Former 3AK presenter, Grantley Dee, has died in Melbourne at the age of 59. He was admitted to hospital last weekend after a long illness, and passed away on Monday.
Grantley Dee was a blind singer who released a number of singles through EMI in the late 1960s, including the hit, Let the Little Girl Dance. As a teenager, he was recruited by 3AK in 1963, and, with his guide dog, Penny, became a popular station personality.
Radio historian, Wayne Mac, has contributed this background on Grantley Dee for radioinfo:
Born Grantley DeZoete in 1946, he wasn’t the first or last DJ to change his name… or have it changed for him. What is remarkable in Grantley’s case is that he became a disc jockey at all: for Grantley Dee was Australia’s first blind radio DJ.
After knocking on doors around Melbourne radio in the sixties, he was given a huge break to host his own show on 3AK. Former executive, David Joseph,gave young Grantley the chance he needed, thrusting his young star into the limelight at just 17 years of age after he was recruited to the station a year earlier.
Grantley started on 3AK in 1963 with The Grantley Dee Show, a regular four hour ‘Top 100’ program on Saturday afternoons, plus the four hour Big Sunday Show, featuring “big tunes and new releases” on Sunday afternoons.
By the following year, he was one of the station’s top announcers and had moved to the primetime weekday drive show, as well as regular weekend shifts. In 1965, he moved to the morning shift from 7-9am, plus the four hour Grantley Dee Show from 9am-1pm on Saturday and Sunday.
At 3AK, Grantley became synonymous with that station’s popular team of Melbourne Good Guys which included: Alan Aitken, Graeme Boyd, Bill Howie, Paul Jennings, Gary Mac, Malcolm Searle, Pete Smith and Lionel Yorke. The Good Guys – not to be confused with the electrical retail chain – was the name given to teams of jocks heard in various Australian markets in the sixties. Grantley was one of Australia’s first Good Guys.
Like other blind jocks – notably the late Matt Ponsonby – Grantley never let blindness stand in the way of chasing his dreams to be on radio. And, he didn’t do just radio. Channel 9’s ownership of 3AK in those days afforded him opportunities to appear regularly on television. Indeed, Grantley was just as well known on radio and TV as he was as a singer. He was a support act for many overseas tours of the time, including the big Liverpool Sound Show and Gene Pitney. In 1965, he enjoyed chart success with a cover version of Billy Bland’s ‘Let the Little Girl Dance’.
Grantley stayed with 3AK for the remainder of the sixties then travelled around performing short stints as a ‘Guest Good Guy’ at Perth’s 6PR and Launceston’s 7EX. He also did radio time in Auckland, New Zealand.
Grantley Dee was last heard on 3AK chatting with Gavin Wood during the station’s 70th anniversary broadcast in 2001 and was also involved in community radio in recent years.
For a blast from the past, click on Grantley’s aircheck from 1969 below (mp3, 1.3 Mb)