Singing along with Shirl

Graham "Shirl" Strachan passed away five years and about a week ago.
Even in Australia, where the Skyhooks were 1970s rock legends, news of his death in a helicopter crash would be eclipsed by the worldwide horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
I have been marking the anniversary of this great rock vocalist's death by listening to the Skyhooks while driving around the past couple of days.
Strachan possessed one of those great rock voices -- a soaring, sweeping and sometimes screeching voice that seems like a template for the 80s heavy metal wave.
None of those hair bands had Greg Macainsh songs to sing, though. Strachan took those songs -- such as "Balwyn Calling," "Toorak Cowboy" and "Livin' in the Seventies" -- and made them sound like instant classics... even to American ears.