Perry Keyes was born in 1966 and grew up in the inner-city working class area of Sydney known as Redfern. He lived in a two storey terraced house populated by various uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. Every Saturday morning his Grandmother would do the house work whilst playing the likes of Ray Charles and Roy Orbison at a volume loud enough to spill out onto the neighbouring streets, lined with their tightly packed workers cottages and factories. This was the first music Keyes can remember hearing.
When he was twelve, Keyes got his first guitar from the local pawn shop and within six months he’d written his first song. It was during his first year at high school that his family moved to the neighbouring area of Waterloo, with it’s high rise Department of Housing blocks that stand between 16 and 24 storeys high.
It was within this environment that Keyes – after numerous false starts - formed the band The Stolen Holdens in 1989. Musically inspired by the likes of The Clash and Elvis Costello and lyrically taking his cue from artists like Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen, Keyes and The Stolen Holdens developed a small but loyal following in the local Sydney music scene. Having not released any albums the band faded by the early 90’s. After a prolonged hiatus, Keyes re-emerged in 2003, playing solo sets featuring songs that would make up the bulk of his debut double album ‘Meter’ – released in 2005 by Laughing Outlaw Records to much critical acclaim and numerous year’s end best of lists. It was hailed by EMI Australia CEO John O’Donnell as one the best Australian debuts ever and by Whitlams main man Tim Freedman as the best Australian album of the past five years.
Keyes’ next album, ‘The Last Ghost Train Home’ was received with even greater acclaim upon it’s release in October 2007. It went on to be short listed for the Australian Music Prize and was named the ABC Radio National Album of the Year.
Only a week after it's release and verdicts are coming in for Perry Keyes' third album - Johnny Ray's Downtown. It's been described as "an Australian classic" by the Mag, was a feature album review in the Sydney Morning Herald and an Album Of The Month in the Age's colour magazine. Throw in a 4/5 star review from Patrick Donovan in The Age EG Guide, 4/5 from Barry Divola in Who Weekly and Radio National's Album Of The Week and you're starting to get the picture. Oh yes, and Perry was recently featured on ABC TV's Stateline. Now, along with his band, Perry is taking Johnny Ray's Downtown of the road with a series of East Coast shows.