Ritchie Yorke (12 January 1944 – 6 February 2017) was an Australian-born author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist, whose work was widely published in the U.S., UK, Canada and elsewhere.
Biography
Australia: 1962–1966
Ritchie Yorke was born in 1944 in Brisbane, Australia. He began writing a weekly music column called Teen Topics for the Queensland edition of TV Week magazine in July 1962. From March 1964 to March 1965 he continued writing articles, relocating to work as a publicity and news reader at a radio station in Tamworth before returning to Brisbane to act as public relations director at 4KQ. It was during his time on radio in Tamworth that Yorke was delivered a copy of "Fingertips Pt. 2" by Little Stevie Wonder, a 12 year old blind boy. Impressed, Yorke played the song on his weekend show but was promptly told by higher-ups not to play this kind of music. In protest, the following week Yorke set up in his studio and managed to play "Fingertips Pt. 2" eight times in a row before he was removed from the studio and quickly fired. This caused Yorke's relocation to Brisbane to continue writing and making travel plans for the future.
United Kingdom: 1966–1967
In 1966, Ritchie left Australia for London, England. From May to November of that year, Ivan Dayman appointed him the international operations director of Sunshine Records. He prepared record deals for, and managed Australian pop star Normie Rowe prior to his arrival in England. In December 1966, Yorke began working for Island Records as an international promotion manager for the Spencer Davis Group. He was tasked with promoting the band outside of England in support of their record "Gimme Some Lovin'". At this time, Yorke's first book was published, Lowdown on the English Pop Scene, foreword by Spencer Davis. A few months later Stevie Winwood left the Spencer Davis group to form a new band called Traffic, the managerial position of which was offered to Yorke, who declined, choosing instead to embark on a continental tour
Canada: 1967–1973
Yorke arrived in Canada in 1967, settling in Toronto. He found work with the Toronto Telegram before being appointed the first full-time rock writer for Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. He also became the Canadian editor of Billboard magazine from 1970 to 1980 and Rolling Stone magazine from 1969 to 1970. He also began contributing features to NME magazine. In late 1969, Yorke assisted John Lennon with the coordination and execution of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s War Is Over! peace campaign. As well as helping to plan the Montreal bed-in from which Lennon’s peace anthem "Give Peace a Chance" emerged, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, he was one of many volunteers who assisted in plastering the posters all over Toronto. Yorke also carried the posters alongside rock musician and friend Ronnie Hawkins in a 52,000 mile world tour as the Lennons’ official peace envoy. This five week tour even had them carry and display the posters illegally across the Chinese border near Hong Kong where they were stopped by Red Guards and solemnly warned they would be shot if they did not leave.
During this time, Yorke also produced Edward Bear's first album Bearings under the pseudonym "Tuft". He also appears on the Bad Manors album by Crowbar, credited with playing the anvil on "Prince Of Peace" and tambourine on "Oh What A Feeling”.
Yorke was partly responsible for the introduction of the Canadian Content legislation that was instated in 1971, acting as a major advocate of the policy from a music industry point of view. He testified both to the adequacy of Canada's music supply as well as the necessity of radio support to create a viable Canadian music industry.
Later in 1971 he published the book Axes, Chops & Hot Licks, the first book to cover Canadian music culture and the development of the Canadian content laws, as well as the first book to be devoted entirely to any music scene outside of the United States or England. Later that year Yorke was named Canadian Journalist of the Year at the Juno Music Awards in Toronto.
The following year, Yorke assisted in organising the Maple Music Junket in which numerous continental writers, radio and TV programmers and editors and filmmakers were invited to observe five concerts in Montreal and Toronto (two of the concerts were in French).