Flashback: Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston played at Gold Coast for Sanctuary Cove launch
IT’S been 30 years since the biggest concert in the Gold Coast’s history. From Frank Sinatra to Peter Allen and Whitney Houston, The Ultimate Event had everything. Here’s how we celebrated it.
History
Don't miss out on the headlines from History. Followed categories will be added to My News.
DESPITE months of planning and the biggest line-up of stars the Gold Coast had ever seen, the opening of Sanctuary Cove was on the verge of disaster.
The $400 million northern Gold Coast resort was scheduled for its opening in the first weeks of 1988 with ‘The Ultimate Event’ a gathering of celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Peter Allen and some of sports biggest names.
But a day of heavy rain was predicted for the opening of the five-day celebration, putting the fear into fans and organisers the event would be ruined.
But 30 years ago this week, Sanctuary Cove boss Mike Gore was so confident the rain would fail to eventuate that he destroyed his own umbrella in front of the media.
Gore vowed the event would be a success with the arrival of Sinatra and predicted it would be the iconic singer’s final Australian appearance.
“All the legends are dead but Frank Sinatra is alive and he is still a legend,” he said.
“Let’s face it, this country is never going to see Frank Sinatra again.”
Allen was the first celebrity to arrive, with his mum Marion in tow.
Speaking to the Bulletin before his performance, Allen recalled getting his start in showbiz on the Coast.
“I read in the paper they needed entertainers in Surfers so I took out all the money I had in the bank, left school and came up here,” he said.
“I did two nights at the Chevron Hotel when I started.
“The rest is history.”
But it wasn’t just entertainers who were getting ready for the celebration. Horse racing identity John Singleton arrived on the Coast for the event and enjoyed drinks with close friend Gore while tennis star Chris Evert arrived.
Evert ended up having one of the event’s most memorable moments when she was upstaged momentarily by singing superstar Whitney Houston.
Houston was fresh of the success of her second album Whitney, which included songs I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) and Didn’t We Almost Have It All.
But as Evert held a press conference discussing her tennis plans, Houston burst into song at a press gathering.
Despite delivering a powerful performance, Houston’s performance was not well received by the crowd.
The atmosphere from her onstage magic failed to translate to the crowd which included Ian Baker-Finch, Martina Navratilova, Russ Hinze and Eddie Kornhauser.
People complained they were bored and thousands left the show before Houston closed her performance.
But the main performance was of course Sinatra, who arrived, made peace with the Australian media at a surprise press conference and then took to the stage.
Playing for a crowd of more than 40,000, he performed 19 classics during his hour-long set, which cost organisers $1.4 million.
Among that audience was Daryl Summers, Molly Meldrum, Jackie Love and Barry Crocker.
Following the weekend, Houston celebrated the end of her weekend with a meal at Oskars with friends.
Her white Mercedes limousine caused a minor stir when it was double parked outside the eatery’s Frederick St address during her two-hour meal.
‘The one that got away’: Coast’s most infamous unsolved crime
A man raped multiple women across the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads and murdered a man during a year-long reign of terror before disappearing suddenly. THE TERRIFYING STORY
‘Utterly unforeseeable’: What led to double-stabbing inside Coast home
Two people were found stabbed to death in a northern Gold Coast home in an incident which made headlines around the country before a court was told what really happened.