Biography

"Many of Ian B. MacLeod's followers would have first become aware of him after he arrived in Australia during the early sixties. It was here in Sydney that he made his first appearance with Johnny O'Keefe's TV show under the name of "Adam" - a name that JO'K bestowed upon him because of the popularity of Adam Faith.

However, after a few years he dispensed with the name of "Adam" in favour of his own name Ian B. MacLeod and has since enjoyed a long career, both as a recording artist and successful performer, where he now tours with his own production show called "A Tribute To Slim Whitman".

Today he successfully mixes, what may seem, two opposing styles of Country music. First is his love for Rockabilly inspired by his hero Carl Perkins which earned him the title "Rockabilly Cowboy", but it's his second love of yodelling which is featured on this CD.

In keeping with his versatility, he not only has written the title song "Waterfall" and "Mountain Lowry Call", but also it features a wide cross-section of differing styles of music. This ranges from the timeless standards such as "Where The Blue Of The Night"; "Over The Rainbow"; "Moonlight Becomes You", to a couple of classic hits from the fifites and sixties like "You Belong To Me" and "Secret Love" - all complete with falsetto breaks.

No prize for guessing who had the 1962 hit with the Johnny Mercer/Victor Schertzinger composition "I Remember You", but it might surprise you to know that it was written nearly thirty years earlier than my version, for a film musical called "The Fleet's In".

This package would not seem complete without the inclusion of a song of his Rockabilly hero Carl Perkins called "Never Look Back". No, not a Rockabilly song but a tender ballad.

To head up the evergreen yodelling songs, is his rendition of "Cattle Call"; this is a classic song which depicts the origins of yodelling as being a method of calming down herds of cattle, sheep or goats. Hence its practical development from the goat-herders of the Tyrolean Mountains - to the cowboys of America, and from the herdsmen of the prairies in Canada to the drovers on the sweeping plains of Australia.

Then we have "Rosemarie". This song originated from the 1927 operetta of the same name, which also spawned "Indian Love Call". These two songs were immortalised on film by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in 1935. Then came a remake by MGM in 1954 with Ann Blyth and Howard Keel - but both songs came to even more prominence by the unique styling of Ian's alltime favourite yodeller Slim Whitman in 1955. I am pleased he has also included "Chimebells" because in my opinion no yodelling album would ever be complete without a tribute to the great Elton Britt. "Love Song Of The Waterfall" is also a great inclusion from the pen of the Canadian songsmith Bob Nolan who wrote this and other classic songs including "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds".

All in all, this is a collection of Ian's alltime favourite songs.

Happy Listening.

FRANK IFIELD