Born in North Adelaide and raised in the working class seaside suburb of Semaphore, Crease was the eldest of four children.
He started his working life as a clerical worker in 1952 with Shell before becoming a copy boy and later cadet at Adelaide's The News newspaper, where he quickly "fell foul of the chief-of-staff" and was sacked.
Crease completed his national service, but resigned from the army following an incident where he used an armoured car to attend a party with his girlfriend.
1983 saw the release of his children's book Sam and the Dreamtime, which was set in his home city of Adelaide and included illustrations by John Draper and photographs by Crease.
[1] On 9 February 2007, co-host Rob Kelvin announced that Crease was going through a serious health issue and was taking extended leave from presenting.