Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Barry O’Keefe did not want his son Andrew to go into show business.
The titan of Australian justice – he was a judge, mayor and corruption fighter – had watched helplessly as his younger brother Johnny, Australia’s first rock star, was consumed by drugs, booze and mental health problems, and died from a prescription drug overdose at 43 years old. “He was disillusioned by the people who plagued Uncle Johnny and devastated by the death of his little brother, who died too young from the excesses of his crazy lifestyle,” Andrew once told a newspaper, well before his own excesses began to consume him, too. “[He] could see what the showbusiness lifestyle can do to a person’s health.
” Perhaps the elder O’Keefe saw echoes of his brother in his youngest son. Both blazed bright. They were skillful, creative and magnetic.
If anything, Andrew’s potential was greater; he had all of Johnny’s charisma while also excelling academically. The young man felt the tension between those two sides of himself, the academia of his father and the showmanship of his uncle. A distinguished legal career lay ahead if he wanted it, but the lure of the footlights was strong.
Johnny O’Keefe was Australia’s first home-grown rock star. The late Justice O’Keefe was right .