Television legend Johnny Young was married four times but, in an interview eight years before his death, only referred to having had three wives.
The former Young Talent Time star’s personal life was also marred by tragedy, with his first wife dying of leukaemia in her 20s and his only son dying of pancreatic cancer in middle age.
Young’s family announced on Friday that the beloved singer, songwriter and music producer had died of the same disease as his son, aged 79.
‘Johnny was the creator, host and producer of the much-loved television show Young Talent Time,’ the family said in a statement.
‘He wrote and produced many iconic hit songs including The Real Thing and Smiley.
‘Johnny leaves behind his wife Marisha, sister Cornelia, daughters Anna and Fleur, son Craig (dec.), seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.’
‘The family respectfully asks for privacy during this difficult time. Details of a memorial service will be announced soon.’
Young became a household name as the host of Young Talent Time, the hugely successful variety program that aired from 1971 to 1988.
Television legend Johnny Young was married four times but in an interview eight years before his death only referred to having had three wives. He is pictured with fourth wife Marisha
Young married his third wife Rose McKimmie in Bali in 1999. The couple lived in a battery-operated cottage outside Melbourne but that union did not last beyond 2002
The show helped launch the musical careers of Dannii Minogue, Tina Arena, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali and Debra (then known as ‘Debbie’) Byrne.
Young was born Johnny Benjamin Arthur de Jong in the Netherlands and raised as the son of Fokke Jan de Jong and his wife Anna.
His biological father was a musician called Johannes, with whom his mother had an affair while her soldier husband was stationed in Indonesia after World War II.
The family moved to Perth in the 1950s, where Young worked as a trainee disc jockey and began his entertainment career singing at local dances.
Young’s first marriage, in 1964, was to childhood sweetheart Jane, the mother of his son Craig.
Following Jane’s death, Young married again in 1972, to Cathy, with whom he had daughters Anna and Fleur.
Young and Cathy split in 1995, and after Craig’s death in 2015, aged just 48, the performer became much closer to his daughters.
‘Cathy and I were together for 20 years and even though our relationship ran out of steam, we are still friends,’ he told the Sun-Herald in May 2018.
The former Young Talent Time’s personal life was also marred by tragedy, with his first wife dying of leukaemia in her 20s and his only son dying of pancreatic cancer in middle-age.
Young Talent Time helped launch the musical careers of Dannii Minogue (above), Tina Arena, Jamie Redfern, Jane Scali and Debra (then known as ‘Debbie’) Byrne
In the same interview, Young failed to mention his third marriage to Rose McKimmie, with whom he tied the knot in Bali on Christmas Eve in 1999.
Young said he ‘never thought it would ever happen’ when he appeared on an episode of Australian Story in 2000 with McKimmie, whom he described as ‘the most beautiful lady in the world’.
McKimmie said: ‘We went to Bali and we eloped. It was like a fairytale; it was beautiful. We danced around each other for years and years and years. We were great friends. We’ve always been great friends.’
Young said he had done ‘a bit of running away for a while’, but every time he got cold feet, McKimmie would say, ‘OK, we’ll take our time, you go and do what you have to do’.
‘And then you know, I’d come back and then on we’d go and then eventually I just said, “Well, I can’t live without you, I want to go and tie the knot”,’ Young told the program.
McKimmie said: ‘I said, “Say that again” and he said, “I can’t live without you”.’
The couple lived in a battery-powered cottage called Rosewood outside Melbourne, but the union did not last beyond 2002.
Instead of mentioning McKimmie in the Sun-Herald interview, Young spoke of his final marriage to economist Marisha, with whom he had been in a relationship since the early 2000s.
‘Marisha, my Polish-born wife, and I have been together 15 years and I am very happy to say everything has worked out in the end,’ Young told the Sun-Herald in 2018
‘I fell in love and married a third time,’ Young told the newspaper.
‘Marisha, my Polish-born wife, and I have been together 15 years and I am very happy to say everything has worked out in the end.
‘I feel very lucky to have met her. I don’t take anything for granted and treasure every moment.’
Young told the Sun-Herald he had his first girlfriend when he was ‘barely four’ and still living in the Netherlands.
‘She lived next door to us in Rotterdam and it was sad when we left to come to Australia,’ he said.
‘We went to kindergarten together and I met her again 34 years later. She was married with kids and had never forgotten me.’
Young first saw girls ‘in a different light’ after noticing Annette Funicello on The Mickey Mouse Club TV show when he was about nine.
That program gave him the idea for Young Talent Time.
‘By the time I was 13, I really started to notice girls and was confident enough to get up at dances and sing songs,’ he said.
‘I had a band at 14 and left school around the same time. Music gives you a great advantage… girls show interest just because of that.’
Young revealed he had a celebrity crush on American singer and actor Doris Day, who died aged 97 in 2019.
‘I loved her comedic movies,’ he said. ‘She was a great actress and I think I liked her because my mother did as well.’
