John Paul Young

John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer of Scottish origin, born on 21 June 1950 in Glasgow. His family moved to Sydney when he was eleven years old.

His music career began in 1967 with the formation of the band Elm Tree, before being discovered by manager Simon Napier-Bell. The latter convinced him to sign as a solo artist with Albert Productions, marking the beginning of a long collaboration with the producers and composers Harry Vanda and George Young of the band The Easybeats.

His first success in Australia came in 1972 with the song Pasadena, which reached number 16 on the charts. After two years as a cast member of the Australian production of *Jesus Christ Superstar*, he released his first album *Hero* in 1975. This album reached number 9, and its lead single, Yesterday's Hero, became his first international hit, entering the top ten in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and reaching number 42 in the United States.

The peak of his career came in 1978 with the release of *Love Is In The Air*. The title song became a worldwide success, peaking at number 2 in Australia, number 7 in the United States, and number 5 in the United Kingdom. His career subsequently gradually declined, leading him to retire from singing in 1989 to focus on a secondary career as a morning radio disc jockey.

In 1992, the worldwide success of Baz Luhrmann’s film *Strictly Ballroom*, which featured a remixed version of Love Is In The Air, propelled the song back into the spotlight for a new audience. With his music being played in clubs worldwide, John Paul Young came out of retirement.

He was naturalised as an Australian citizen on 4 November 1994. He was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2009 and received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012.

He is known by several name variants, including J.P. Young, JPY, John-Paul Young, and ジョン・ポール・ヤング.