Harry Vanda

Harry Vanda (born Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg on 22 March 1946) is a Dutch-born Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as a member of the 1960s Australian rock band The Easybeats.

Career

Vanda's family migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1963, and settled in Sydney. Vanda, who had been a guitarist with the Hague-based band The Starfighters, came to fame in 1964–65 as the lead guitarist of the popular Australian group The Easybeats. In the same year he met rhythm guitarist George Young in a Sydney migrants' hostel. In 2007, Australian Musician selected this meeting as the most significant event in Australian pop and rock music history.

In 1966, Vanda began a successful and enduring writing partnership with Young; together they penned many of The Easybeats' 1960s recordings, including their major international hit, "Friday On My Mind".

After The Easybeats disbanded in 1970, Vanda & Young moved to the UK and continued their writing and performing partnership.