Richard Clapton

A signature storyteller of Australian rock, Richard Clapton captures life Down Under—good and bad, past and present—with uncommon acuity. Born in Sydney in 1948, Clapton gigged with various bands before debuting as a Jackson Browne-esque solo artist in 1972. He didn’t break through commercially until 1975’s “Girls on the Avenue”, which bottled the sheer electricity of young desire. A similarly potent time capsule is “Down in the Lucky Country”, an upbeat-sounding skewering of Australia’s would-be idyllic quality of life from his career-defining album, 1977’s Goodbye Tiger. Clapton forged strong connections in the pub-rock scene, tapping members of Cold Chisel and INXS to play on his 1982 hit “I Am an Island” and even producing INXS’ 1981 album Underneath the Colours. After penning a free-spirited 2014 memoir, he revisited the formative songs of his youth with the affectionate 2021 covers album Music Is Love (1966 – 1970).