Carmel Chayne started her singing career in 1964 with a group called The Sol Four [Sol as meaning Sun] with Olivia Newton John and two other girls. When that came to an eventual end Carmel formed a folk group with two boys and another girl and won Kevin Dennis New Faces. Around 1965 Carmel began singing around Jazz clubs and started doing solo gigs.At a particular dance in Sorrento called Tom Katz while singing she was approached by the club owner who offered to manage her. She was soon offered some TV appearances on The Go!! Show which then led further to being offered a regular spot on Saturday morning's Uptight. Carmels solo career blossomed and saw her as a regular at most dances and discotheque's around Melbourne and interstate.
At the end of 1968 and at 20 years of age Carmel was offered to join a show to go to Vietnam, The Carmel Chayne show headed off on Anzac day 1969 for a life changing event for Carmel. The initial three month contract lasted two years in Vietnam,after which Carmel formed a new band Crimson to work the Asian hotel circuit. Carmel became the darling of Singapore and was constantly written about and photographed. Over the next few years saw Carmel playing some amazing clubs throughout Asia, places such as Bangkok,a Casino in Surabaya,Jakarta etc
While playing at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton on a six month contract the Crimson was discovered by Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees,who took Carmel and the band to London. The band changed its name to Soliloquy and recorded and gigged for the next 18 months,however, due to work permits Carmel returned to Australia to support the Bee Gees tour in Melbourne.Once again Asia called and Carmel took off back in 1976 to Bangkok,playing clubs and eventually being offered to join Asia's top Malay band, and Carmel and The Falcons was born.
1979 saw Carmel move back to Sydney and apart from isolated gigs settled into studying and becoming an Accupuncturist. Moving back to Melbourne in 1990 saw a chance meeting with her original guitarist and the bug bit so in early 1991 her new duo Cover to Cover was formed and still continues today. The beginning of 2017 saw her new project a swinging Rock n Roll band Carmel Chaynes Black Slacks. Carmel is a surviving entertainer spanning over six decades and is still out there loving every moment and doing what she does best entertaining people. Note: ”Soliloquy” her 1970 band's LP recorded in London was never released due to contact issues, however a record producer came across an EP the band had recorded. He fell in love with Carmel's vocals and the very original music, which is extremely progressive, so the original tapes along with live material from the London gigs were sent off to be remastered and in 2018 a double LP on vinyl was released in the UK.
A wonderful person ❤️
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