VALE WAYNE GOODWIN
UPDATE: Wayne’s funeral will be held this Friday 19th December at 9am.
North Chapel
Northern Suburbs Crematorium
199 Delhi Road
Lane Cove
Wake: TBA
The ad industry will be saddened to hear that Wayne Goodwin, violinist/composer and multi-instrumentalist (piano,guitar, mandolin, viola, saxophone and drums) passed away peacefully last night.
Wayne was a well lovedstalwart of the Australian music scene – and has many friends in the adindustry. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in June of last year.
Born of an Australian mother, Wayne first came to Australia on tourfrom Hollywood, California with Emmylou Harris twenty-three years agoand returned the following year to stay, performing with the newlyreformed band Crossfire and to break into the film industry as acomposer. His credits as a violinist list the who’s who of musicincluding Midnight Oil, INXS, Jenny Morris, Sting, Bob Dylan, LindaRonstadt, Tony Bennett, ELO, Renee Geyer, Ross Wilson, The AustralianOpera and Ballet Orchestra, The Bolshoi Ballet, Gene Pitney, DollyParton, Dragon, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Little, Michelle Shocked, AnneKirkpatrick, Bread, Crosby, Stills and Nash (Wayne was awarded aplatinum album for his violin solo on their hit single Wasted in theWay) and more…
19 Comments
Am so saddened by Wayne’s death and will always remember his most wonderful humour, violin and fiddle skills and his niceness…
That’s awful, awful news.
Wayne was a top bloke and an incredible musician.
He scored a track for me when I was up in Singapore years ago.
I remember going into Harry’s bar in Boat Quay with Wayne, he always used to carry his ‘electric fiddle’ with him, you know, just in case.
He jumped onto the stage and basically took over, jamming away with an incredibly bemused (but extremely impressed) local band.
Love to his family, his friends, he’ll be missed.
Christmas next week too.
That’s so sad.
That’s really sad.
He was a lovely, lovely bloke and extremely talented.
Condolences to his family.
One band not mentioned above that Wayne played with is Moby Grape, the coolest of the cool summer of love bands.
Wayne never big-noted himself about this stuff either, he’d hit you with a jaw dropping story almost as an afterthought.
Lovely bloke, incredible talent. You’ll be missed mate.
ms
So sorry to hear of Wayne’s passing. Ran into him when he was replacing Ricky Skaggs in the Hot Band as a reporter for weekly Variety in NYC. Their twin fiddles were amazing when Ricky & Wayne played together. Later, he certainly filled Skaggs’ shoes very well in the Hot Band and caught them many times in Michigan.
My thoughts are with the his family at this difficult time…
Yes; sad news..
A great musician for sure.. but even better, an energised, generous one with a tendency to joviality and sincerity always.
I worked with him quite a bit when i was still a session guy, and he was one of those people who had juicy things to put forward – stuff that brought a recording to life where many players would just be tidy and safe.
I remember a heated discussion once later when we were entertaining the possibility of producing music together about his then difficulties with making music for ads cos he’d paid all his musicians a heap and essentially done his dough. I kinda loved his generosity in spite of my business instinct..
Mostly I remember him as a approachable, geniune and talented guy who loved music and musicians.
Hope you’re working that fiddle and getting em tapping toes in heaven Mr G and my sympathies to his family and friends.
ken francis
He was a bloody nice bloke. He is sadly missed.
I met Wayne in 72 . We worked together for many years in and around Santa Cruz Ca. I never had so much fun in my life.. Wayne old friend, rest in peace buddy.
I met Wayne in california,late 70’s.The world needs more people like him.Generous,good fun,wonderful musician… best wishes,Nick Rosenthal
How sad to learn of Wayne’s passing. I attended high school with Wayne and played keyboard along with Wayne in a garage band. We performed together for several years and I loved him as a brother. I was just listening to an old Emmy Lou song and thought of Wayne so did a search and found this sad news.
At least now I know where he went for all those missing years.
Thanks for posting this.
I worked with Wayne in Santa Cruz, CA in the 70’s with Larry Hosford he kicked f–king ass he was a good friend and will be missed by me and all his friend all around the world.God bless you Wayne. Your friend Jamie
I remember having to move when I was just 17 from Los Angeles to Orange County. It was 1967, and I was starting my senior year at Foothill High in Tustin. I wasn’t too happy about starting a new school this late. New friends, etc. One day at school I was walking along an outside corridor while classes were going on (maybe a bathroom break), and quite absorbed in my own thoughts, when suddenly there was Wayne walking along side me like we’ve been walking along together the whole time. He just started talking away, like we were in mid-conversation, altogether natural. My start at seeing this person for the first time was calmed quite disarmingly and charmingly, and I remember thinking, ‘This guy’s alright’, and we were mates from then on.
After high school (GG’s is no bust), we all went our ways, yet I found Wayne after moving up to the Santa Cruz area. I was a Dance major, choreographer/teacher, and he was playing music. Our paths crossed many times through work and play, (many a time at the famous Catalyst in Santa Cruz), and even after I had moved back to LA, there he popped up again, and took me to rehearsal and backstage at the Greek with Emmy Lou Harris. Wayne always had time for people. I never thought about how famous he was getting to be. he was always engaged in life. This was just what he was into right now.
When he left to live in Australia, which was always his dream, and he was very proud to be half Australian, we finally lost contact. I wondered from time to time about Wayne, and what he might be doing. And so it goes, I googled Wayne, exactly 5 years later to find this news.
Wayne was one of my favorite people growing up. He shared my gypsy soul and with respect to his family, I was the one who Wayne always would quip to friends, ‘She’s the girl who de-virginized me!’
Happy Anniversary, Wayne. It was a life well-lived, and still endures through the friends who really loved you and remember you.
Marilyn
Where is Glen these days?
Like Mari, I was in high school with all the Goodwin’s at Foothill HS in the 60’s. I was a “Goodwin House regular” which was the happening place to be at the time. I spent time with Wayne on many of his gigs in the Southern Cal area. Wayne was a charismatic, intelligent and extremely talented person who I’ll never forget. It was Wayne who dubbed me “Spike” one day while working on his Triumph sports car in Santa Cruz, CA. What a sad loss of a dear friend.
In reminiscing about my past today, I remembered a Wayne Goodwin I knew at Windsor Hills Elementary School elementary school,, and wondered if I could find him. After seeIing the above picture, I believe this is the Wayne Goodwin who I knew at Windsor Hills Elementary School for several years. I can certainly see his appearance as I remember it around 1960 evolving into this adult photo of him – he was a bit of a cutup even in elementary school.
I graduated from high school in 1968, so my timing matches Mari Huggins’ story above about meeting Wayne as a HS senior in 1967. Please e-mail me if you can verify his elementary school history. The Wayne I knew was very friendly – a match to the above descriptions of him!
i am sure Wayne is up there somewhere making all the newbies feel comfortable and like they are normal, Wayne’s talent went far beyond music , a truly gifted individual. if only we had more like him.
I knew Wayne during the 1990’s when he played violin and mandolin on all my recordings and on the Midday show. He was simply the loveliest guy and I remember him with great fondness. He was incredibly talented, making everything he played with such heart and soul sound extraordinary. My favourite tracks are those he brought to life and I will be eternally grateful to him. His beautiful talent and kind spirit are forever his legacy and his memory will live on in the lives of those he touched.
Suzanne Clachair
What a terrible shock.
I met Wayne in the early ’80’s in Sydney through a mutual friend of ours, (a writer from New Zealand name of Ginny Smith) and witnessed many of his performances with Supermarket, Crossfire, Rick Price, etc, etc at the Basement and elsewhere in Sydney…he was always good for a jam. Wayne worked with me on numerous advertising jingles and always made them sizzle. His friendship was simple and sincere. I loved him as a person with amazing musical talent, intellectual prowess and he was also a very spiritual person in a way that cut to the chase and his child-like innocence and happiness of soul was infectious. He was a good person to be with. I am so sad that we lost contact and am devastated that he is gone from this world. His music and the good memories of him will survive forever within me. I hope you took your fiddle with you, Wayne.
I went to Marywood Academy in Orange and Wayne took me to my prom unbeknownst to me he was just peeking on acid as we walked in. I never knew until my parents freaked out about the freak I was with in my prom picture.
I was the only black girl boarding at that bastion of ultra-conservative madness and will always be grateful to Wayne and his family for embracing me as I did them.
Because Wayne found me later a run-away in Iowa and passed on his contact info…I hitched out to Capitola California in 1969 and how shall I put it…the rest is history!
Th
Wayne you will be missed. Wayne bought a violin off of while playing with Emmylou Harris. He and another good friend Mark Riegel played at a local bar in Lompoc California. He recorded with Mark on marks album.
They both will be missed.