Billy Thorpe’s weekly music television show It’s All Happening went air on Sundays at 5pm in 1966, in front of a live studio audience. Produced at ATN-7 in Sydney and screened across the Seven Network, there were 37 episodes from 27 March.
This came at a time when Billy and a new line-up of his band The Aztecs were having chart success with pop ballads such as I Told the Brook, Twilight Time and Love Letters. In fact, The Aztecs served as the house band for the TV show, with artists performing their songs live rather than lip-syncing to their records.
Billy served as host of It’s All Happening and sang on each episode, at a time when many new Australian singers and bands were emerging. He welcomed musical guests like MPD Limited, Ray Brown & The Whispers, Max Merritt & The Meteors, Little Pattie, Laurel Lea, Merv Benton, Lynne Randell, The Twilights, Ronnie Burns, Bobby & Laurie, Digger Revell, The Bee Gees, Jeff St John & The Id, Yvonne Barrett, The Purple Hearts, Dinah Lee, The Throb, Python Lee Jackson, Noeleen Batley, and The Allusions.
Visiting international singers also appeared, including British hit-maker Helen Shapiro for three episodes.
The program only lasted one season. The closing credits of the final episode on 11 December 1966 ended with the words “It All Happened”.
Johnny also fronted other television shows:
Six O’clock Rock, ABC, 1959-1962 (Johnny left in 1961)
The Johnny O’Keefe Show, ATN-7, 1961-1962
Sing, Sing, Sing, ATN-7, 1962-1965
Where the Action Is, TEN-10, 1967
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