From Baan Baa to the world stage

His fans and the music industry in Australia and overseas are mourning the passing of talented songwriter, vocalist and musician Ron Peno who died in Toorak, Melbourne, on August 11.

Ron Peno was born at Boggabri hospital, on July 26, 1955, raised at Baan Baa, and was a student at Baan Baa Public and Narrabri High School before he set off for Sydney and a music career spanning decades which took him to national and international recognition.

He was an iconic figure among his large fan base in Australia and overseas and hundreds of online tributes have flowed following his death.

Ron died, aged 68, at home with his wife Charity and his son Zebadiah present and attended by his band mates and other friends.

Ron’s sister Jan Etheridge, Narrabri, and her husband Peter visited Ron in the days prior to his death.

Jan is one of his three sisters who were at his bedside.

“Ron was passionate about music from the youngest age,” Jan said.

“He was writing songs and playing instruments right through school – it was what he always wanted to do.”

Ron’s talents as a songwriter saw his bands performing all his original songs – he wrote the songs for the bands.

Ron Peno was an iconic figure in the rock music world over many years.

He was nominated for Best Male at the annual EG Awards (known as Music Victoria Awards since 2013) celebrating Victorian music.

He fronted the band ‘Died Pretty’ from 1983 to 2002.

“Sydney band Died Pretty has produced some of the most inspirational rock music heard in Australia. By drawing on an eclectic and diverse range of influences Died Pretty arrived at an original sound that was always passionate, atmospheric and uplifting,” prominent rock music historian Ian McFarlane wrote in a review.

The band issued eight studio albums. Prior to Died Pretty, Ron was a member of the punk band The Hellcats (1976–77), followed by hard rock band The 31st (in Brisbane, 1979–81) and Screaming Tribesmen (1981).

In his later years, after relocating to Melbourne, Ron formed the alt-country duo The Darling Downs with Kim Salmon and finally his own band, Ron S. Peno and The Superstitions.

Ron S Peno and The Superstitions released four albums – Future Universe (2011), Anywhere and Everything Is Bright (2013), Guiding Light (2017) and Do The Understanding (2021).

At the time of his passing Ron’s band was booked ahead for sold out concerts in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Ron Peno was one of nine children, four girls and five boys, members of a well-known Baan Baa district family.

After his early life at Baan Baa, attending the two-teacher Baan Public School which in those days had an enrolment of almost 100 pupils, Ron caught the bus each day to Narrabri High where as a student he launched a band, Virgin Frogs, and ultimately set off for Sydney to pursue his music dreams. His successful music career saw he and the band achieve rock star status, but Jan said, he resisted the label ‘rock star.’

“He didn’t want to be known as a star – just to play with his band mates for their audiences,” Jan said.

Ron and his band travelled the world.

“Perhaps many didn’t know him but he had a large fanbase, particularly overseas, and at Australian capital city venues,” said Jan.

The hundreds of national and international tributes following his death are a testament to Ron Peno’s status in the music industry.