acts, were on a fixed fee and received a mere $200 for the show; even the top-billed act John Farnham probably only earned about $1000. Figuring that the performers were probably only paid about A$2000 in total, Wheatley realised that the promoters had walked away with upwards of A$30,000 for that concert alone.[4]

After LRB was dropped by Capitol Records in 1986, Wheatley returned to Australia and began managing an old friend, singer John Farnham, who had been a leading star in the 1960s but was reduced to playing club gigs before replacing Glenn Shorrock in 1982 as lead singer of Little River Band. Wheatley mortgaged his own house to help pay for the recording of Farnham's 1986 "comeback" album, Whispering Jack. The gamble paid off and re-established Farnham as a major singing star and the album became (and remains) the biggest-selling Australian album of all time by a local artist.[5]

In 1999, Wheatley published his autobiography, Paper Paradise, which was based in part on a ribald memoir he had begun during his stint in the Masters entitled Who The Hell Is Judy in Sydney?.

Wheatley also managed Australian Neighbours actress and singer Delta Goodrem, helping her to achieve major success, but Goodrem split with Wheatley under acrimonious circumstances in 2003.[6]

Wheatley has shifted base between Sydney and Melbourne over the years and in June 2012 while walking his son's dog, Danko, had part of his middle finger chewed off trying to intervene when another dog attacked.[7]

The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.[13]