John Swan, better known as Swanee, is a Australian rock singer. He was born John Archibold Dixon Swan in Glasgow, Scotland in 1952. He is the older brother of rock singer Jimmy Barnes and the uncle of singer and stage performer David Campbell. He emigrated to Australia with his family in 1961. When his mother remarried in the mid-60s, he was the only child to keep his natural father's surname. While his music career has never reached the heights of that of his more famous younger brother, Swan is well known and respected in his own right.


John Swan was born in Scotland. Swan joined his first professional band, Happiness, as a drummer when he was 14. When he was seventeen, Swan enlisted in the Australian Army, and was discharged after two years of service. In early 1974 he was the drummer with the James Wright Band, moving on to Jim Keays' Southern Cross for a short time. By late 1974 he was playing in Fraternity, the Adelaide band best known as AC/DC singer Bon Scott's former group. Brother Jimmy Barnes had replaced Scott as Fraternity's singer but his stay was brief before he left to join Cold Chisel and Swan took over on vocals. He also appeared live with Cold Chisel from time to time, providing backing vocals and percussion.
After Fraternity, Swan became the vocalist with Feather in 1977. This band had previously been known as Blackfeather in the early 1970s but by 1977 no original members were left so the name was shortened. Feather recorded one single, "Girl Trouble" with Swan before he left in 1978 to establish himself as a solo artist.

(extract from Wikipedia 2011)

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