Australian folk singer Kerrilee Male grew up in Melbourne and began singing with various jazz bands at the age of 15. She attended Canterbury Girls High School there, and by age 19, she had sung with The Driftwood Band, The Yarra-Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band, and Graeme Bell's Jazz Band in Melbourne. Kerrilee Male first came to prominence when she appeared as one of three female vocalists in the Dave's Place Group. This band was put together in 1965 for a folk TV show (Dave's Place) by Dave Guard an ex member of The Kingston Trio who resided in Australia in the mid 60s. Kerrilee Male appeared on the show from weeks 2 to 5 and then resurfaced in weeks 7 and 12. In 1965 she recorded two EPs 'Gospel And Blues Volume 1' and 'Gospel And Blues Volume 2' with the Ray Price Quartet.
Moving to the UK she hooked up with fellow ex-pat Trevor Lucas and formed the band Eclection in 1967 with Norwegian-born Georg Kajanus (then known as Georg Hultgreen), Canadian Michael Rosen and Briton Gerry Conway.. The band's self-titled album, 'Eclection', was released in August 1968. Eight of the songs were written by Hultgreen, and the remaining three by Rosen. Hultgreen and Rosen also shared the lead vocals with Kerrilee Male, although most critics commented on the strength of Male's voice, Lillian Roxon stating that "Her voice cuts into the brain like a carving knife". The band's style drew comparisons with The Seekers, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and The Papas and We Five. Reviewer Richie Unterberger stated: "The combination of male-female harmonies, optimistic lyrics with shades of romantic psychedelia, folk-rock melodies, acoustic-electric six- and twelve-string guitar combinations, and stratospheric orchestration couldn't help but bring to mind similar Californian folk-pop-rock of the mid-to-late 1960s."
After the album was released, the band began to perform at festivals and in clubs around Britain. Their second single, a version of American band Kaleidoscope's song "Please (Mark II)", was released in October 1968. However, that month Kerrilee Male decided to leave the band, and returned to Australia. Gerry Conway said: "Once we started playing live, it was very soon apparent that Kerrilee didn't want to stay with it. I think she decided she didn't want to be in the music world''.
If anyone has any information on Kerrilee Male after her return to Australia it would certainly solve a mystery. Thanks!
A caption under a photograph of Male and friend Rowley Whiting is shown in the Saturday, December 26, 1992 issue of The Canberra Times. Male and Whiting are seated at a table with several food items on it. The caption reads: "The 280 residents or the Ainslie Village hostel enjoyed a traditional Christmas lunch yesterday, compliments of the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. To spread the Christmas spirit, the hotel management decided that the residents of the village, many of whom lack the family ties which give true meaning to Christmas, would be given some joy by sampling the delights of the hotel's kitchen and the culinary expertise of its cooks. It was a gesture appreciated by both Rowley Whiting and Kerrilee Male, neither of whom had any family to share the festivities." The Ainslie Village hostel is a home in Canberra for disadvantaged or homeless adults. The photo is from the Australia News Archive site TROVE:
ReplyDeletehttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126964963?searchTerm=kerrilee%20male&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc#
I also found a photo of Kerrilee and three othe rpeople taken at the Ainslie Village Hostel on January 22, 1988:
http://www.images.act.gov.au/duslibrary/imagesact.nsf/37853ca2aaee97b34a2569370007aedf/5d9db934b48116274a256d3a007e5f0a!OpenDocument
On 12/14/15, the following was posted by Kerrilee Male on the Krishna Store website. It was a product review of Gopi Chandan Powder, used for deity worship. This may mean that she is affiliated with an Eastern religion, as her comment contains some language to that respect: "kerrilee male - 12/14/2015 5 of 5 Stars! hari bol bhaktivedanta gee jai...The Chandan is lovely and cooling for these hot summer days hare krsna hare rama".
So unfortunately, it seems as if Kerrilee fell on some hard times after her return to Australia but I truly hope the product review is from the same Kerrilee and if so, that she is still alive and doing as well as can be expected.--Mark Welsh, Chapel Hill, NC, USA, somecka@gmail.com
Thanks for your detective work. Much appreciated
DeleteThank you so much for your work Somecka, I have been trying to find more Information about Kerrilee. Any information would be so appreciated, if anyone knows anything else please mention it, any information
ReplyDeleteHer voice is a thing of beauty that is for sure, a superb band a superb album released on Elektra, the president of which Jac Holzman was a big fan i understand.
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