JOHNNO

TEARS OF JOY

After years of the music scene and a life that was out of control, Johnno has been giving back his life …

Juvenile detention center

My father, who was of Scottish descent, was born in Barcaldine and died of war-related causes while I was in primary school. My mother, born in Sydney, and of Jewish / English descent, reared my two younger brothers and I as best she knew how. Having no father and no faith in my life, I soon rebelled and went to the street, eventually ending up in a Juvenile Detention Center (Yasmar).

Entering the music scene

In primary school I was dux of the class. However, my rebellious spirit took over. My high school days petered out after only 12 months. I found a friend who played the piano; at about the time Bill Hayley and Elvis were introducing "Rock 'n' Roll" to the world. By watching and listening, I taught myself to play, write and sing. Soon I was playing at the White Horse Hotel at Parramatta, at 14 years of age. During the late fifties Johnny O'Keefe had begun his TV show, "Six O'clock Rock', while his band, "The Deejays", had gone out on their own. They were playing at the Lennox Hotel in Parramatta, doing "Six O'clock Rock" with O'Keefe as well. They were running a talent quest, which I entered and won. (Even though I was only 14 or 15 at the time, I could pass myself off as 18). "Catfish", the leader of the "Deejays", asked me to join the band as their singer. I sang with them for a couple of years, which included recording and TV work.

Vietnam - life spinning out of control

I worked professionally all over Sydney until the Beatles came on the scene. Around 1964, I received an offer to form a group, which became "the Allusions." My life started to spin out of control with alcohol, drugs and sex. Later I married and then joined some entertainers to go to the Philippines. We teamed up and called ourselves "The Action". We flew to Vietnam, where we spent many months entertaining on firebases, USO bases and All Officers, N.C.O. and E.M. messes. We were frequently caught under fire and often had to dive into the bunkers. I believe now that God kept me safe.

Becoming the "Beast of Great Keppel Island"

We came back to a very hostile Australia, so we didn't talk much about the war. We just sat around in bars and drank ourselves stupid. I began to sing on the Sydney club circuit but found I couldn't settle down. So I gathered a group together and started touring around Australia. We called it our musical pub-crawl. During this time I became a father to a beautiful little girl called Suzy. After playing on P&O Ships and at Perisher Valley Inn, we took a gig at Great Keppel Island in 1977 and stayed there for seven years. I became the entertainment director under the name of the "Beast of Great Keppel Island", and was very well known. You could purchase "Beast" albums and "Beast" cassettes, and even buy 'Beastly Bubble' champagne. This is where I went totally off the rails. I became a coherent drunk - even though I was drunk, people thought I was sober.

More turmoil in my life

I left Great Keppel Island in 1985 and played up and down the East Coast of Australia until I finally settled in Mackay. This is where I received news that my wife had been killed, north of Sydney, by a hit and run driver. I met a lady and had a son, Aaron. Aaron and I were very close, but when he was three, his mother took him away from me. I was devastated, and contemplated the most ghastly things until I met Andrew and Maggie Nicholls. They invited me to church and when I went a few weeks later, they led me to the Lord.

Great peace

Everything changed! My life suddenly became meaningful. My daughter, Suzy, also gave her life to Jesus during the visit to Mackay and I had the joy of being given access to my son on most weekends. Three weeks later, lying awake in bed at 3 o'clock in the morning, I felt a compulsion to write some lyrics. I got up and wrote the first three gospel songs I've ever written. I recorded them on a tape, and went back to bed. Immediately I felt a presence and a great peace filled my whole being. I believe that at that moment I was baptized in the Holy Spirit

No more cigarettes

Until then, I had smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day. From that moment on, I have never had another cigarette. Three weeks later, I was baptized in water and sang my songs in church. In 1995, I had a triple bypass. I went into a coma with serious complications. During this time in hospital I saw Angels around my bed. Once I closed my eyes and saw Satan. I prayed, and I then saw a lion on a cloud, with lightning burning up the evil around me. Many miraculous things started to happen in my life and my love for Jesus grew with increasing intensity.

A new family

A few years back I was living near Tamworth looking after my elderly mother and stepfather. I played music in different churches and thought that was my finale. Then a phone call from Mackay in April 2000 had me travelling north to play at a combined church meeting. Here I met Janene, a Christian lady from Emerald, and we were married in September. My son Aaron miraculously arrived on my doorstep. We have also been blessed with a beautiful home, new furniture, a new car, new musical equipment with recording facilities, and a new ministry in the unity of the body of Christ.

Tears of joy … love

As I come to the end of this testimony, tears fill my eyes and joy fills my heart. My love for our living Savior, Jesus Christ, goes beyond the boundaries of my understanding. To think that someone as unworthy as me could be deemed worthy of such blessings is beyond my comprehension. All I can do is humbly place myself at the feet of my Lord and whisper, "Lord, what would you have me do?"

Johnno

Searching for the truth
in the New Age????

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