 At the age of eight he gave up on his violin lessons, turned away from his mother's taste in classical music and his father's favourites of Peggy Lee and Perry Como – he had discovered Buddy Holly's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man".The family migrated to Australia in 1965 and lived in Elizabeth, South Australia.Armiger studied at Flinders University in Adelaide where he completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) course in 1974.