Johnny Young, the ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singer, songwriter and bandleader best known for creating and hosting Young Talent Time, has died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, according to Billboard. He was 79.
Born Johnny de Jong in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, he moved to Perth, Western Australia, as a child. Young began his career as a disc jockey before finding success as a teen idol and later as bandleader of The Strangers.
He became a familiar face on Australian television first as host of the Go Show and later through Young Talent Time, which debuted on April 24, 1971. The weekly program ran for 18 seasons through 1988, returned in 2012, and included 819 episodes, according to the report.
Young Talent Time helped introduce performers including Tina Arena, Dannii Minogue, Debra Byrne, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali, Sally Boyden, Karen Knowles and Philip Gould to wider audiences. The show’s legacy is preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Young was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2011. Billboard noted that tributes to him also came from Tina Arena, Dannii Minogue and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
