“I never imagined myself as a pop sensation. I wanted to be playing the piano and singing on stage. I never imagined that I would be a songwriter. However, once things started, all that was planned came to pass.
Judith Durham was usually the last to recognise her impact as a trailblazing woman in Australian music. She passed away in Melbourne on August 5th, aged 79, from the chronic lung illness bronchiectasis.
Born in Essendon in 1943 as Judith Mavis Cock, she took on her mother’s maiden name at the age of eighteen to pursue a career as a jazz vocalist.
However, it was a young folk/pop band from Melbourne led by her coworker Athol Guy from the advertising business that would transform both her life and the course of Australian music history.
Durham found herself on a scheduled 10-week boat journey to the UK two years after she had joined the Seekers as a singer (they were the onboard entertainment). The journey took several years.
Due to Durham’s clear vocals and impeccable diction, their easy-listening sound quickly won over the British, who were then approached by Dusty Springfield’s brother Tom to write a song for them. I’ll Never Find Another You, the song, peaked at number one in the UK in 1964. It peaked at No. 1 at home and at No. 4 in the US.
Springfield went on to write a string of international blockbusters, including The Carnival Is Over, A World of Our Own, and Georgy Girl, the latter of which peaked at No. 2 in the US.
Leave a Reply