His best known work is a biography of Peter Allen which was adapted to create the hit musical The Boy from Oz, and wrote the script of the 1982 semi-autobiographical film Starstruck.
His father left the family and Lewis was killed in a car accident when Stephen was 15 years old, which affected his mother profoundly.
After leaving Crawford, in the late 1960s[1] he started work at the pop music magazine Go-Set, along with Molly Meldrum and David Elfick, in Melbourne[4] and then Sydney.
[5] Elfick produced the film, and he and MacLean wanted to select the music for it, but in the end let Armstrong had different ideas, and they all agreed that it was a good soundtrack.
[4] A few years later he wrote the screenplay for and directed Around the World in 80 Ways (1988),[2] which was produced by Elfick and starred Philip Quast, Kelly Dingwall, Diana Davidson, Gosia Dobrowolska, Allan Penney and Rob Steele.
He followed his career all over the world, interviewed him many times, filmed his Australian solo cabaret debut, and became close to Allen's mother, Marion Woolnough.
The Boy from Oz stage musical, directed by Gale Edwards, premiered at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, on 5 March 1998, and went on to play on Broadway and elsewhere with great success.