Ted Albert conceived the idea of Alberts recording and promoting its own artists way back in 1964 and so Albert Productions was born as the record production side of J Albert & Son, an extremely successful music publishing company best known for its Boomerang Songsters and Boomerang brand harmonicas. The Albert family was prominent in business and social circles, to the extent that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip called on Alexis Albert (Ted’s father, later Sir Alexis Albert) for afternoon tea in 1954 while visiting Oz. Is that prominent enough for you? Albert Productions would launch the Easybeats and cement Ted’s relationship with George Young and Harry Vanda. Some forty-odd years later, when the Easybeats were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Harry Vanda said: ‘Ted Albert is the only reason we have an industry.’ On the rare occasions that Ted dropped in to the studio, he was always in a suit. He was an interesting, cordial, reserved kind of guy who was held in very high esteem by George and Harry for being able to hear a good song and/or performance.
