Jukebox Saturday Night: Sounds of the Seventies
If you were a teenager in 1976, Mark Holden was the bloke in the white suit handing out carnations on Countdown. If you were a teenager in 2003, he was the judge yelling “Touchdown!” on Australian Idol. Same man. Most people only know one half.
In between he played Joseph, wrote songs for the Temptations, found Vanessa Amorosi and spent 14 years as a barrister. This one starts with the carnations, because that’s how most of our readers remember him.
The Carnation Kid
Holden grew up in Adelaide, born there on 27 April 1954. He got his start on local television, auditioning for Adelaide Tonight in 1972 while he was studying law. After coming fifth at Showcase ’74 he signed with EMI, and in 1975 released Dawn in darkness, an album of his own songs. The same year he was cast as Joseph in the original Australian Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which ran into 1976. Playing the lead in a Lloyd Webber and Rice show before you’ve had a hit single is an unusual way to start a pop career. It did him no harm.
Then 1976 happened. His cover of Eric Carmen’s ‘Never gonna fall in love again’ came out in May and reached number 13. ‘I wanna make you my lady’ followed in September and ‘Last romance’ in November, and both peaked at number 11. ‘Reach out for the one who loves you’ made number 17 in October 1977.
On the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Countdown he became a fixture. There was the clean-cut image and the white dinner suit, and then there were the carnations, which he’d hand out to girls in the audience. That’s what earned him the nickname “the Carnation Kid”, according to his biography.
The awards backed it up. TV Week gave him Best New Talent at its 1975 King of Pop Awards and Most Popular New Talent in 1976. At the 1977 Logies he won Most Popular Teenage Personality and the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent, and he took the teenage Logie again in 1978. He also played Greg Mason in The Young Doctors and turned up in Newsfront and Blue fire lady.
The LA years
A lot of seventies teen idols just drifted off. Holden moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s and started writing for other people. He co-wrote two top ten rhythm and blues hits for the Temptations, the Motown group behind ‘My girl’, ‘Lady soul’ in 1986 and ‘Look what you started’ in 1987. Belinda Carlisle, Donny Osmond and Fleetwood Mac recorded his songs too.
Back home in 1997 he heard a 15-year-old singing in a Russian restaurant in Carnegie, Melbourne. That was Vanessa Amorosi. Her debut album The power went to number one and four times platinum, and ‘Shine’, which Holden co-wrote, won Most Performed Australian Work at the 2001 APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Awards.
Touchdown
In 2003 he became one of the three original judges on Australian Idol, alongside Marcia Hines and Ian “Dicko” Dickson, and stayed for five seasons, to 2007. His cry of “Touchdown!” was the best thing a contestant could hear. Guy Sebastian won that first season, and the show made Holden a familiar face to people who’d never seen an episode of Countdown. He also judged the first season of The X Factor in 2005, where the group he mentored, Random, won. According to Wikipedia they were the first group anywhere in the world to win the format.
The Idol years brought him a whole new audience, most of whom had no idea about the carnations.
Mark Holden now
After TV he went back to the law. He signed the Victorian Bar roll in November 2009, and in a June 2026 interview with The Senior he said he’d practised for 14 years before retiring in 2023. He’s 72 in 2026 and back in music, putting out archive albums including The 70s and Live at the George Ballroom. Since September 2020 he’s co-hosted The Idol Archives podcast with his daughter Katie.
His career started after Bandstand finished in 1972, so you won’t find him on those discs. For more seventies pop idols, have a look at our forgotten 70s bands, or meet the host of Jukebox Saturday Night.
Key points
- Born in Adelaide on 27 April 1954
- Four top 20 singles in 1976 and 1977, led by ‘I wanna make you my lady’ and ‘Last romance’
- The Carnation Kid of Countdown, and two-time teenage Logie winner
- Co-wrote for the Temptations and Vanessa Amorosi
- Australian Idol judge 2003 to 2007, then a barrister until 2023
Frequently asked questions
What is Mark Holden doing now?
He retired from the Victorian Bar in 2023 after about 14 years as a barrister, and he’s back making music. In 2026 he’s been releasing archive albums including The 70s, Live at the George Ballroom and A tribute to Tex Morton. He also co-hosts The Idol Archives podcast with his daughter Katie.
How old is Mark Holden?
Mark Holden was born in Adelaide on 27 April 1954, so he’s 72 in 2026. He was 22 when ‘I wanna make you my lady’ and ‘Last romance’ both reached number 11 in 1976.
Why was Mark Holden called the Carnation Kid?
Because he handed out carnations to girls in the audience on Countdown. Add the white dinner suit and the clean-cut look and the nickname more or less wrote itself.
What does ‘Touchdown’ mean on Australian Idol?
It was Mark Holden’s top compliment as a judge on Australian Idol from 2003 to 2007. If he yelled “Touchdown!” after your performance, you’d nailed it. It became the highest praise a contestant could get and the show’s best-known catchphrase.
What were Mark Holden’s biggest hits?
‘Never gonna fall in love again’ (number 13, 1976), ‘I wanna make you my lady’ (number 11, 1976), ‘Last romance’ (number 11, 1976) and ‘Reach out for the one who loves you’ (number 17, 1977). His 1976 album Let me love you reached number 20.
Did Mark Holden write songs for the Temptations?
Yes. Living in Los Angeles in the 1980s, he co-wrote ‘Lady soul’ (1986) and ‘Look what you started’ (1987) for the Temptations. Both were top ten rhythm and blues hits in the United States.
Did Mark Holden discover Vanessa Amorosi?
He did. He heard a 15-year-old Amorosi at a Russian restaurant in Carnegie, Melbourne, in 1997 and launched her career in 1999. He co-wrote ‘Shine’, which won Most Performed Australian Work at the 2001 APRA Awards.
Was Mark Holden in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?
Yes. He played Joseph in the original Australian production in 1975–76, just as his pop career was taking off. He also acted on TV in The Young Doctors and appeared in the film Newsfront.
Did you ever catch one of Mark’s carnations? Tell us your Countdown memories in the comments.
Discover more about your favourite artists on Jukebox Saturday Night.
Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, music history is often based on available documentation and interpretation.
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