Iconic pop singer John Paul Young is shedding a little light on his life through the men's shed movement and a new tour.
Toronto Men's Shed has made John Paul a life member, following his hosting of The Shed Wireless podcast for the Australian Men's Shed Association.
"My son Danny and I put together the podcast, along with the office of the men's shed," said John Paul, who has lived in Lake Macquarie for 34 years.
"We talk about men's health, leisure activities and we try to interview as many interesting people as we can. We have Dr Karl coming up.
"We just did John Williamson. A few of my old rock and roll mates are in there, like Glenn Shorrock."
He said the men's shed movement was "a great thing".
"The most interesting thing about it is the germ of the idea came from two women.
"An interesting point is there are more men's sheds in Australia than there are McDonald's outlets.
"It's an Australian idea that has taken off around the world."
Former ABC Newcastle radio host Aaron Kearney started the podcast.
"He was friends with Danny. He asked if we could write a jingle for the men's shed."
The song was used for a TV ad.
John Paul said "a fishing buddy of mine gets involved" in the podcast.
"We talk fishing. We'll expand that to talk about all things outdoors because the old grey nomads are taking over the world as we know it," he joked.
50 Years Young
John Paul, who had a global hit in 1978 with Love Is In The Air, is a month into a new interstate tour, titled 50 Years Young - The Anniversary Tour.
The two-hour singing and talking show will be held at Lizotte's at Lambton on May 27 and Cessnock Performing Arts Centre on June 11.
"It's called 50 Years Young because it's been 50 years since my first song - Pasadena - got airplay," he said.
"It's been 50 years since the opening night of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. A lot of things happened back in 1972 for me. I'm celebrating everything that's happened since then."
He starts the show talking about his relationship with Molly Meldrum.
"Then I go back to Glasgow and my dad's idea of emigrating to Australia."
At age 11, Young came to Australia with his family on board the SS Canberra. They arrived in Sydney on Australia Day in 1962.
"The most amazing thing is my mum told me the first song I ever sang was the Wild Colonial Boy by Banjo Paterson.
"I was a two and a half year-old kid in Glasgow singing a song written by an Aussie."
"My mother was a Protestant. My dad was a Catholic. I think the Wild Colonial Boy came to me through my dad's side of the family, being an Irish rebellion song."
John Paul has no sign of a Scottish accent now. "That's one of the stories I tell [in the show]. I was bullied at primary school, as soon as I got here, by a kid who must have repeated three or four times. He had facial hair in sixth class. He used to rib me something fierce."
One of his hobbies as a kid was "taking the piss out of accents".
So over a weekend, he learnt how to speak with an Australian accent.
He turned up at school on the Monday with his new accent. His tormentor had "nowhere to go".
