Background
Ross D. Wyllie was born on 21 November 1948 and raised in Brisbane.
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Ross Wyllie
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Wyllie had a Top 20 hit with his cover of Ray Stevens" song "Funny Manitoba" and an Australian Number. 1 with "The Star", both in 1969. Originally from Brisbane, Wyllie hosted Uptight, a weekly four-hour music series, on Channel 0 in Melbourne between 1967 and 1969.
In 1970 he followed with a similar show, Happening "70, and from 1978 to 1980, he presented films on a late-night time slot.
In 1964, aged 16 he joined a popular band, the Kodiaks, as lead singer. By 1967, as a solo artist, he signed with the Sunshine label and released a debut single, "Short Skirts".
He was backed by label-mates the Escorts. His next single, "A Bit of Love", followed using only studio musicians.
Wyllie relocated to Melbourne and, on 28 October 1967, became the host of a new popular music television show, Uptight for local Channel 0.
He signed with Festival Records and released the non-charting single "Smile" in April 1968. Uptight was a weekly four-hour series that ran until 1969 with Wyllie as its host. A Calendar label LP (R66-522) was issued in about 1969 named Uptight Party Time by Wyllie and the Uptight Party Team.
The album contains two side long medleys of then current songs such as "Midnight Hour", "You Are My Sunshine" and "Day Tripper".
Wyllie had a Number. 17 hit on Go-Secretariat"s National Top 40 in July 1969, with his cover of Ray Stevens" song "Funny Manitoba". His National Number. 1 hit, "The Star", followed in November.
"The Star", written by Johnny Young, was later covered by United Kingdom act Herman"s Hermits as "Here Comes the Star". In 1970, Uptight was replaced on Channel 0 by a one-hour popular music series, Happening "70, with Wyllie retained as host.
In April, he released a double-A-sided single, "Free Born Manitoba" / "My Little Girl", but its sales were affected by the radio ban, during which commercial stations refused to play recordings by Festival Records (among others) from May to October.
Wyllie left Happening "70 to return to Brisbane in late 1970. In 1971, Wyllie signed with the Fable label and released "He Gives Us All His Love" in April. He followed with "lieutenant Takes Time" in August and "Sweet White Dove" in May 1972.
He then turned to the public and club circuit.
Eventually he formed a production company with fellow popular artist Ronnie Burns and artist manager Jeff Joseph. With Tony Healy, he also created a public relations company.
In the late 1970s he presented a late-night movie show on Melbourne"s Channel 0–10. In May 1988, Festival Records released Smile: The Festival Files Volume Ten, a compilation album of Wyllie"s singles, as a part of their Festival File series.
In a review of the collection for The Canberra Times, Stuart Coupe said: "Star of Uptight, Wyllie"s run of hits ended in the early "70s.
This is probably the least interesting of the albums in this series, but at worst is a curio item." In August 2003, Wyllie performed an Uptight themed variety show at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, reuniting with other 1960s performers.
Membership
Molly Meldrum was a regular member of the on-air team
