Researching Joe Lane

Born Keith Joseph Lane in Sydney, Australia, he first heard bebop whilst in the army in 1947. After leaving the army he studied with conductor and teacher of advanced harmony Roy Maling, and then introduced vocal bebop into Sydney clubs such as El Rocco, the Arabian, and the Mocambo. In 1949 he formed a vocal group with Ian Gunter, which worked at Sammy Lee's Club 47. He took on the stage name of Joe "Bebop" Lane.

In the 1950s Lane led the Dee Jays, which singer Johnny O'Keefe later took over, and managed to secure jamming sessions with visiting Americans, including members of the Lionel Hampton and Stan Kenton bands. He also worked on the Cool for Cats TV show in Melbourne.

1968 saw Lane moving to New Zealand where he established his own jazz club/workshop in Auckland, presenting concerts and master-classes on the bebop vocal style. Returning to Sydney in 1971 he continued working venues and festivals.

In the mid-1980s, he formed his own band Killer Joe, with drummer Dennis Sutherland, and later, The Jazz Cats, which had a residency at Sydney's Criterion Hotel. He also presented a 'history of jazz' show at The Basement in Sydney, which became legendary for the audience reactions it elicited.

Lane was given a feature role in Kevin Lucas's award-winning jazz film Beyond El Rocco and in the mid-1990s he released his CD album, The Arrival.

He was a headline artist in the Canberra Jazz Initiative in 1993, which was a month-long festival produced by students from the ANU School of Music Jazz Department. An established jazz artist was teamed up with the best student players for each of the twelve concerts.

In 2002, Lane featured as soloist with the Australian Art Orchestra, directed by Paul Grabowsky (with ten other jazz vocalists) at the Sydney Opera House in a concert for the Sydney Festival entitled Testimony – An Examination of the Life and Music of Charlie Parker.

Joe Lane spent his final years in a nursing home in Sydney's inner-west, following a stroke that left him unable to speak, although he was remarkably still able to sing, which he did whenever his many musician friends visited. He died there on 13 April 2007, aged 80.

After spells with Hungarian club Ferencvárosi TC and English side Sunderland, Lane signed for another English club, Blackpool, in 1913 for £400. He made his debut for the club on 22 November 1913, in a 2–2 draw at home to Leeds City, scoring one of Blackpool's goals. He went on to make a further 25 appearances during the 1913–14 campaign, scoring ten more goals.

The following season, 1914–15, he was an ever-present in Blackpool's 38 league games and one FA Cup tie. He scored 28 goals, including two hat-tricks: one in the second league game of the season, a 3–1 victory at Hull City on 5 September 1914, and all of the goals in Blackpool's victory against Glossop at Bloomfield Road on 21 November. Despite Lane's goal haul, Blackpool still only managed a tenth-placed finish after losing almost as many games as they won.

In 1915–16, World War I intervened, leading to the implementation of regional competitions. Lane served in Egypt with the Hertfordshire Yeomanry during the conflict.

When the Football League resumed in 1919–20, with Blackpool's new manager, Bill Norman, in his second season in charge, Lane continued where he had left off, netting 26 goals in 30 league appearances. He scored one hat-trick, in a 6–0 whitewash of Lincoln City at Bloomfield Road on 8 September 1919. He left Blackpool with two months of the season remaining, joining Birmingham for a Blackpool club-record fee of £3,600.

After a spell at Millwall, he finished his playing career with Watford Printing when he was in his 40s. He went on to coach at Barcelona for a period.

Lane died in Abbots Langley in February 1959, aged 66.

Lane was born in Roswell, New Mexico. In 1940, he moved to Arizona where his grandfather has his ranch O Bar O Ranch near Willcox, Arizona, in Bonita, Arizona. Lane went to elementary school in Willcox, Arizona and to the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico. He received his bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Arizona. Lane served in the United States Army, from 1957 until 1960, and was commissioned a first lieutenant. Lane owned cattle ranches in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. He served in the Arizona House of Representatives, as a Republican, from 1979 to 1989 and was speaker from 1987 to 1989. He died in Tucson, Arizona from Parkinson's disease.