Joe Dolce

Born: Painesville, Ohio, USA, in 1947. Joe Dolce moved to Australia in 1979, becoming a citizen in 2004. He is known internationally for the most successful song in Australian music history, Shaddap You Face, Number One on the pop charts in fifteen countries holding the record for the largest selling single in Australian music history for 33 years. Over the past twenty years he has achieved award-winning recognition as songwriter, composer, poet and essayist. He set fifteen poems of C.P Cavafy to music and works by Sappho, Sylvia Plath, Les Murray, Ali Cobby Eckermann and others. He won the Launceston Poetry Cup, at the 25th Tasmanian Poetry Festival, in 2010. He has had over 76 poems and 25 songlyrics published by Les Murray, and his poetry and essays appear in Quadrant, Monthly, Island, Southerly, Australian Love Poems, The Canberra Times, Going Down Swinging, PEN Melbourne (in English/Arabic translation and English/Vietnamese translation), Meanjin, Etchings, Overland, Cordite, Journey, Carmenta, Vine Leaves, Eye of the Telescope (sci-fi), Contrappasso, Voltage (USA)and Antipodes (USA). Home: Carlton, Victoria.