DEL JULIANA
I Was A Fool For Leaving
(James Deleston - Clyde Otis)
Australia 1964

Single on RCA, B-side of (I Say) You're Driving Me Crazy). See also Never Like This/What'd I Say.

Pop-rock singer Del Juliana (b. c.1942) released two singles and was a familiar solo artist on TV pop shows.

Del Juliana has gone down in history as the singer who almost supported The Beatles on their 1964 Australian tour. Whether she pulled out or was overlooked is unclear, but her place seems to have been taken by Johnny Devlin.

According to Teenagers' Weekly, 16 October 1963, Del Guiliani (as her name is spelt there) was signed to Channel 7 Sydney in 1962 on a five-year contract after she had appeared on Sing Sing Sing, the program that had replaced the Johnny O’Keefe Show from October 1962.

In their book Behind the Rock (now online), Jon Hayton and Leon Isackson tell the story of how their band The R'Jays (soon to be The Rajahs) booked Del Juliana to appear with them at the Snowy Mountains Hotel in Cooma early in 1964.

Biographical details on Del Juliana are hard to find, but she is said to be New Zealand-born and living nowadays in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales. She appeared at a 2002 memorial concert for Dig Richards.

I Was A Fool For Leaving was later included in Long Way To The Top (2001), ABC-TV's Australian pop history series and reissued on the CD of the series.

Listen to I Was A Fool For Leaving at MPH's Del Juliana page.
On CD: Canetoad Records' Girls! Girls! Girls! along with two other Del Juliana tracks [Canetoad Records link]. ABC-TV's Long Way To The Top CD is no longer available.

At YouTube: Del Juliana singing Mockingbird with Johnny O'Keefe, some time before his hit version with Margaret McLaren.

Thanks to Belinda and 'jargonise' at MusicPopHits MSN group.
Teenagers' Weekly reference from Zbigniew Nowara. When Del Guiliana/Juliana joined Sing Sing Sing it was being compered by Lionel Long, but Johnny O'Keefe took over as compere early in 1963 when he returned after illness (Damian Johnstone, The Wild One).

Suggestion from Fred Hill.

Thanks to Rob for straightening out my maths.

VIKKI NELSON & THE SOUNDS
I Was A Fool For Leaving
(James Deleston - Clyde Otis)
USA 1957
Original version

Single on RCA subsidiary Vik #0273.

Co-writer Clyde Otis later became well-known for his writing and production on Brook Benton's hits.

The B-side was Like A Baby, the original of the Jesse Stone song released by Elvis Presley on Elvis Is Back! (1960).

Further reading: Vikki Nelson discography at SoulfulKindaMusic.net.

Thanks to Davie Gordon for label details.

Corrections or comments? Contact the writer.