Molly Meldrum

He’s Australia’s home-grown Music Guru, a friend of the famous, respected by the music industry – Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum ‘knows his stuff’! For four decades, Ian has nurtured local talent and played a key role in placing Australian contemporary recording artists on the world map.

During the Swingin’ Sixties, Ian worked within the television industry and as a journalist for Go Set magazine. Later, as a creative record producer, Ian worked with Russell Morris, John Paul Young, Ronnie Burns, Colleen Hewit, John Farnham, Zoot, Masters Apprentices and many more.

In England , Ian joined EMI Records, enabling him to work in the famous Abbey Road studios. He continued to write for Go Set and earned the first of many world exclusives – he was invited by John Lennon to do an interview with himself and Yoko Ono. It was during this interview, Lennon announced that The Beatles would be breaking up. Other exclusives included: Madonna for MTV America, and Michael Jackson for 60 Minutes.

‘Molly’ is best known as the creator of the institution that was Countdown. For 13 years, this ABC TV program showcased the finest, the newest, the up-and-coming of local and overseas recording artists.

Tirelessly, Ian continued his work as a journalist, radio presenter, and TV producer – he was responsible for a 24 episode series, The Meldrum Tapes, broadcast on ABC TV, and MTV in U.S.A., Asia and Japan.

In the late 80’s, Molly joined another television institution, the long-running Hey Hey It’s Saturday. Molly’s Melodrama was a popular segment, for 12 years, as Ian travelled the globe bringing back more stories, more exclusives, including a one-on-one with each member of The Rolling Stones, filmed in Tokyo .

Since then, there has been much more involvement in music television, including The Drum, House of Hits, The Cool Room, Premier, Popstars, and specials with Enrique Iglesias, Abba, Kylie, Cher, Bette Midler, Michael Buble and Mariah Carey .

Today, Ian continues to work for Seven Network’s Sunrise program and hosted a special on Fox 8 for the Live 8 Concert.

In 1986, Ian was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to music and charities, and in 1992, he received the Special Achievement Award at the ARIAs for services to the Australian music industry.