“He had a tooth missing, wearing a skin-tight outfit. I remember thinking: ‘You’ve got to be kidding’”: Label exec recalls the first time she saw Bon Scott with AC/DC
While Brian Johnson is AC/DC’s longest-serving singer – having fronted the group for the last 45+ years – the mythology of the legendary Aussie rock band wouldn’t be complete without Bon Scott.
Ronald Belford “Bon” Scott was the band’s second lead singer, joining in 1974 following the departure of original frontman Dave Evans. Scott’s tenure only lasted six years, though, and ended with his tragic death in 1980 as a result of acute alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking.
But during his time with the band, his voice was forever immortalised on a plethora of now-classic AC/DC tracks, including Highway to Hell, Dirt Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and T.N.T.
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Shortly after joining AC/DC back in 1974, Bon Scott was quick to make his mark. In a new feature with Classic Rock, Fifa Riccobono, former CEO of Albert Music, the first label the band signed with – also in ‘74 – remembers the first time she saw the band’s new lineup with Scott at the helm.
Riccobono attended the band’s show at Sydney’s Rockdale Masonic Hall in place of George Young and Harry Vanda, the production duo behind some of AC/DC’s iconic early albums. George Young was the older brother of guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young.
“He came out with a tooth missing, wearing this skin-tight satin one-piece outfit,” she recalls. “I remember thinking: ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’”
But despite not knowing all the words to some of the songs, Riccobono says Scott fit right in.
“You couldn’t take your eyes off him because he was so charismatic…” she says. “It felt like he’d always been there.”
“He was so charming, friendly and welcoming that I walked away with a completely different opinion,” Riccobono recalls, expecting a somewhat brash, out-there personality before meeting him backstage after the show.
“I told them he fit,” she says of her subsequent conversation with George Young and Harry Vanda at Albert Music.
The post “He had a tooth missing, wearing a skin-tight outfit. I remember thinking: ‘You’ve got to be kidding’”: Label exec recalls the first time she saw Bon Scott with AC/DC appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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