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Ted Mulry (September 2, 1947 – September 1, 2001) was a British-born singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist who achieved success in Australia firstly, as a solo performer, and then leading his own band Ted Mulry Gang, sometimes officially credited as just TMG.
Born in Oldham, England, Edward Mulry emigrated to Australia in 1969 at the age of 20 and took a job in the NSW Main Roads Department driving a bulldozer. Just before arriving in Australia Ted had developed an interest in songwriting, something which continued now. His friends and workmates were impressed by his songwriting efforts and encouraged Ted to take his songs to J.Albert and Son, mainstays of independent Australian music publishing for over a century, in the hope that someone might start recording Ted's songs.
Ted Mulry first came to the attention of the music industry when he sent a demo of some his own compositions to Alberts Publishers in Sydney. He was persuaded to be recorded himself and soon rose to fame as a solo singer/songwriter with his own composition, the pop ballad, Julia, which made the Australian charts in 1970. He then went on to score a major hit with The Easybeats songwriting team, Harry Vanda & George Young song, Falling In Love Again in 1971. He was a prolific songwriter and a number of bands and artists, (such as John Farnham and Alison MacCallum), recorded his songs, the most notable being rock band Sherbet, who had a hit with his song, You're All Woman. He travelled to England briefly in 1972 and recorded one single there under the name Steve Ryder but returned to Australia soon after. During his time as a solo artist he released two albums, Falling In Love Again and I Won't Look Back.
After getting tired of being backed by different backing bands, in 1972 he switched from acoustic guitar to bass and formed his own band, "Ted Mulry Gang", with guitarist Les Hall & drummer Herman Kovacs. The band signed a recording deal with Albert Productions in 1974 and released their first album Here We Are. Guitarist Gary Dixon joined around this time to complete the foursome. With his own band behind him he adopted a more hard rockin' style.
Their first major hit, and the biggest of their career was the 1975 single Jump In My Car which spent 6 weeks at number one on the Australian singles charts in 1976. Over the next few years they achieved a string of hit singles including a rocked up version of the old jazz song, Darktown Strutter's Ball, Crazy, Jamaica Rum and My Little Girl. Many of TMG's songs, including Jump In My Car, were co-written with guitarist Les Hall. By the early 1980s their chart success had ended but they remained popular performers on the Australian pub circuit throughout the decade.
In 1998 Ted released a solo CD called "This Time" of songs co-written by himself and his brother Steve Mulry. In early 2001 Ted Mulry announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. A series of tribute concerts organised shortly before his death, Gimme Ted, brought together an assortment of Australian rock acts of his era to pay tribute to him. These included a reunion of his band Ted Mulry Gang with his brother Steve Mulry standing in for him as lead vocalist.
In January 2006, David Hasselhoff recorded a version of Ted's classic Jump In My Car whilst in Australia. Hasselhoff's version of Jump In My Car was subsequently released in the UK and went to #3 in the charts there in October 2006.
Ted Mulry died in 2001.
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