How Daryl Braithwaite has broken radio’s age barrier with new hit Love Song
Daryl Braithwaite is back on the horse — so to speak — with the popularity of his new single Love Songs soaring up the charts, putting him alongside hits from Harry Styles and Ariana Grande.
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Daryl Braithwaite has broken the age barrier at Australian commercial radio.
The 71 year old’s new single Love Songs was the 25th most played song on radio last week, putting him alongside Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd.
“It’s getting airplay on an extraordinary amount of stations,” Braithwaite said.
“There’s a glimpse of hope for older artists, if you have the right song you have a chance of getting it played. Age shouldn’t come into it. It does sound mighty on radio.”
Sia, 44, and Kylie Minogue, 52, join Braithwaite the only other artists over 40 in this week’s Top 40 most played songs on local radio.
The radio attention has helped Love Songs become Braithwaite’s first Top 50 hit in 27 years.
“How good is that!,” Braithwaite said. “Whenever we get to play shows again I can’t wait to perform it and see what kind of reaction it gets.”
His last major chart hit was The Horses, which made No. 1 in 1991, but continues to be embraced by new generations – it has been streamed 31 million times on Spotify.
Braithwaite will perform on new ABC music show The Sound tonight as part of a tribute to late Skyhooks’ singer Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan.
Skyhooks opened for Braithwaite’s band Sherbet at the Opera House in September 1974, a month before their Living in the 70s album was released – it would go on to spend 16 weeks at No. 1 and was the highest-selling album by an Australian artist at the time.
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“When I saw Skyhooks it was like ‘Who’s this kooky band from Melbourne?’,” Braithwaite recalled.
“I got to meet Graeme at the Opera House, he was hammering something on the drum riser. We got chatting and we realised we were both Capricorns, both surfed, were both lead singers and were both ex-tradesmen. We became friends straight away.”
Braithwaite will perform Living in the 70s on The Sound with Patience Hodgson (The Grates), Laura Davidson and Ross Wilson, who also produced the original album.
The Sound, ABC, Sunday, 5.30pm