Les Brazil
Oral History Information
Les Brazil’s first retail job was in Manchester, United Kingdom in 1966 when he was just 15, at a shop called Reno’s. Reno was a famous violin player that worked with the likes of Stephan Grapelli in the 30’s. After a few years of working at Reno’s, Les was also doing an apprenticeship as a welding engineer and later joined a band that would become “Chalice” which got the opportunity to tour Australia in 1973. The band toured for six years around Australia making many friends along the way. After his band broke up in 1979, Les continued his career in music retail, this time in Australia, a career which saw him continuously work in music retail until his retirement in 2018. He worked at the iconic Billy Hydes in Flemington, Melbourne eventually managing the store and other stores in the Hyde group under various ownerships right through to Flemington being purchased again by the Hyde family.