The Sunnyboys

Sunnyboys were named after the ice block that was popular through the 1980’s and 1990’s especially during a long, hot Australian summer.

They released two EP’s with the record label Phantom and they were called Sunnyboys and Sunnyboys remixed, it was during this time they released a version of ‘Alone with You’.

The band were signed by Mushroom Records in 1981 and released their self titled album in September 1981 which peaked at No. 13 on the Australian charts.

The singles ‘Happy Man’ and a new version of ‘Alone with You’ were also released in 1981 and they had peaked at No. 26 and No. 28 and their national profile was helped by being on ABC’s hit show Countdown, the show that guaranteed that people knew your music by the next evening.

May 1982 saw the release of the album ‘Individuals’ which gave the band another Top 20 album.

The lead single from the album is ‘You Need A Friend’ and it had peaked at No. 38 on the charts but their next single ‘This Is Real’ did not chart.

Their third album was called ‘Get Some Fun’ and was released in April 1984 and three charting singles came from the album.

The singles were ‘Show Me Some Discipline’ which peaked at No. 44, ‘Love in a Box’ which peaked at No. 46 and ‘Comes As No Surprise’ which peaked at No. 99.

The band broke up in July 1984 with reasons being internal dissent and industry disappointments as well as the fact that Jeremy Oxley was battling mental health issues which was later diagnosed as Schizophrenia.
A new version of Sunnyboys was soon formed and released the album ‘Wildcat’ in 1987, this album was produced by former Sherbet member Garth Porter and peaked at No. 63 on the charts.

Two singles from the album ‘Too Young to Despair’ and Sinful Me peaked at No. 87 and No. 105 with the final two singles not charting.

The original band reunited for a tour in 1991 as their greatest hits album ‘Play the Best’ reached No. 75 on the charts, another Sunnyboys lineup was formed but this was soon ended for a variety of reasons including a fight over the use of the name.

The band performed at the Mushroom 25 concert in 1998 which was a concert celebrating 25 years of Mushroom Records and featured many of the label’s hit makers.

The band had a quiet 2000’s but made up for it with a busy 2010’s as they performed concerts between 2012 to 2016 including performing at ‘A Day on the Green’ in 2016.

’40’ was released in late 2019 for the fortieth anniversary of the band coming together and this release was rewarded with a peak chart position of No. 84, The first four tracks were from the original EP and the remaining songs came from recording sessions in 2018 and 2019.

The Sunnyboys story is one of endurance and their music continues to be discovered by music lovers around the world ensuring that their music lives on.