Molly Meldrum
Ian “Molly” Meldrum was dubbed “The Guru” on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, but he has never been comfortable with that label, preferring to be simply acknowledged as a music fan who passionately promotes talent, particularly Australian talent. He has been doing that since 1966 when he became a reporter for the pioneering pop paper Go-Set. Later, he provided the soundtrack of our lives on Countdown (from 1974 to 1987) and Hey Hey(1988 to 1999). Molly has also worked as a record producer, producing many hits including the Russell Morris classic ‘The Real Thing’.
Molly was inducted into the TV Week Logies Hall of Fame in 2012, the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2014, been King of Moomba twice, and was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame at the LGBTI Awards in 2017. He has released two best-selling autobiographies – 2014’s The Never, Um, Ever Ending Storyand 2016’s Ah Well, Nobody’s Perfect – and he was the subject of 2016’s top-rating mini-series Molly.
Molly has also worked tirelessly for charity. He hosted the Australian leg of Live Aid in 1985 and was subsequently made a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2003, he won $500,000 for charity on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, a record for a celebrity contestant. Molly lives in Melbourne with the love of his life – Ziggy, his dog. He continues to work as a music presenter on Foxtel and the Seven Network, and is a proud supporter of the St Kilda Football Club and Melbourne Storm.
