Ricky May

May was born as Richard Ernest May in New Zealand in Onehunga, Auckland, of Māori descent.[2] His father, Keith May, was a jazz band leader and played alto saxophone.[2] May grew up with his siblings, and from the age of 15 he performed at Picasso, a café/nightclub in Auckland.[2] Apart from vocals, May played drums and piano but generally worked as a variety entertainer. He would introduce unconventional vocalisations, improvisation, and the spoken word into performance.

In 1961, jazz pianist Ronnie Smith set up a group to play at the Sorrento Club, Wellington.[2][3] Smith's group had Tommy Tamati on bass guitar, and May joined on drums and backing vocals.[3] May become a regular with the group and sometimes provided lead vocals.[3] Bruno Lawrence, an English-born jazz musician who was regularly in the audience, often got up to play the drums when May sang lead.[2][3] The group worked for about a year and toured southern North Island.[3]

At the end of 1961, May returned to Auckland and signed with Harry M. Miller's La Gloria label, which released his debut single in 1961, a cover version of the Chubby Checker hit "Let's Twist Again". He followed with "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady in 1962. During that year, he relocated to Sydney and primarily worked in cabaret. He recorded compositions of Nat King Cole and appeared on Australian TV shows The Don Lane Show, Farnham and Byrne (co-hosted by John Farnham and Debra Byrne), and made regular appearances on The Midday Show.

In 1966, May released another single, "This Little Boy's Gone Rockin'", via RCA (Bluebird Records).[4][5] From March of that year, he hosted the Sydney teen pop music TV series Ten on the Town on TEN-10.[1] It ran in direct competition with Bandstand on TCN-9 and Col Joye on ATN-7.[6] Walter Learning of The Canberra Times compared the three shows, which "vie for the younger audience" and found that "Bandstand must win hands down" as Col Joye "has no life" and May's show "suffers from over effort on the part of all concerned."[6]

He issued no further recordings until 1973: a double album with the Julian Lee Orchestra, Fats Enough, on ABC records.

In 1974, ABC decided to release a second double album, Just Foolin' Around – A Tribute to Louis Armstrong. In 1983, the first half of this album was re-released on CD as A Tribute to the Greats. 1981 saw the J&B release an album, Ricky May, while ABC Records issued a compilation, The Best of Ricky May, on CD. He issued a duet single with Jonathan Coleman, "Built for Comfort (I Ain't Built for Speed)"/"Off the Record", as the Big Boys in 1983. In 1986, RCA released a Christmas album, It's the Christmas Man. Beyond this point, he concentrated on live cabaret performances and television work. He later appeared regularly on Hey Hey It's Saturday.

In November 1988 there was a golf tournament held in May's honor.[7][8]

In 1988, May received the Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, the highest honour available to a New Zealand variety entertainer.[9]

On 1 June 1988, Ricky May had a fatal heart attack at the Regent Hotel, Sydney, after getting a standing ovation on the opening night of a new cabaret show.[10] He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.[10] He was 44 years of age.[11] His wife, Colleen Ann May, died on 17 August 2017, aged 75.[11][12]

• Ricky May at IMDb
• Ricky May, recordings.
• Hey Hey Its Saturday Ricky May tribute package, 1988