Trivia

Was the drummer for The Bee Gees 1967-1969.

His wife, Joanne, was the secretary of Brian Epstein.

Could not reprise his role as Smiley (1956) in the sequel Smiley Gets a Gun (1958), because he had moved to England.

His wife Joanne worked as a personal assistant to Brian Epstein up until his death, and then for Robert Stigwood.

Attended the Humpybong State School at the same time that Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb did.

Played drums on the Marbles' debut single, "Only One Woman".

He was screen-tested for the part of the young hero in Tiger Bay, but the part eventually went to the then 12 years old Hayley Mills instead, the part being rewritten for a girl.

He returned to Australia in 1974 where, having lost his rights to royalties after his court case against the Bee Gees, eventually became a painter residing in Sydney.

While at school he developed an interest in music, starting out on piano but switching to drums. He had, however, already shown himself to be a talented drummer in the film The Scamp (1957).

While he was a Bee Gee, he and Maurice Gibb wrote "Everything That Came From Mother Goose" with lead vocals and guitar by Petersen, but it was not released.

In 1966, he moved to England with hopes of continuing a career on the screen. But, things weren't in his favor for that long.

Colin Petersen was an Australian drummer, record producer and child actor.

Petersen died on 18 November 2024. Four days earlier former Bee Gees drummer Dennis Bryon had also died.

In 1968, he played drums on the Marbles' debut single, "Only One Woman".

The first musician he worked with after leaving the Bee Gees was Jonathan Kelly. Petersen produced some of his early solo singles, and in 1970 the two decided to form a band together. It was called Humpy Bong, a two-word variation of the name of the school that Petersen and the Gibb brothers attended in Australia. As they needed additional musicians, they placed an advertisement. Tim Staffell answered and he got the job as singer and harmonica player. The trio recorded their debut single and appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops.

On 1 June 1968, Petersen married Joanne Newfield in Nassau, Bahamas, with fellow Bee Gees member Vince Melouney as the best man. In 1969, Petersen and his wife began a management company.

Petersen moved to England in 1966, little knowing that the Bee Gees would soon be doing the same and they recruited him as their permanent drummer shortly afterwards - the first non-Gibb brother to become an official member of the Bee Gees. He played on six albums Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal, Idea, Odessa and Cucumber Castle. He was an equal partner in the group from early in their period in the UK and the Gibb brothers regarded his playing as essential to their sound.

Petersen was required to register for National Service and was called up on 11 March 1966, but he was found medically unfit to serve in the army.

After leaving school he played with several bands including Steve and the Board and became acquainted with Maurice Gibb, who invited him to sit in on one of the Bee Gees' sessions in Sydney. He ended up becoming friends with the family and ultimately played on as many as a dozen of their early Australian sides. When Petersen left the Board, he was replaced by Geoff Bridgford, who would replace him again later on as a member of the Bee Gees.

Petersen often played in "The Best of the Bee Gees tribute show".

He and fellow band member Vince Melouney, who played lead guitar and had also moved to the UK, had some trouble when, in the late summer of 1967, they were threatened with deportation because of an error in the way they had secured their visas. That problem was solved only by the intervention of the group's manager, Robert Stigwood, who mounted a publicity campaign that embarrassed the government into permitting them to remain in the UK.

When he was still nine years old in late 1955, he starred in the film Smiley (released in 1956), with Sir Ralph Richardson, but by the time he was 12 in 1958 he was forced to cease acting as his mother felt it was interfering with his education.

He attended the Humpybong State School at the same time as Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (they went to Scarborough State School first and later went to Humpybong). Petersen was in Barry's class, though they rarely crossed paths in any significant way.

In August 1969, he left the Bee Gees and he was replaced by Pentangle drummer Terry Cox to record the songs for their 1970 album Cucumber Castle. His scenes from the film of the same name were cut, and he is not credited on the accompanying album soundtrack, even though he does play on some songs.

Managed Jonathan Kelly as a solo artist during the early 1970s.