While it seems like only yesterday that Don Spencer captured Australia’s hearts as a children’s entertainer, he’s marking 65 years in the music business.
And that’s not the only big milestone for Don, 89, who has also released a 40th anniversary edition of his album Feathers, Fur or Fins, featuring some of Australia’s most recognisable entertainers covering his famous songs, with all proceeds supporting the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF).
Speaking exclusively to New Idea, Don jokes that he prefers having the likes of The Wiggles, Rachael Beck and his daughter, Danielle Spencer, cover his songs, because he doesn’t listen to his own music.
“It’s been really exciting to hear what other people have done with the music because they were given a free license to just do their own interpretation of the songs,” he tells us.
“The really gratifying thing has been that everybody we asked said yes; nobody said, ‘No, I’m not interested’.
“One of the things about being a songwriter, I honestly get more joy hearing other people sing my songs than when I record them myself because I don’t spend any time listening to my own stuff recording or on TV or on video. But I love listening to other people sing my songs.”
Don was overwhelmed with the number of people who wanted to feature on the album, admitting he inadvertently upset some of his friends in the industry by not asking them!
“I managed to offend a few people that I didn’t ask in time because they said, ‘Why didn’t you ask me?'” he confesses.
Needless to say, Don is still making an impact on the music industry today, with the generations who have grown up with Don passing down his magic to the next generation.
“I’m still recording, and I’ve still got a recording contract, so it’s nice to feel a little bit relevant [but] I don’t think I’ve got anybody like Taylor Swift worried,” he jokes.
Passing the torch in his family
And he’s even passed down the music magic in his family, with Don’s daughter, Danielle, famously following in his footsteps to become a singer.
The father and daughter have collaborated many times, and Don is thrilled that she’s once again joined forces with him to record her own version of ‘Black Swan (Shadow on the Water)’.
“It’s lovely, but she sang on previous albums,” he says of Danielle’s involvement.
“She sang with me when I first started touring after Feathers, Fur or Fins, and then came back to live in Australia, she toured with me and dressed up in a koala.
“She’d dress up in a penguin suit and be a penguin, and she sang on several tracks with me over the years, and we’ve done lots of concerts together, in the State Theatre and stuff, which is great because she’s a fabulous singer and makes me sound good.”
She’s not the only one following in Don’s footsteps, as he reveals Danielle’s son Charles, 22, whom she shares with Russell Crowe, has quite the musical ear, though he has no interest in being a frontman.
“[He’s] written some really good songs, but I don’t think he wants to be a performer; he might be a songwriter, but he’s very academic, he’s getting awards and things at university,” Don shares.
“He’s absolutely brilliant. I think he can be a professor by the look of the way he’s going.”
As for Danielle and Russell’s younger son, Tennyson, 20, he’s got his eye on acting, following in the footsteps of his Gladiator star father.
“Tenny has just started acting and looks like he’s going to his father’s footsteps, definitely,” Don shares.
“He hasn’t shown much interest [in music]; he likes listening to music, like everybody, but he’s just not shown any inclination.
“I offered to teach him guitar when he was young at all that stuff, but Tenny wasn’t too interested in that.”
An “accidental” career build on tough times
However, Don isn’t pushing either of his grandchildren to go into show business, saying it’s a “tough” industry that he himself has mixed feelings on.
“They’re both great kids, they’re great kids, really. I don’t encourage people to go on the show business, believe me, it’s tough one,” he adds.
While Don has certainly passed down his musical talents, it’s not something he ever envisioned he’d do with his life, describing it as an “accidental career”.
“I didn’t actually have a music education,” he tells us.
“We’d have a school play, or we might have a school choir, but I didn’t learn any.
“I taught myself the guitar and piano, and I never had a singing lesson in my life. I had to sing my own songs to demonstrate them.
“Suddenly I was a singer, so it was a totally accidental career in that respect.”
Aware of how much song can change a child’s life, Don wants all young people to have the opportunity to learn music, something he works hard on through his charity, the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF).
Don grew up in Tamworth, New South Wales, during the difficult post-Depression era, and music was how he escaped and found purpose.
“I just know that there must be kids like me that had a pretty rough childhood who might find solace in music like I did,” he says.
“I know how important music can be for a manner of reasons, and I know it helped me through tough times. I had a wonderful mother; she brought up three kids, [but] it was pretty tough going.
“It wasn’t very pretty growing up, but music was such a comfort.”
Giving back to the next generation
All of the proceeds of Don’s reimagined album are going to the ACMF, with Don hoping the funds can help to provide every child in Australia access to long-term music education and instruments.
Despite years of success in the music industry and on TV with Play School, Don describes his charity work with the ACMF as his “best” achievement.
“We’ve been able to [work with] tens of thousands or more kids around in the last 25 years to get music into their lives: Music inspires creativity and imagination,” he adds.
Read more about the foundation’s incredible work here.
FEATHERS, FUR or FINS 40th Anniversary by Don Spencer & Friends is available to stream now via ABC Music.
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