Lillian Roxon (8 February 1932 - 10 August 1973) was a noted
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n journalist and author. She was born
Lillian Ropschitz in Savano,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. Her family, originally from
LwówLviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically also for Ukraine’s neighbour Poland. The historic centre of Lviv with its old buildings and cobblestone roads has survived the Second World War and the Soviet presence...
, then
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, moved to the coastal town of
AlassioAlassio is a town and comune of Liguria, Italy, on the Gulf of Genoa coast, in the province of Savona.It is mainly noticeable as a health resort in winter and a bathing-place in summer and has many hotels.-History:...
in Italy, where Lillian was born. Because the Ropschitz family were
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish, they migrated to
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
in 1937 to escape the rise of
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
, and they settled in
BrisbaneBrisbane is the state capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state. With an estimated population of approximately 2 million, it is also the third most populous city in Australia....
. Shortly after their arrival, the family anglicised their names; the surname Roxon was Lillian's suggestion. Her niece
Nicola RoxonNicola Louise Roxon is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.-Early and Personal life:She...
, the Australian politician, is currently the federal Minister for Health.
Australia
She studied at the
University of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest university in Queensland and the fifth in the nation. The main campus is located in St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane CBD...
, where she met and had a brief affair with Zell Rabin, who gave Lillian her first job in America and who became a key associate of
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
in the early 1960s. She pursued further studies at the
University of SydneyThe University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia. It was established in Sydney in 1850. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance...
in the 1950s, where she fell in with the freewheeling movement known as the
Sydney PushThe Sydney Push was a predominantly left-wing intellectual sub-culture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early '70s. Well known associates of The Push include John Flaus, Harry Hooton, Margaret Fink, Sasha Soldatow, Lex Banning, Eva Cox, Peter Hamilton, Paddy McGuinness, David Makinson, Germaine...
. In the process, she attracted the attention of an
ASIOThe Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is the domestic counter-intelligence and security agency of Australia which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system,...
operative and was "reported on 25-6-51 as a communist sympathiser".
She began her career in newspapers in Sydney and for several years worked for the tabloid magazine
Weekend, owned by newspaper magnate Sir Frank Packer and edited by renowned author
Donald HorneProfessor Donald Horne was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals....
.
America
In 1959 she moved permanently to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, becoming the first Australian female overseas correspondent and the first Australian journalist to establish a high profile in America. From 1962 onwards she was the New York correspondent for
The Sydney Morning HeraldThe Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. The newspaper's Sunday edition, The Sun-Herald, is published in tabloid format...
and over the next ten years she carved out a singular career reporting on arts, entertainment and women's issues for the Australian, American and British press.
1960s
In the mid-1960s Roxon became fascinated by pop music and the rise of groups like
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
,
The ByrdsThe Byrds were an American rock and roll band. Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964, The Byrds underwent several personnel changes, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973....
and
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup...
and she began to write regular articles on the subject. In early 1967 she visited San Francisco and was one of the first mainstream journalists to write about the nascent
hippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district...
movement, filing a landmark story for
The Herald on the subject. She also contributed to the famous
OzOz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and more famous incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London. Strongly identified as part of the underground press, it was the subject of two...
magazine in the late 1960s.
Through her writings and her interest in pop, she became one of the leading lights of the social and musical scene that centred on the fabled New York music club
Max's Kansas CityMax's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, between 17th and 18th Streets, in New York City that was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Max's I:...
, which was frequented by members of the
Andy WarholAndrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
circle,
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground gained little mainstream attention during their career,...
and
The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground was an American art rock band formed in New York City, New York. First active from 1965 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists...
,
Jim MorrisonJames Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. He was also the author of several books of poetry ...
and many others.
Rock criticism
Her articles about the burgeoning rock scene are now credited as being foundation stones of serious rock writing, and she has since been described by other leading critics as "the mother of rock". She was friendly with many leading music stars, but rarely became personally involved. Although she looked young enough to mix easily with the rock crowd, she was at least ten years older than most of the musicians she wrote about. Unusually for the time, she did not smoke or take drugs and only rarely drank alcohol. These factors, and her renowned wit, combined to give her writing a degree of ironic detachment that influenced many younger rock writers. She was one of the first mainstream journalists to treat popular music with any degree of seriousness and to regard it not as a trivial "flash in the pan" but as an important social phenomenon.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Roxon became close friends with critic and rock manager
Danny FieldsDanny Fields is an American journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock scenes.- Early life :...
,
Village Voice journalist Blair Sabol, musician and writer
Lenny KayeLenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.- Early life :...
(later the guitarist in
Patti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk", she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock...
's band and compiler of the original
NuggetsNuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American garage rock singles released in the mid- to late 1960s. It was assembled by Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, and Lenny Kaye, later lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group...
LP), photographers
Linda McCartneyLinda Louise McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman, heiress to the Lindner Department Store fortune.She married Paul McCartney of The Beatles on March 12 1969, and was a member of Wings...
and Lee Childers and famous Australian academic, author and feminist
Germaine GreerGermaine Greer is an Australian-born writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
, on whom Roxon exerted a strong influence.
In 1965 she was joined by
Sydney Morning Herald's autocratic foreign correspondent
Margaret JonesMargaret Mary Jones was an Australian journalist, noted for being one of the first accredited to China after the Cultural Revolution, and first female Foreign Editor on any Australia newspaper...
. It was a clash of two unbending personalities Robert Milliken described as "like two sopranos sharing the same stage". Perhaps to keep these two apart, Margaret was posted to Washington the following year.
Roxon also played host to many Australians who visited the city, including
The EasybeatsThe Easybeats were a rock and roll band from Australia. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and split at the end of 1969. They are widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their classic...
and singer
Lynne RandellLynne Randell was an Australian singer best known for her hit "Ciao Baby" in 1967. She also had hits with "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head", both in 1966. Randell toured the United States with The Monkees and performed with Jimi Hendrix...
and artists including
Clifton PughClifton Ernest Pugh AO, was an Australian artist and three-time winner of Australia's Archibald Prize. An expressionist painter, he was known for his landscapes, and also for portraiture and for being a pioneering environmental activist...
. Australian singer
Helen ReddyHelen Reddy is an Australian/American singer-songwriter and actress. She has won a Grammy Award, appeared on Broadway and feature films, and been credited with writing and singing one of the most iconic and culturally significant songs of the 1970s, "I Am Woman".Reddy became one of the world's...
credits Roxon for her first awareness of the women's movement and for providing much of the impetus for co-writing her international hit, "
I Am Woman"I Am Woman" is a song cowritten by Helen Reddy and singer/songwriter/guitarist Ray Burton and performed by Reddy. Released in its most well-known version in 1972, the song became an enduring anthem for the women’s liberation movement....
".
Linda McCartney (then Linda Eastman) was one of Roxon's closest female friends and she did much to further Eastman's career, but the friendship ended abruptly in 1969 when Eastman moved to London, married
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
and cut all ties with all her former friends, a move which wounded Roxon deeply.
Lillian eventually retaliated, four years later, with her famously scathing review of the McCartneys' first American TV special. Published in the New York
Sunday News on 22 April 1973, Roxon's review panned the documentary and poured scorn on Linda, slamming her for being "catatonic with horror at having to mingle with ordinary people", "disdainful if not downright bored ... her teeth relentlessly clamped in a
ScarsdaleScarsdale is a community in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City.Scarsdale is located in japan...
lockjaw", and "incredibly cold and arrogant".
Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia
During 1968-1969 Roxon was commissioned to write what became the world's first rock encyclopedia, published by
Grosset & DunlapGrosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group ....
in late 1969 and the work for which she is best remembered. It was extremely successful, is still regarded as a landmark in popular music writing and is often quoted. However, the work had to be written concurrently with her regular duties as the Herald correspondent and other press commitments. The punishing schedule took a heavy toll on her health and she developed
asthmaAsthma is a predisposition to chronic inflammation of the lungs in which the airways are reversibly narrowed. Asthma affects 7% of the population of the United States, and 300 million worldwide...
.
1970s
In the early 1970s Roxon's profile expanded and she became more widely known for her feminist stance. She wrote a groundbreaking and highly personal report about the August 1970 women's rights march in New York, which was published in
The Sydney Morning Herald under the title "There is a tide in the affairs of women". She wrote a regular column on sex and sexuality for
Mademoiselle magazine (which continued after her death) and during 1971 she hosted a rock radio show that was syndicated to 250 stations. She met and became friends with
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and his first wife Angie on Bowie's first tour of the USA in late 1972 and was a major champion of Bowie's music in the American press as he was trying to break into America.
Roxon's health declined during the early 1970s. She made what would be her last visit home to Australia in early 1973 and while she was in Sydney in early February she was interviewed by
ABCThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC", is Australia's national public broadcaster. With a total budget of AUD$1.13 Billion annually, the corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, as well as...
journalists Jeune Pritchard and Gary Hyde for the ABC's pop magazine program
GTKGTK was an Australian popular music TV series produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, now known as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series title was an abbreviation of the phrase "Get To Know"...
. The shorter
Jeune Pritchard interview was included in a special on the current Australasian tour by
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup...
, and showed Roxon looking obviously puffy and unwell. In the longer
Gary Hyde interview Roxon was questioned about the current state of rock music in general; in response to Hyde's questions about up-and-coming acts, she nominated The New York Dolls and the then-unknown
Bette MidlerBette Midler is an American singer, actress and comedienne, also known as The Divine Miss M. During her career, she has been nominated for two Academy Awards; and won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a special Tony Award.-Biography:In 1945, Midler was born in...
as names to watch, and concluded the interview by making a self-deprecating joke about her weight. Both clips are currently (May 2009) available for viewing on the
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
video-sharing website.
One of Roxon's last print articles reported on the landmark New York concerts at Max's Kansas City by
Iggy PopIggy Pop is a songwriter, and occasional actor. Although he has had only limited mainstream commercial success, Iggy Pop is considered an influential innovator of punk rock, hard rock, and other related styles...
and
The StoogesThe Stooges are an American rock band that were first active from 1967 to 1974, then reformed in 2003. The Stooges sold few records in their original incarnation and often performed for indifferent or hostile audiences...
and her final piece, filed in early August, was on rising British
glam rockGlam rock is a style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s that was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, theatrical blend of...
star
Marc BolanMarc Bolan , was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T...
.
Roxon wrote a novel, loosely based on her years in Sydney, which was never published. This manuscript now resides in Sydney's Mitchell Library along with her large collection of letters and other papers, donated by her family and her close friend, the film producer,
Margaret FinkMargaret Fink is a prominent Australian film producer noted for her important role in the revival of Australian cinema in the 1970s....
.
Death
Lillian Roxon died at the age of 41 on 10 August 1973, after suffering a severe asthma attack in her New York apartment. She was survived by two brothers and a sister. Both parents predeceased her and she never married nor had children.