Ricky May

Richard Ernest May (22 November 19431 June 1988) was a New Zealand born jazz singer and musician, best known for singing cover versions of numerous pop songs or jazz standards. He moved to Australia in 1962 where he worked mainly in theatre and cabaret and had TV appearances on The Don Lane Show, The Midday Show and Hey Hey It's Saturday, as well as taking over hosting from Mike Walsh on pop music show Ten on the Town His father, Keith May, was a jazz band leader and played alto saxophone. Smith's group had Tommy Tamati on bass guitar, and May joined on drums and backing vocals. From March of that year, he hosted the Sydney teen pop music TV series Ten on the Town on TEN 10. It ran in direct competition with Bandstand on TCN 9 and Col Joye on ATN 7. He issued no further recordings until 1973: a double album with the Julian Lee Orchestra, Fats Enough, on ABC records. In 1974, ABC decided to release a second double album, Just Foolin' Around – A Tribute to Louis Armstrong. In 1983, the first half of this album was re released on CD as A Tribute to the Greats. 1981 saw the J&B release an album, Ricky May, while ABC Records issued a compilation, The Best of Ricky May, on CD. He issued a duet single with Jonathan Coleman, "Built for Comfort (I Ain't Built for Speed)"/"Off the Record", as the Big Boys in 1983. In 1986, RCA released a Christmas album, It's the Christmas Man. Beyond this point, he concentrated on live cabaret performances and television work. He later appeared regularly on Hey Hey It's Saturday. In November 1988 there was a golf tournament held in May's honor.

In 1988, May received the Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, the highest honour available to a New Zealand variety entertainer.

On 1 June 1988, Ricky May had a fatal heart attack at the Regent Hotel, Sydney, after getting a standing ovation on the opening night of a new cabaret show. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital. His wife, Colleen Ann May, died on 17 August 2017, aged 75.