Kevin Bloody Wilson
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Kevin Bloody Wilson (born Dennis Bryant; 13 February 1947) is an Australian musical comedian who performs comical songs with his heavy Australian English accent and often including sexual themes. He has won one ARIA Music Award.
Early career
Bryant was born in Bathurst, although he identifies with Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, where he was an electrician in the gold mines.
In the 1970s, Bryant fronted his own band called 'Bryan Dennis and the Country Club'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also used the name 'Bryan Dennis' when he hosted a country music show on radio 6KG in Kalgoorlie from 1973 to 1980,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> before he was thrown off air for playing the parody song, "I'm Heaving on a Jet Plane".
He moved to Perth and began playing bawdy songs as a hobby, singing at pubs and Australian rules football clubs. He had adopted the name Kevin Bloody Wilson by 1984, when he put together a cassette of his songs called Your Average Australian Yobbo,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which he sold at gigs and by mail order. He managed to sell 22,000 copies of the cassette before it was eventually transferred to LP, where it went on to sell many thousands more.
He is one of Perth's most famous comedians.<ref name = "SpecialKs">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His humour is regarded by media commentators as politically incorrect.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As one of Australia's most successful comedians, he continues to tour and performs an average of 120 concerts worldwide each year.
Wilson is married and his wife Betty comes on tour with him.<ref name="courier">Template:Cite news</ref> She sells merchandise at shows and has appeared on guest vocals in a few of his songs, including "Dick'taphone".
Wilson appeared on the popular television show Enough Rope with Andrew Denton in October 2008, which resulted in the show's highest ratings of the year.Template:Citation needed On the show, he told of how he met his wife Betty, who was originally from Kalgoorlie, but lived in Perth at the time they met. She had returned to the town to visit friends and her brother who still lived there and they met when she attended one of his shows. Betty, who was in the studio audience, told Denton that Wilson was a romantic who regularly bought her flowers.
"The Genie in the Bottle", a country song which Wilson co-wrote with Adam Harvey, spent more than six weeks on the Australian Country Singles chartTemplate:Citation needed as well as reaching the number one video spot on the Country Music Television Channel in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS <ref name="AUS">Peaks on the ARIA Charts from 1988:
| |||
| 1984 | Your Average Australian Yobbo
|
20 | |
| 1985 | Kev's Back (The Return of the Yobbo)
|
8 |
|
| 1987 | Born Again Piss Tank
|
16 |
|
| 1989 | My Australian Roots
|
25 | |
| 1991 | Let's Call Him ... Kev!
|
50 | |
| 1993 | Nashville Trash
|
— | |
| 1994 | Backout from the Outback
|
— | |
| 1996 | Santa's Kummin': Kev's Kristmas Album
|
— | |
| 1998 | Kalgoorlie Love Songs
|
— | |
| 2001 | The Second Kummin' of Kev
|
— | |
| 2006 | DILLIGAF
|
— | |
| 2009 | Excess All Areas
|
— | |
| 2013 | Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
|
— | |
| 2016 | Rides Again
|
— | |
| 2018 | Kev's Krissmas Vol 2
|
— | |
| 2023 | International DILLIGAF Day
|
— |
Live albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| AUS <ref name="AUS"/> | ||
| 1995 | Let Loose Live in London
|
— |
| 2003 | Let Loose Live in the Outback
|
— |
| 2007 | Let Loose Back Home
|
95 |
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS <ref name="AUS"/> | |||
| 1990 | The Loveable Larrikin
|
— | |
| 1990 | Far-Canal
|
— | |
| 1992 | The Worst of Kevin Bloody Wilson
|
— |
|
| 2004 | 20 Years Of Kev
|
64 |
|
| 2011 | Klassic Kev
|
— | |
| 2019 | 35 Years of Kevin Bloody Wilson
|
— |
His songs generally consist of irreverent humour and plenty of swearing with eclectic musical backing.
ARIA Awards
He has been nominated five times for the ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release at the ARIA Music Awards:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "SpecialKs"/>
Template:Awards table |- |rowspan="2" | 1987 |rowspan="2" | Kev's Back | Best Comedy Release | Template:Won |- | Highest Selling Album | Template:Nom |- | 1990 | My Australian Roots |rowspan="4" | Best Comedy Release | Template:Nominated |- | 1992 | Let's Call Him Kev | Template:Nominated |- | 1995 | Let Loose Live in London | Template:Nominated |- | 2002 | The Second Kummin' of Kev | Template:Nominated |- Template:End
Website
Wilson was the first Australian performing artist to have a website which a friend set up for him in 1993, which has since been a major source of album and product sales. He also runs an internet radio station kevfm.com, which was the first 24-hour adult comedy radio station.<ref name = "courier"/>
Daughter
Tammy Jo "Jenny Talia" Bryant has followed in her father's footsteps singing similarly bawdy songs, some of them being reworded Kev songs, but done from a female perspective.<ref name="jennytalia">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="myspace">Template:Cite web</ref>
References
Further reading
- Britton, David (1985) Perth comic warned on language. The West Australian, 1 November 1985, p. 14.
- Nicholson, Brendan (1986) It's no joke for Kevin. Daily News, 4 January 1986, p. 4.
- Cornish, Patrick (1996) The Kalgoorlie kid comes home. West Australian, 12 October 1996, p. 4, (West Magazine).
- Chris Thomas (1996) Kevin's bloody well back home. Sunday Times, 13 October 1996, (Rock On).
- (1997) Wilson curse threat case. The West Australian, 20 February 1997, p. 40.
- Jansen, Ara (2004) Kevin Bloody Wilson Esquire West Australian, 10 April 2004, p. 10–13, (West Magazine).
External links
- 1947 births
- Living people
- Musicians from Sydney
- People from Kalgoorlie
- ARIA Award winners
- Australian male comedians
- Australian comedy musicians
- Australian guitarists
- Australian country singers
- Australian country guitarists
- Australian male guitarists
- Australian male singer-songwriters
- Australian singer-songwriters
- Comedians from Sydney