1970–1972: Original line-up
Four of Sons of the Vegetal Mother's members (Duncan, Hannaford, Wilson and Young) formed Daddy Cool in 1970. All shared a love of 1950s music and initially played covers of songs from their record collections. One of these was "Daddy Cool" (written by Bob Crewe and Frank Slay) performed in 1957 by US doo-wop band the Rays as the B-side to their single "Silhouettes", however Ross Wilson has stated that the band was named before he had heard the song. Daddy Cool became a popular live fixture in Melbourne. Their early 1971 appearance at the Myponga Festival in South Australia upstaged their parent group, Sons of the Vegetal Mother, which subsequently dissolved.
One-time child guitar prodigy Robie Porter (formerly known as Rob EG), had recently returned to Australia and established himself as record producer, purchasing a share of Melbourne independent label Sparmac Records. He saw the band's performance at a 7 May 1971 gig in Melbourne and immediately signed them to his label. Sparmac also released Healing Force's "Golden Miles" and Rick Springfield's "Speak to the Sky". The single "Eagle Rock" was released before the end of May and quickly went to number 1 on the Australian charts, where it stayed for a then-record ten weeks. The track written by Wilson, produced by Porter, was, ironically, replaced at No. 1 by a novelty version of a song from Daddy Cool's own set list—the single "Daddy Cool", performed in Chipmunks style by the studio band Drummond. Drummond (aka Mississippi), which included Graeham Goble (later in Little River Band), had performed it in tribute to Daddy Cool. "Eagle Rock" was named the second-best Australian song of all time at the 2001 APRA Awards with the best being "Friday on My Mind" by 1960s group the Easybeats.
Daddy Cool's debut album, Daddy Who? Daddy Cool, sold an unprecedented 60,000 copies within a month of its release in July 1971, and became the first Australian album to sell more than 100,000 copies. According to Wilson, the sales required for a gold album in Australia in the early 1970s had been 10,000 copies and was altered to 15,000 and then 20,000. The band toured Australia with Spectrum (led by former bandmate Mike Rudd) on the Aquarius Tour. Their second single "Come Back Again", also written by Wilson, was released in September 1971 and reached number 3. Also in September, Jeremy Kellock (aka Jeremy/Jerry Noone) (saxophone, keyboards (ex-Sons of the Vegetal Mother, Company Caine) joined the touring lineup of the band (he had played sax on Daddy Who? Daddy Cool). The album, produced by Porter, who also provided piano and steel guitar, was released in the US. The band toured there in August 1971 but had little chart or radio success, although their performances were well received.
In November, Daddy Cool aka D.C.E.P., a five-track EP was released and reached number 12. Each group member sang a track, the most widely played being "Lollipop" with vocals by Wilson. An edited version of the song "Hi Honey Ho", their third single, written by Wilson, was released in December and reached number 16. The full 6:48 studio cut of the song was released on a rare promotional single.
Wilson experimented with his song writing on Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven, Daddy Cool's second album. Produced by Porter again, it was released on Sparmac Records in December 1971 and incorporated more progressive material similar to Sons of the Vegetal Mother's music. Two of the tracks were 1950s covers "Baby Let Me Bang Your Box" and "Sixty Minute Man", which together with the album title provoked concern in the media. It reached No. 15 on the national albums chart, and was released in US as Teenage Heaven. At about this time, the group were filmed by director / producer Bob Weis for a 37-minute documentary, Daddy Cool released in 1973. The documentary includes interviews with, and performances by, the Duncan, Hannaford, Noone, Wilson and Young line-up. It also includes a song from Pat Wilson, at that time Ross Wilson's wife.
By February 1972, Noone had left, feeling that he was not fully involved in the spirit of the group. He was replaced in March by Ian "Willy" Winter (ex-Carson) on rhythm guitar who was recruited to enable Ross Wilson to concentrate on singing. The band undertook a third US tour from March–June 1972 and recorded several tracks including "Teenage Blues", "At the Rockhouse" and "Rock'n'Roll Lady" at Warner Bros. studios in L.A. "I'll Never Smile Again" was released in July and reached No. 16, but by this time tensions were growing within the band and Wilson in particular was tiring of the difficulty of presenting the more progressive material he wanted to perform within the confines of the group's entrenched "good time" image. They announced their break-up soon after their return from the US and performed their last gig at the Much More Ballroom on 13 August 1972. The entire concert was recorded and released as the double-album Daddy Cool Live! The Last Drive-In Movie Show, issued on Porter's new label, Wizard Records in September 1973 and reached number 34.
