John Williamson (singer)

John Williamson (singer)

John Robert Williamson AM (born 1 November 1945 in Kerang, Victoria) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over forty albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books. His top 10 albums on the ARIA Charts are Mallee Boy (1986), Boomerang Cafe (1988), Warrigal (No. 1, 1989), Pipe Dream (1997), The Way It Is (1999), True Blue Too (compilation, 2003) and Hillbilly Road (2008). On Australia Day (26 January) 1992 Williamson was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) with the citation: "for service to Australian country music and in stimulating awareness of conservation issues". He has received twenty-six Golden Guitar trophies at the Country Music Awards of Australia, he has won three ARIA Music Awards for Best Country Album and, in 2010, was inducted into the related Hall of Fame.

Williamson has also featured in a number of television series as well as This is Your Life. Many of his albums have gone gold and platinum and continue to do so. He has sold more than 4,000,000 albums in Australia alone. In 1970 Williamson's first song, "Old Man Emu", went to No. 3 and given a gold certification. Another popular single, "Mallee Boy", became triple-platinum. Music journalists, Toby Creswell and Samantha Chenoweth describe him as "ne of the most popular songwriters in Australia ... e has been a voice for the people of the bush and he has been a voice of dissent, openly criticising the woodchip industry" in their 2006 book, 1001 Australians You Should Know.