Jim Keays - 1987 - Undecided

Undecided (Off Your Face Mix)/Dubcided/Undecided (Radio Mix)/Undecided (Electro Boy Slim Mix)


James "Jim" Keays (9 September 1946 – 13 June 2014) was an Australian musician who fronted rock band The Masters Apprentices as singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonica-player from 1965 to 1972, and subsequently had a solo career. He also wrote for the teen newspaper, Go-Set, as its Adelaide correspondent in 1970 and its London correspondent in 1973.

The Masters Apprentices had Top 20 hits on the Go-Set National Singles Charts with "Undecided", "Living in a Child's Dream", "5:10 Man", "Think about Tomorrow Today", "Turn Up Your Radio" and "Because I Love You". The band reformed periodically, including in 1987 to 1988 and again subsequently. Keays, as a member of The Masters Apprentices, was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1998. As a solo artist he issued albums, The Boy from the Stars (December 1974), Red on the Meter (October 1983), Pressure Makes Diamonds (1993), Resonator (2006) and Dirty, Dirty (2012).

He published his memoirs, His Master's Voice: The Masters Apprentices: The Bad Boys of Sixties Rock 'n' Roll in 1999. From 2000, he performed in Cotton Keays & Morris alongside other former 1960s artists, Darryl Cotton and Russell Morris. In July 2007, Keays was diagnosed with myeloma, which caused his kidneys to fail. By 2009 the cancer was in remission after chemotherapy and stem-cell transplants. However, he died in 2014 from pneumonia due to complications resulting from his cancer, aged 67. He is survived by his son James (from his first marriage), his second wife Karin and their two daughters.


In 1987 Jim signed with Virgin Records in UK and recorded another version of "Undecided" with Andy Scott (Sweet) on guitar and produced by Craig Leon. The single had 4 versions of the Masters Apprentices 1966 hit single "Undecided" which peaked at #13 on the Go-Set charts and  #8 on the Kent Music Report.