Kevin Shegog

Born in Lower Turner Marsh, near Launceston, Tasmania on 20th August 1933. When he was 8 (1941) his sister handed him down a four string tenor guitar, then in 1942 he got a full-sized guitar and was performing at dances in 1943 (aged 10). Kevin lived on the family dairy farm until aged 14 (1947) when he left to seek musical stardom, performing at many venues around the district including the National Theatre in Launceston, where he performed material by Tex Morton, Buddy Williams and Hank Snow, among others. He soon started writing his own material, but it wasn’t until he saw a play about Ned Kelly that he wrote probably his most famous song, “The Little Kangaroo”, followed by “One Small Photograph” and “Wayward Rambler”. Kevin then married and moved to Melbourne and later to Shepparton, where he worked at various jobs around the district while still performing at local dances and on Radio 3SR Shepparton's show “Harmony Trail” with a group called The Gold Toppers Meanwhile, a recording executive from W&G records heard that Claude King was soon to be releasing the song “Wolverton Mountain”, so he quickly arranged for Kevin Shegog to record this song and had it in radio stations and in the shops before Claude’s version was released locally, and Kevin's version became a hit. Kevin Shegog was honoured in the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame's 'Hands Of Fame' display in 1983. He died of a stroke on 9 November 2000, at the age of 67.