A big Shout! out to a born entertainer
IT was exactly the kind of send off renowned drummer John ‘Catfish’ Purser would have been thrilled with.
More than 500 family and friends clapped, danced, shimmied and shaked as they sang out loud to the rock anthem Shout! as Catfish’s rock’n’roll-themed casket was carried from the Southport Church of Christ yesterday.
A father of five and grandfather of six, the beloved Australian music pioneer died in a Gold Coast Hospital last week, aged 84, after a short battle with illness.
A career musician who rose to fame as Johnny O’Keefe’s original sticksman in the golden age of rock’n’ roll, Catfish was given his nickname by Bill Haley when he visited Australia with The Comets in 1959.
Born in Petersham, NSW, in 1933 – his father, Tom, was also a drummer – Catfish was 12 when he banged his first drum with the Air League band. After starting lessons aged 19, he was sent to play at Valentine’s restaurant under R. M. O’Keefe’s Furniture Store. Johnny O’Keefe and The Dee Jays were born.
J.O.K. and The Dee Jays went on to perform with the biggest names in music, joining the likes of Little Richard, Eddy Cochrane, The Platters, Chuck Berry, Johnny Ray, Tab Hunter and Bobby Rydell on their Aussie tours.
A First Grade cricket umpire and member of the Manly SES for 40 years, Catfish moved to the Coast in 1997 to be with his best friend and soulmate Kay. He spent the next 20 years entertaining crowds all over the Coast, performing his last show with The Dee Jays six weeks ago.
Catfish’s children, Jason, Cheryl, Glen, Kerri and Wendy, each paid tribute to him in moving, entertaining speeches that channelled his love of a laugh, recalling him as a devoted partner, father and grandfather, a stickler for time, a huge fan of TV soap The Bold and The Beautiful and a born entertainer.
Many of Catfish’s musical mates were also on hand for yesterday’s farewell including Digger Revell, who performed an a capella rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, J.O.K.’s daughter Vicky O’Keefe, Ian Franklin, Susie Jay and Joe Ace, Ken Bennett, Dennis Knight, Graham Webb, Lynn Rogers and Paul ‘Fluffy’ Jansen.