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Biography
Joy McKean (born Mildred Geraldine Joy McKean in Singleton, New South Wales, on 14 January 1930; died 25 May 2023) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and, at one time, the wife and manager of Slim Dusty. The mother of country musicians Anne Kirkpatrick and David Kirkpatrick, she recorded as McKean Sisters (with sister Heather McKean) and as Slim Dusty & Joy McKean (with her then husband) as well as her own recordings.
McKean, known as the Queen of Australian country music, is remembered a pioneer in the Australian music industry and recognized as one of Australia's leading songwriters and bush balladeers who wrote several of Slim Dusty's most popular songs. In 1973, she was awarded the first ever Golden Guitar, for writing "Lights on the Hill". Several documentary films tell of the couple's success and adventures as performers, including The Slim Dusty Movie and Slim and I. The McKean-Dusty partnership produced over 100 albums, and sold eight million records in Australia alone.