John’s family had begun to emigrate to Australia in 1975. Around 1980, while performing in Switzerland, John contracted pneumonia. His mother, worried for his health, organised an airline ticket for John to come out to stay with them in Perth, Western Australia for two months while he recovered and got back on his feet. Arriving to warm weather and sunshine John spent time in a typically Australian way with a backyard family party at his brother Andrew’s house. John’s nieces and nephews opened the gifts he had brought while dressed in their bathers and enjoying a swim in the pool.  He took the opportunity to try out his scuba diving gear, a hobby he had been introduced to by singer Beryl Bryden at the start of 1980 while working on the Côte D’Azur at the Festival Bar in Juan-Les-Pins.

It was during this two-month sojourn in Perth that John played his first Australian concert at the Octagon Theatre at the University of Western Australia, the concert being broadcast live by the University radio station 6UVS.  It was the start of a fruitful long-term relationship. A few years later, in 1989, John performed live in a seven-part series called Ragtime Dynasty, recorded at the UWA Callaway Auditorium for John Green’s Saturday morning radio show, “Hear Me Talking to You”.

Punch and Judy

Puppeteering became a particular interest of John’s around 1977. In choosing to become a ‘professor’ of Punch and Judy, John was following a tradition of puppeteering and busking that has existed for over 350 years.  He was also following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Bill ‘Crackerjack’ Johnson, who worked as a busker in Leicester Square and Covent Garden in London. Busking was often used to try and attract the attention of London’s theatrical agents who could employ you to play in seaside shows for the summer season. John was introduced to this form of entertaining at an early age.

“In 1977 while working at Whitewoods Hotel in Guernsey I started to take an interest in Punch and Judy after seeing the show of punchman Hugh Cecil.”

Hugh Cecil was famous for his unique Punch and Judy show performed at Covent Garden, ‘Hugh Cecil and Smoky the Clown’. He was also a well-known British magician and actor.

“On my next trip to London I started to assemble my own show. John Alexander was a great help and inspiration to me in this field. John Alexander is a very well-known Punch professor in London and his kind wife Joyce gave me my present Mr. Punch as an Easter gift. The figure was made in the late 1920’s by Fred Tickner.”

Punch and Judy shows are often associated with British culture however their roots can be traced back to 16th Century Italian comic arts and the character Punchinello. In the 1970s, Punch and Judy shows were a common sight at seaside resorts, and the craft obviously appealed to John. He started his Punch and Judy performances working the beachfronts in the south of France. His good friend Beryl Bryden, purportedly described by Ella Fitzgerald as “Britain’s Queen of the blues”, was a well-known jazz singer and washboard player, who acted as John’s “bottler”, the person who introduced the show and collected the “bottle”, or donations, from the watching crowd. The figure of Punch given to John by Joyce Alexander was made by Fred Tickner, one of England’s most famous makers of the puppets. John Alexander, a founding member of the British Punch and Judy Fellowship, published books showing how to create your own Punch and Judy frame and set up. 

In Perth, John produced his own half-hour long Punch and Judy shows which he performed at various locations. His mother Joan, dressed as a clown, worked as his “bottler”. Performing the show required focus and effort. It could be hot inside the tented box-like structure, each hand worked more than one puppet, and not being able to see up above, you had to remember what was where and ensure the dialogue matched each character.

John continued to take opportunities to broaden his exposure with a television appearance on talent show New Faces with Bert Newton on Channel 9. He was unsuccessful on that occasion as they felt John did not communicate well enough with the television audience. Difficult to do playing a rapid ragtime piece, and one of John’s favourites, Maple Leaf Rag. John was always fully focussed on the task at hand and combined with that, according to his mother, did not suffer fools gladly.  He was at his best immersed in his music and to this end he played concerts at venues like the Hole in the Wall Theatre where he performed “50 Years of Jazz Piano” in 1988. Local Jazz club owner Roy Burton wrote articles for the Daily News and by 1989 John had captured Burton’s attention and got regular write-ups. (Burton owned the Jazz Cellar venue in Mt. Hawthorn near where Joan was running a delicatessen and the pair met at the Railway Hotel. Joan suggested John as a fill-in pianist when Burton was in need of one.)

In 1984 John attended the first W.A. Jazz Festival in York and thereafter played at every one of them until his untimely death in 2011. It was in January 1990 however that John’s unique talent was spotted by someone who could make a difference to his career. Following the 44th Annual Australian Jazz Convention in Perth in 1989, John was playing at an English-style pub called the Pig and Whistle and was noticed by Gretel James, prominent in the Victorian jazz scene. John was stunned when Gretel approached him and asked him to play some Eubie Blake, a noted early African-American ragtime and jazz composer. This was his opening to the eastern states jazz scene. A turning point in John’s musical career was meeting American ragtime pianist Frank French at the Montsalvat Jazz Festival in January 1993. This fortuitous meeting led to John being invited to play at his first international festival, the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival, organised by Frank, in July of that year.

John also met Dave Johnson from Oklahoma in 1993. Dave was on holiday in Perth when he bought one of John’s CDs and rang the producer to find out where he could go to watch John perform. Given John’s phone number, John immediately invited Dave and his wife to his home where after tea and a chat John performed five hours of unbelievable improvisational ragtime music favourites. Thus began a friendship which saw Dave host John and organise two sets of concerts in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during 1995 and 1999.

John became a regular headliner at ragtime music festivals in the United States. He travelled all over the country giving concerts in 1995. He wowed US audiences with his technical skills and he returned to perform there annually. At the same time John became the first and only Australian pianist to become an accredited Bosendorfer Concert Artist. Bosendorfer, established in 1828 is one of the oldest piano manufacturers in the world, each instrument taking up to 6 years to construct and known for their rich tonal quality. Becoming an accredited Bosendorfer concert artist meant the company would provide a grand piano to be played wherever in the world the artist was performing.  This honour put John in the same ranks as other world-renowned pianists such as Stevie Wonder, Leonard Bernstein and André Previn. The National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra holds numerous sound recordings and films of John’s work from early recordings for radio in Western Australia to his performances at Australian jazz festivals, covering material from March 1989 to May 2005. John was also the final recording artist to perform for Australian piano roll company, Mastertouch in 2006, leaving a wonderful set of pianola rolls as a legacy.

Perth’s Piano Man

John became a familiar sight with his upright piano, stripped of its front panel so people could see its inner workings. He busked from around 1993 right through to the time he passed away in 2011. His favoured locations were in the Murray Street Mall either beneath the overhead walkway or out the front of department store Myer, or up the Barrack Street end of the Hay Street Mall. The piano would be taken out from storage under the Myer store, accessed by the lift in Forrest Chase or at the Town Hall.

John loved interacting with people and while he favoured the ragtime music he loved so much, he could also play almost any song people requested of him. John sold CDs of his recordings and accepted monetary donations from members of the public. He had regular supporters who loved to sit near him and listen to him play. People walking by were often stopped in their tracks when they heard John playing. Little did they know they were listening to a busker who had crafted for himself a reputation as a world-renowned ragtime pianist.

He had an old leather Gladstone bag in which he carried his piano tuning tools and he always tuned his own piano to make sure it sounded just as he wanted it to. He also loved to pull pianos apart and put them back together. He knew an astonishing amount about different types of pianos and their workings and could quote this information to anyone who asked.

Many people who came into the Perth city malls during those years will have fond memories of John who simply became known as Perth’s Piano Man.

Of the four City of Perth busking permit categories, Gill Permits, named in honour of John, are awarded to buskers who meet particular selection criteria. Basically, the current criteria revolve around the performance act including a variety of content, being suitable for public display, being well-presented and not related to religion, politics, advertising or canvassing. High quality or unique performance elements are desirable.  Gill permits are awarded to acts that are considered ‘low impact’, use smaller spaces with short-term audience engagement at specific locations.  

Sadly, for John’s family, friends and his adoring public, he died suddenly from a heart attack on 15 April 2011 aged just 57 years. At the time John was preparing for his 17th visit to the United States, a world-concert tour and then had plans to appear in Melbourne on his return.

His funeral service was held in Perth on 21 April 2011 and, in celebration of John’s achievements, he had his final send off in a custom-made black coffin decorated with silver musical clefs on the lid and piano keys painted along the edges. 

John continues to be honoured and remembered by his many supporters and fans world-wide. A very private man, John was with his partner, also named John, for 23 years.

Fight for Recognition

There was a splash of publicity following John’s untimely death in April 2011 with many calling for a permanent tribute to John as a musician and busker who had thrilled so many in the streets of Perth with his lively and entertaining music for almost 20 years. Initially, John’s mother Joan received a great deal of support for the idea of a permanent memorial to John in one of Perth’s city malls, however this undertaking did not gain the necessary approval from Perth City Council.

One of the vocal supporters for a memorial to John Gill was John Hyde, M.L.A., Member for Perth. Hyde believed that John’s presence and music in the city was a major factor in visitors to Perth leaving with a memorable City experience. He wrote to the Perth Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, just a few weeks after John’s death in 2011, praising the City’s leadership in installing public art and stating:

“I believe a memorial statue in the Murray Street Mall or an artistic rendition of his contribution as a busker would be a wonderful way to commemorate such a Perth treasure.”

Long-time Myer store manager David Ondaatje also supported the idea suggesting that: 

“…the best location for this memorial plaque be adjacent to where John always played his piano, which was adjacent to the Forrest Chase lift tower.”    

Sadly, the Lord Mayor declined to support the idea. Not quite the outcome so many people hoped for and certainly not a fitting recognition of John’s two decades of delighting everyone who saw or heard his wonderfully energetic play in the city malls. 

In 2015, Ron Knight, a founding member of the Jazz Club of W.A., took up the cause, speaking of his determination to get recognition for John Gill and playing John’s music on Radio Fremantle where he was a presenter. Sadly, Ron passed away before he was able to submit a formal application for John to be commemorated. 

Jordan Ingleton, then 25, and a fan of John’s, was the first on scene when John collapsed from a heart attack at the North Perth shopping centre on Fitzgerald Street. Jordan performed CPR until ambulances arrived.

"Despite my best efforts, two staff from the local Liquorland, and the ambulance officers who arrived as soon as they could, we were unable to save this wonderfully talented man.  I have many memories of stopping and watching him play in the city malls as a child and his death was incredibly sad. I think it's pathetic that this city has done nothing to honour him."

In 2016, the Museum of Perth took up the challenge of seeing John formally recognised by raising funds for a permanent tribute and commissioning this exhibition of his life.  Many of John’s fellow musicians, supporters, friends, fans and especially his mother Joan have contributed to the development of this tribute to John. 

The fight for a permanent memorial to John’s memory continues. 

This biography has been researched and compiled by Joanne Hyland with extensive input from John’s mother, Joan Gilling and fan and supporter Dave Johnson (US).