Mark Opitz leads music & radio names in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Multi-award winning master record producer and engineer Mark Opitz may have to add the letters AM after his name when he’s listed on future album credits.

He was made a Member of the Order of Australia yesterday (June 8) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

For almost five decades Opitz helped created the Aussie rock sound, working on albums by AC/DC, INXS, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Rose Tattoo, The Angels, The Divinyls, Australian Crawl, Richard Clapton, The Hitmen, Swanee and Noiseworks.

He’s renowned for getting the best out of his acts by using tactics such as going on the road and drinking hard with The Models, or playing cricket with Noiseworks in the corridor of an expensive hotel before recording sessions.

Opitz also served as the head of A&R for Warner Music from 1980 to 1997, and then at Mushroom Group between 1997 and 2001.

Jimmy Barnes has previously said he wouldn’t have a career without Opitz.

The unknown Guns N’Roses, who shaped their sound in Los Angeles listening to most of the above artists, asked him to helm their first album. He turned them down as he was booked in with the Hoodoo Gurus.

Opitz went on to work with KISS, Lenny Kravitz, Ray Charles and The Beach Boys, and he also produced John Paul Young’s 1978 release ‘Love Is In The Air’

When asked what he remembers best from his career, Opitz told The Brisbane Times it’s the “small things” in life… “like being there when Love is in the Air was created in the very first note to the very end in a 24-hour period.

“To create stuff that stands the test of time is a real gift back to me so when I hear it now with a listener’s ears when it gets played even to this day,” he said.

“I’m also proud of the fact that as a kid growing up I followed my dream. I put one foot in front of the other. You don’t know when you’re going to end up.”

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) recipients included singer & TV presenter Ray Burgess, actress & Chantoozies member Tottie Goldsmith, and Central Queensland country music balladeer Keith Jamieson who wrote ‘The Blue Gum Tree Ball’ for Slim Dusty.

Two radio names were honoured for contributions to the medium.

Aaron Kearney spent years with ABC Newcastle presenting its Breakfast and Drive shifts before leaving last year for sports diplomacy work in the Pacific.

Queensland’s Greig Bolderrow left radio in 2017 after starting out as a 17-year-old presenter and spent 33 years as manager at Southern Cross Austereo in Wide Bay. His honour was also for his community work in the Fraser Coast.