A musical history

Broker John Gregory tells MPA about his passion for vinyl records

A musical history

Mortgage broker John Gregory’s “love affair” with music began when the Beatles came to Australia when he was just eight years old. He went on to see the likes of Michael Hutchence, Billy Thorpe and ACDC perform in local pubs, and over the last 10 years he has collected hundreds of vinyl records.

Gregory owned his first record at about 16 years of age and now has more than 300 in his collection. One of the records – Led Zeppelin I, released in 1969 – is estimated to be worth around $5,000.

Beyond simply collecting and listening to these records, Gregory says he enjoys learning the history of the bands, how they formed, and about their journeys to becoming famous.

“When you pick up an album, the whole story is there. The album cover art, the album sleeve, the graphics, the words to the songs, the record itself – it's the history part of it that I enjoy more than anything else,” Gregory says.