Love Is A Golden Ring - ERNIE SIGLEY (1957) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s

ERNIE SIGLEY
Love Is A Golden Ring
(Richard Dehr - Terry Gilkyson - Frank Miller)
Australia 1957
#1 Melbourne

Single on W&G by Melbourne radio announcer, singer and TV presenter (b.1938). Co-charted with Frankie Laine's version.

Ernie Sigley started work as a panel operator at Melbourne radio station 3DB in the early 50s, and has broadcast on 3DB, 3AK and 3AW. He moved on to television in 1957 as compere of HSV7's Teenage Mailbag. For a while he worked on Radio Luxembourg, using the name Ernie Williams.

In the mid-70s, with Denise 'Ding-Dong' Drysdale, he hosted the high-rating Ernie Sigley Show, a national evening variety show. Over the years he has fronted several Australian television shows, nationally and from various cities, but he has now returned to radio on the afternoon session at 3AW in Melbourne.

See also: Ernie Sigley & Denise Drysdale - Hey Paula (1974).

References: Ernie Sigley article at Wikipedia (the best account I've seen, although tagged as 'lacking sources'); Ernie Sigley at 3AW; Ernie Sigley at Internet Movie Database; Official Gold Logie Awards for 1975.

FRANKIE LAINE WITH THE EASY RIDERS
Love Is A Golden Ring
(Richard Dehr - Terry Gilkyson - Frank Miller)
USA 1957
Original version
#10 USA #19 UK #1 Melbourne #2 Brisbane

Single on Columbia with The Easy Riders, who were the composers of Love Is A Golden Ring.

The Easy Riders recorded the song themselves (1957) but it remained unreleased until the 90s.

Other songs written by Gilkyson, Dehr and Miller include:

Memories Are Made Of This by Dean Martin (#1 USA, backing vocals by The Easy Riders) and by Gale Storm (#5 USA) 1956;
Marianne (Down by the seaside siftin' sand) by Terry Gilkyson & The Easy Riders (#4 USA) and The Hilltoppers (#3 USA) 1957;
Greenfields, recorded by the Easy Riders in 1956, but a hit for The Brothers Four (#2 USA) 1960.

See also The Cry Of The Wild Goose, a Terry Gilkyson composition recorded by Frankie Laine and by Australia's Strangers. Terry Gilkyson later wrote music for Walt Disney films, notably The Jungle Book.

Further reading: Singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson, Terry's daughter, has a comprehensive biography of her father at her website www.ElizaGilkyson.com.

See also: Tom Simon's Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders page; Terry Gilkyson's filmography at Internet Movie Database; Love Is A Golden Ring at The Originals by Arnold Rypens.