With the very sad news that Jimmy and the Boys' iconic frontman Ignatius Jones has passed away, we look back briefly at a stunning career that played a crucial role in Australian music's evolution.
Jimmy And The Boys was a new wave/shock rock band from Sydney, formed in 1976 by old school friends Ignatius Jones, born Juan Ignacio Trapaga (lead vocals), and Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth, born William O’Riordan (keyboard and vocals). They were joined by a changing cast of supporting musicians over the band’s six-year life, before the group disbanded in 1982.
Their live act was very popular. On stage, Jimmy And The Boys set out to amuse, shock and outrage their audience, with stage antics that included contortionist acts by Ignatius and onstage fires, amid a somewhat chaotic celebration of sado-masochism and depravity. Alongside the theatrics, the band was very good musically, swinging from pop to rock to cabaret with ease.
Vale Ignatius Jones
- Legendary Jimmy and the Boys frontman Ignatius Jones has passed away
- Jones was artistic director for the Sydney Olympics, Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations and Vivid, among others
- He co-wrote and co-directed the stage musical, The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular
- He was awarded the Order of Australia in 2019
- He died after a short illness at his home in the Phillipines yesterday
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They Won’t Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me, from the band’s second album Teddy Boys Picnic, was the band’s only Top 10 single, reaching No. 8 on the national charts on 15 June 1981, where it stayed for three weeks. The song is a captivating, tastefully arranged pop ballad about a man’s girlfriend being forcibly detained in a mental home. Written by Split Enz founder Tim Finn, it showcases the band’s excellent musicianship and Finn’s wry sense of humour and clever word play: “I said what’s going on/you’re just showing off/Well I’m cracking down/on your cracking up… There’s nothing wrong with her/that a dose of me won’t cure/But they won’t let my girlfriend talk to me”.
After opening the ABC’s hugely popular music show Countdown on 17 May 1981 with a highly entertaining live performance of the song, Ignatius Jones and Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth went on to introduce the program, with Joylene dressed as a transgender nurse and Ignatius gagged and tied with ropes to a wheelchair. This, by the band’s usual standards of shock and mayhem, was a quiet night in.
After a short break in 1982 to allow Ignatius Jones to perform onstage in the Rocky Horror Show, the band reformed mid-year to tour and record their live album In Hell With Your Mother. They disbanded in late 1982.
Pardon Me Boys and Monica Trapaga
After releasing his debut solo single later that year (written by The Church) and successful follow up Whispering Your Name, Ignatius established himself as a successful writer of dance club hits among the LGBT community, extending to the American west coast.
By this time, Ignatius had proven his diverse and impressive musical skills in his time with Jimmy and the Boys, but he took this to a new level with the short-lived swing jazz cabaret band, Pardon Me Boys. Over a three-year spell the group only recorded one eponymous album that charted outside the top 50, but they supported the likes of Randy Crawford on Australian tours and furthered Ignatius’ creative partnership with his sister, famed Australian entertainer and presenter Monica Trapaga. He also performed on Baz Luhrmann’s smash-hit 1992 film Strictly Ballroom, among countless other achievements.
“A bon-vivant, a lively raconteur and a real Renaissance man”
“It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of Ignatius Jones AM, after a short illness,” his family said in a statement. “He died peacefully at 9.30pm, Sydney time, last night (7 May) at Iloilo City, the Philippines.
“Known professionally as Ignatius Jones, by his friends as ‘Iggy’, and by his family as ‘Nacho’, Juan Ignacio Trápaga y Esteban was born in the Philippines in 1957, before the family moved to Wahroonga, Sydney. Iggy had immense creative energy, and spent over 50 years contributing to the arts, both in Australia and internationally. He was one of the world’s leading Event Directors, Devisors and Designers. He contributed to Australia’s arts as director, performer, and author, first achieving success as a singer with his shock rock band ‘Jimmy And The Boys’, and later forming the swing band Pardon Me Boys, featuring his sister, Monica Trápaga.
“For six years he was director of the Sydney New Year’s Eve Celebrations (1996-2002), and personally directed the City of Sydney’s Millennium Celebrations. He was Artistic Director for the Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Segment (horses) and the Harbour Spectacular Closing Ceremony, and the City of Sydney’s New Year’s Eve and Centenary of Federation Celebrations. Further afield, he directed productions for Dolly Parton in Tennessee, and staged the Independence Ceremonies of East Timor in May 2002. He co-directed the Ceremonies of the Doha 2006 Asian Games, the Opening Ceremony of Shanghai 2010 World Expo and the Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. From 2011 until 2019 Jones was Creative Director of Vivid Sydney and was Artistic Director for the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade (2011-2015).
“Iggy was immensely proud in 2018, when he was Awarded Full Membership of the Order of Australia, General Division, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as part of the Australia Day Honours for his contribution to Entertainment and Literature. In October 2018 he married his long-time partner, Novy Bereber a Filipino-Australian choreographer from Iloilo City. He retired to the Philippines with his husband, Novy, in 2022.
“His friends and family will remember Iggy as a bon-vivant, a lively raconteur and a real Renaissance man, immensely and passionately knowledgeable in history and the arts. The arts community in Australia has lost a champion, and dinner parties will now be less interesting, with his passing. He is survived by his husband, Novy, his mother, Margot Martin, his brother Luis Miguel, sisters, Rocio and Monica, and a gaggle of nieces and nephews.”
Find out more about Jimmy and the Boys and their legacy here, or read about them in our guide to Australia’s most obscure hit singles here.
