Hans Poulsen - Biography

Biography

He was born as Bruce Gordon Poulsen to parents Vic and Nellie who played two instruments, lap-steel & ukulele with their styles of Hawaiian music, bush ballads and Country & Western music.

His grandfather migrated to Victoria from Denmark and being proud of his heritage Poulsen took on the first names of Hans Sven when he was still a teenager. It is possible he took the name as a stage-name when he started his school in 1961 called the Rimfires; at this time he played around the Frankston area, an outer suburb of Melbourne and around the Mornington Peninsula region on the coast. It was here he learnt his craft and became known for his interpretation of Buddy Holly music and songs.

In 1965 Poulsen formed the first version of Melbourne group 18th Century Quartet, which played original material (mostly by Poulsen) and performed in a style that later came to be known as world music; the group also differed from most of its contemporaries with its use of diverse acoustic instruments including mandolin, autoharp and bouzouki.

After embarking on a solo career in 1967, Poulsen scored two Australian pop hits with the songs "Boom Sha La La Lo", "Light Across the Valley" and he enjoyed great success as a songwriter with hits written for other artists, including "Rose Coloured Glasses" for John Farnham and "Monty and Me" for Zoot. One of his best-known and most successful compositions, "It's Only A Matter Of Time", was the much-played B-side of the famous single "The Real Thing" by Russell Morris, which was an Australian #1 hit in May 1969.

In 1972 Poulsen relocated to the Findhorn Foundation spiritual community in north east Scotland, where he recorded three albums, What A Way To Look At Life: Findhorn Foundation Sing-along, It Can't Be Described In Words and Universal Hands (all 1975, all released on cassette only by the Findhorn Foundation). These featured many of Poulsen' own songs, plus some by other community singers. Short clips of Poulsen performing several songs are included in the documentary Findhorn, produced in 1974 and reissued on DVD by Earthworks Films in 2006. Poulsen left Findhorn in 1976. Poulsen's career was cut short in the late 1970s when he suffered first cancer and then a stroke, and spent several years in hospital. On his recovery he went on to become a music therapist.

A booklet, Hans Poulsen - Troubadour, was written by Australian music journalist Paul McHenry and published by Moonlight Publications in 1996.