John van Zyl

In 1952, six year old Johannes van Zijl disembarked from the ship "Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt" in Melbourne with his parents and two sisters, after leaving their home in Rotterdam 6 weeks before.

The family moved to a country town called Loxton in South Australia, after a brief stay at the Immigrant Hostel in Albury, Victoria. John's (Johannes) father found work in Loxton as a bricklayer.

After spending a year living in a galvanized house without a floor and acclimatising to the blistering Australian Summer, the family moved into a new Housing Trust home.

From the day John's father walked in the door with a brand new RADIOLA RADIO, 'Vanno' as the Aussie kids called young John, not only discovered, but was also hooked on ROCK 'N ROLL MUSIC.

They all moved again in 1958, to the 'big Smoke' the city of Adelaide, where 12 year old John started having Guitar lessons, playing the Snare Drum in the school marching band and wooing girls in his street with three chord songs like 'Tom Dooley'.

At fifteen he formed his first band "THE UNTAMED", playing music by the Animals, The Pretty Things, The Beatles and later, The Rolling Stones.

From those early days until the present, John has had COUNTLESS ADVENTURES, not only during road trips with several bands, but also while meeting and playing with some very famous musicians. As well, he almost got stuck in the middle of nowhere without food, water and petrol.

But many of the adventures have been totally unrelated to music, such as short stints working for his father, Scuba Diving trips with Julieanne, driving across broken bridges, chasing runaway horses, and bizarre beer drinking contests.

On more than one occasion, John has changed direction from Rock 'n Roll - influenced by his love of Billy Joel's music, he learnt piano for around 5 years. Some years later, when his young daughter started learning violin, he fell in love with Classical Music, started playing Classical Guitar, and became a teacher to around 60 young students over a period of 10 years.

After playing and singing in numerous bands over the years, John still lives and breathes Rock Music, and is currently singing in a Tribute band called "THE STONES EXPERIENCE".