Early Life
Safran was born in Melbourne, Victoria. After attending North Balwyn Primary School he was sent to Yeshivah College, an Orthodox Jewish high school in St Kilda East.
In Year 12 he formed the hip-hop group Raspberry Cordial with his friend Chris Lumsden. They played to some success, receiving high rotation airplay on the city's community radio, playing many gigs in Melbourne and coming second in the RMIT Battle of the Bands competition. Their debut album was Melbourne Tram, of which Safran apparently has hundreds of unsold cassettes in his bedroom to this day.
After winning a government youth music initiative, they followed up with Taste Test, of which 500 copies were pressed. Of those only 93 sold, so the remaining 407 had to be crushed. Interviewed on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope show in 2003, he said that Raspberry Cordial "broke down the wall that Eminem's been able to walk through".
Safran attended RMIT to study journalism, a career he tried for a while but eventually dropped without completing his degree. He then began work in advertising for Clemenger Harvie. During this time he wrote copy for Mazda, Village Roadshow and Sea World.
Read more about this topic: John Safran
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Two sleepy people by dawn’s early light, and two much in love to say goodnight.”
—Frank Loesser (1910–1969)
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)