Mike Brady

Michael Brady was born in England in 1948 and migrated to Australia with his family in the 1950s. His professional career in music began at 15, becoming one-third of the 1960s pop act MPD Ltd, known for hits like “Little Boy Sad.” The band toured extensively, including Australia and the U.K. Brady also toured Vietnam with a different band, entertaining troops. After MPD Ltd disbanded, he continued releasing solo singles, with “Sympathy” reaching the Australian Top 50, and he contributed backing vocals to Renée Geyer’s album “It’s a Man’s Man’s World.” In the mid-1970s, Brady established his own record company, “Full Moon Records,” and a publishing company, “Remix Publishing.”

Brady gained significant public attention in 1978 when the Seven Network commissioned him to write a jingle for the Victorian Football League (VFL). This resulted in “Up There Cazaly,” a song that became synonymous with Australian rules football. Released as a single by The Two-Man Band in July 1979, it quickly reached number one on the Australian charts by September 1979 and became the highest-selling Australian single at the time, with over 240,000 sales by October 1979 and exceeding 260,000 by the end of 1980. He also composed “One Day in September,” another iconic football anthem, and continued to create advertising jingles for major Australian brands. His jingles include classics such as “Lucky, You’re with AAMI” and “Hard Yakka.” In the 1980s, Brady formed Music Motivators with Gerry Bryant to produce corporate tunes. His company, Full Moon Records, also released successful singles like Mark Jackson’s “I’m An Individual” and Joe Dolce’s “Shuddap You Face.”

Beyond his musical career, Brady has been actively involved in community and charity work. He serves as a board member for the Prostate Cancer Foundation Australia Victorian Board and is a Life Member of Variety Victoria. He is also a patron of the Bali Children Foundation and the Australian Huntington’s Disease Association (Vic), and an Australia Day ambassador. From 2016 to 2020, he worked as a music mixer for the TV series “Nova.” In 2013, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his significant contributions to music and the community. In 2017, he was named Victorian of the Year by the Victoria Day Council. He continues to perform live and works as a radio presenter at Melbourne station 3AW, hosting “Mike to Midnight” during the non-football months.