MARGIE MILLS

 

Margie Mills was a popular singer from the late 1950s to the early 60s, originally from Melbourne but born in Scotland. She began her career singing on radio before appearing on the TV show Swallows Juniors on Channel 7, as well as other live variety shows in Sydney and Melbourne. She occasionally fronted The Fabulous Autocrats (who were one of about six rock’n’roll bands to form in Melbourne in 1957). Her first recording was as part of an ensemble with Lennie Holmes, Ray Treloar, Maurie Service, The Joy Boys and Joy Belles, and The Night Owls on the album 'Enjoy Yourself At The Party'. She later moved between England and Los Angeles before settling in New York, where she performed and toured with her own band. While in the US, she recorded with the Pick Hit, Vee Jay, Groove, and RCA labels. Margie died in 2004 from a brain hemorrhage.

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SANDY EDMONDS

 

Sandy Edmonds, born Rosalie L. Edmondson on 8 November 1948 in Liverpool, was a British-born pop singer and model who rose to fame in New Zealand during the 1960s. At the peak of her career, she was the country’s most recognizable teen idol, releasing several singles and making appearances on TV and in magazines. In 1966, she spent a few weeks in Sydney also appearing on the Go!! Show, returning in 1968 for about six months of performances. Keith Potger of The Seekers asked Sandy if she would like to audition for the departing Judith Durham, which Sandy declined. She briefly fronted the Sydney band Climax before unexpectedly stepping away from the spotlight. Later, she lived in Melbourne and pursued a career as a fashion retailer after leaving music. Sandy passed away in 2022.

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PAM BRADLEY

Pam Bradley (born in England in 1946) was originally from Perth where she spent two years as a regular on the TV series Teen Beat. Eventually she decided to move to Melbourne in order to further her career and met up with Adrian Ussher who had been singing for a number of years with The Moontones and The Thin Men. Adrian wrote ''The Old Apple Tree'' and decided to team up with Pam. The single made the charts in September 1963. They appeared on Bandstand in the same year. Follow up releases included ''Back Together'' and an EP 'Pam and Ade' which sold moderately. The duo dissolved a short time later and Adrian continued as an advertising executive. In 1963 she supported UK singer and actor Mark Wynter on his tour to Australia. Pam also supported The Beatles on their 1964 tour. In the same year she recorded a single on the W&G label '' Whoops / Restless Dream''. Pam died in 2002.

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BEVERLEY DICK

Beverley Dick was born in early 1940 in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton. When Beverley was sixteen she appeared with Helen Larsen on 3UZ Radio Auditions. Both Beverley and Helen were members of the local church basketball team. Soon after the radio 3UZ appearance Beverley performed on the Australian Amateur Hour as a solo artist. This national talent quest had the winner of each state final perform competitively for the National title. Beverley represented Victoria.

Neville Pellett suggested that when Beverley returned to Melbourne from holidays in Shepparton she contact Bill Earle, who co-ordinated the Trailblazers on radio 3XY Melbourne. The Trailblazers, a group of artists and musicians with a strong country and western leaning, rehearsed for their weekly 3XY radio show at the Erskine Hall Carlton, and later at the Albion Hall Brunswick. Probably the largest audience to witness a Trailblazers performance was at an early Moomba Festival in Melbourne when more than 10,000 people enjoyed their unique style of country and western music. With the Trailblazers Beverley also performed at the Healesville Shire Hall and the Collingwood Town Hall.

During 1956 the Trailblazers recorded an album for Planet Records (Planet PP015). The cover art of this record shows the Trailblazers performing on the stage of the State Theatre Flinders Street Melbourne. This was a posed publicity shot. In addition to performing as part of the group on this album, Beverley sang "Love Song of the Waterfall" as a solo. This track features Beverley's distinctive yodel.

The first rock-n-roll group in Melbourne was the Henri Bource Allstars. Many groups, such as the Planets and the Thunderbirds, followed. Early in 1957 Beverley was approached by Henri Bource to sing on a rock-n-roll album that the Henri Bource Allstars were recording for Planet records, (Planet PP016). On this album, 'Rock-n-Roll Party', Beverley sang many rock-n-roll standards including "Tutti Frutti", "R-O-C-K", "Be Bop A Lula", "Razzle Dazzle", "Teddy Bear" and "We're Gonna Teach You to Rock". It is understood that the 'Rock-n-Roll Party' album, which was recorded at the old eastern Market (now the Southern Cross Hotel) in Exhibition Street, Melbourne, was the first coloured rock-n-roll album cover to be released in Australia.

In 1958 one of the Planets' featured vocalists, Johnny Edwards, asked Beverley to join the group. The following Friday, Beverley Dick appeared with the Planets at the Ormond RSL. During 1958 as the Planets featured female vocalist, Beverley performed at venues that included the Burwood RSL, Ormond RSL and Glen Iris RSL. The main influences on Beverley's performance and choice of material were, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Janis Martin, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and Johnny O'Keefe. During 1959 Beverley Dick and the Planets, together with the Planets' other featured artists, Johnny Edwards, Billy Dodds, and Ron Patrick regularly performed at Earl's Court St. Kilda, Heidelberg Hall Ivanhoe, and the Soldiers Hall Moonee Ponds. These venues were amongst the most popular pioneering rock-n-roll dances in Melbourne.

It was during 1959 that Beverley toured with Johnny O'Keefe, the Delltones, the Dee Jay's, Malcolm Arthur and Lonnie Lee. The tour, which took place during late September and early October, was Johnny O'Keefe's first interstate tour and went to country centres including Ballarat, Warrnambool and Geelong.  Following the tour with Johnny O'Keefe, Beverley suggested that the existing vocalists working with the Planets form a vocal group. The Planetones, as the group was known, comprised, Johnny Edwards, Ron Patrick, Billy Dodds and Beverley Dick. Often the group wore white cardigans emblazed with a red "P" or black cardigans with a white "P".

With Beverley Dick and the Planetones, also the Planets they recorded an extended play single for AWA. The tracks were "Express Eleven", an instrumental, "Lipstick On Your Collar", featuring Beverley Dick and "Only A Fool", a song performed by Johnny Edwards and the Planetones. Throughout her career Beverley Dick was conscious of performing material with which the audiences could really relate. Although her recording work was not extensive, it was significant that Beverley was the featured female vocalist on probably the first rock-n-roll album recorded in Australia. Beverley's capacity as a vocalist was highlighted by the ease with which she made the transition during her career from Country and Western to Rock­-n-Roll and then to music suitable for ballroom dancing. She was probably the first to professionally make such a transition.

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ANNE REILLY

1960s Sydney singer who became very popular on the Sydney TV circuit. In 1964 she joined The Echomen and released a single ''Lonely Sixteen'' on the EMI label. Anne and the band played regularly at the Charles hotel in Chatswood. She left The Echomen and joined The Dave Bridge Band. Anne Reilly died in 2013.

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PAM OAKLEY

Pam Oakley was a singer in the early 60s and was the first female electric guitarist to be seen on Australian TV. Pam was the secretary of the Frank Ifield fan club. She wrote the song "I Want To Be A Surfer girl" as a send up to Little Pattie's surfer song. She recorded the song on an old reel to reel tape, just her and her guitar, and took it to RCA. Johnny Devlin was the A&R man at the time and decided it was good enough to record.  Although it had a lot of airplay it didn't get far in the charts but did enough to allow Pam to pursue a career in TV club appearances and tours. She recorded one more single ''Keep Your Hands Off My Baby / If It Wasn't For You''. She now lives in Tasmania and entertains the elderly in nursing homes. Her band is called Showtime.

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THE BARRY SISTERS

The Barry Sisters comprised Lorna Whiteside (born 1927) and Dorothy Davidson (born 1933). Dorothy grew up on an apple orchard at Tallong, near Goulburn. She came to Sydney for her education and there teamed up with Lorna who lived at Granville. At twelve Dorothy auditioned solo for Australia’s Amateur Hour. She was advised to get a guitar and learn to play. She learnt one song and with it won a heat of the Amateur Hour. She appeared on 2KY Harry Yates Digger’s Show, was heard by Mr. Roy Eades, promoter of Arnott’s Biscuits Concert Party who took her on many shows at Army Hospitals and camps for the Navy, Air Force and American troops awaiting discharge from the forces when the war ended. At a school concert Dorothy and Lorna performed for the first time together and soon were back on Amateur Hour as a duo and won that heat.

The early 1950’s saw the girls became part of a teenage cabaret at a hotel in Annandale. They were billed as the Bar-Y Girls but were often referred to as the Bar BQ Girls. In 1954 they submitted a demo to ARC (now CBS) records, and got an immediate response, being asked to record (with guitar only accompaniment) for ARC’s country label, Rodeo. Sales were encouraging so they recorded several more 78’s, firstly for Rodeo and then with Bill Walker’s quartet for ARC’s pop label, Pacific

Their first recording, ''Tumbling Tumbleweeds'' and ''Lazy Lack-a-Daisy Melody'' was under the name of Bar BQ Girls. When they came to do more recordings on the Rodeo label, they changed the name and became the Barry Sisters. Working professionally on radio and television, they were discouraged from doing original material, instead doing covers of the popular songs of the day. Dorothy appeared regularly on Bunk House Show with Tommy McNamara on Sydney Radio 2GB. She appeared as a regular on Tim McNamara’s show on Radio 2KY and sang with Tim on the Country Encores. Dorothy was also a regular on Reg Lindsay’s Radio Show on 2KY.

The Barry Sisters regularly appeared on Bandstand with Brian Henderson, (where they were backed by either the Joy Boys, (Johnny Rebb’s) Rebels, Don Burrows or Bob Young’s Orchestra). They also appeared on TCN9’s Bobby Limb show (backed by the Isador Goodman Orchestra). For Channel 7, the Barry Sisters appeared on Teentime, Roy Hampton’s Rhythm Roundup, plus various shows including Digby Wolfe’s Review 61. They were still heavily booked on ABC radio shows, including Johnny O’Keefe’s Rockville Junction, which had a live audience, a Hawaiian show with Johnny Wade, mainstream for Moderns with Don Burrows, and a travelling factory show with Jim Gussy’s Orchestra. They were also heavily booked on the Sydney club circuit. Dorothy and Lorna felt they had fulfilled their ambitions as a duet at this stage, so they split up in the mid 60s. They were inducted into the Tamworth Hands of Fame in 1988.Dorothy remained in the business making a name for herself as a soloist, whilst Lorna has turned to her long-time love – song writing. Lorna died in 2014.

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CARMEL CHAYNE

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. Carmel's solo career blossomed and saw her as a regular at most dances and discotheques 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 Acupuncturist. 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 Chayne's 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.

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MARGARET NISBETT

Margaret Nisbett, MBE, (born 9 January 1929) was an Australian coloratura soprano. Margaret always loved music and, as a child, performed small concerts at home with her sister, as well as at her local Church of England. She attended Tyler Street Primary School in Preston and later Preston Girls High School until the age of 15 (typical for the time) and showed a great interest in French, History and Painting. Upon leaving school she trained as a shorthand typist and worked in that field for a time. Margaret married Jon Weaving in 1952 and their only child (Jon Hugh Weaving) was born in 1955. They were separated in 1959. Margaret lived in the family home in Victoria until her death. 

Margaret started piano and singing lessons with Thelma Ford when she was nine years old. During those first five years of training she competed in The Royal South Street Competition (Ballarat). Later, whilst working as a typist, Margaret also competed in many singing competitions and performed at concerts. She joined the National Theatre School where she studied Opera for two years and performed in many operas. In 1947, at age 18, Margaret was given her "big break". While still working full-time, as well as studying, she was understudying the lead role of Gilda in Rigoletto, which was being performed at Melbourne's Princess Theatre. Due to the leading lady falling ill and with only 24 hours notice, she was asked to perform the lead role on opening night. This was a great success, receiving the first of many standing ovations and immediately establishing her as a new "star" of the operatic stage..

Margaret continued studying (her singing teacher during that time was Pauline Bindley, a famous operatic soprano of the bel canto style) and entered many of the biggest singing competitions in Australia, including Geelong, Ballarat and the Mobil Quest. Conductor and (future) TV producer Hector Crawford created the famous Mobil Quest in 1949 and it seems unlikely that any other country in the world had, at the time, the same sort of serious singing competition on radio solely concerned with "bringing to the attention of the public the best vocal talent available in the Commonwealth", and requiring each competitor to sing an operatic aria. The second winner of the rich Mobil Quest prize (in 1950) was Joan Sutherland. Margaret won the Mobil Quest in 1951 and amongst the other finalists that year were soprano June Bronhill. The finalists toured Australia with conductor Hector Crawford. Margaret Nisbett's prize included the opportunity to study opera overseas and, in 1954, she departed for England with her husband, Jon, where she continued studies under Dino Borgioli and Clive Carey, who was also Joan Sutherland's teacher.

Margaret's previous experience as a typist enabled her to continue singing lessons, while auditioning for opera companies. The group of expat singers and musicians with whom she was friendly included Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland and June Bronhill. Margaret was in great demand by a number of opera companies; she sang full-time with London's Sadlers Wells for 8 years as one of their leading ladies. Her roles included Adele in Die Fledermaus, Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. During this time she also performed for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) TV and Radio. Margaret returned to Australia in late 1962.

In 1965 she was approached by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to perform a series of operas for TV, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She performed the role of Maria in The Sound of Music touring Australia for 15 months, including at the Sydney Opera House. She performed a successful 36-week series on ABC TV Margaret Nisbett Operetta. During the 1960s, Margaret was a regular guest on the Melbourne variety show In Melbourne Tonight, hosted by Graham Kennedy. During this time she also performed at Music for the People, a very popular concert series presented by the Government of Victoria and Melbourne City Council. They were held over Summer at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl, as well as Victorian regional centres. Margaret toured regularly, performing cabaret at various interstate clubs and major venues.

Margaret performed over a number of years at a great Melbourne institution. The Christmas Eve Carols by Candlelight for the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (RVIB) now Vision Australia during the 1970s. These are still held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Margaret was a principal with the Melbourne Opera Company in the early 70s, performing with others such as Norman Yemm. In the late 1970s, Margaret toured Canada and the USA with Mervyn Simpson and the Footscray-Yarraville Brass Band. She was the compere and soloist. The Band won the prestigious World Championship Brass Band Competition during that time. The State Concert Orchestra of Victoria was a Government funded concert series which toured metropolitan and regional Victoria. Margaret was a soloist for many years. Other artists included baritone John Lidgerwood.

In the early 1990s, Margaret reduced her public performances and commenced a successful career teaching singing. She had many private pupils and completed a 17-year engagement with the Melba Conservatorium of Music, in Melbourne. Margaret's pupils include Helena Dix and Christopher Diffey, both having undertaken operatic careers in the UK. She was awarded The Order of the British Empire – Member (Civil) (MBE) in 1980 for outstanding services to Music and the community. This was presented at Government House in Melbourne.  Margaret died on 2 July 2023, at the age of 94.

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CARMEL KAINE

Carmel Kaine born on 22 March 1937, was a classical violinist. She was born in Wagga Wagga, and studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium, graduating at age 17 with the prize for the most outstanding student. Two years later, she spent a year as a member of the South Australian Symphony Orchestra. She then continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she won the three violin prizes and the Violin Scholarship in her first year. Kaine furthered her studies at the Juilliard School in New York with Ivan Galamian. At the Juilliard School, Kaine was awarded a Violin Fellowship and in 1967 was awarded the first prize at the Vienna International Violin Competition. Recitals for the BBC followed both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. She was a member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for ten years, making solo recordings with the Academy and performing at major festivals throughout Europe. 

Her recording of Vivaldi’s ''La stravaganza'', Sir Neville Marriner conducting, won a Grand Prix du Disque and a Rosette Award in The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music (Decca Records 425721). Kaine was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music for twelve years and in 1983 was made a Fellow. She was invited by Yehudi Menuhin to read at his school in Cobham, Surrey. In 1990 Kaine took up the Senior Lecturer position at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and for five years was Head of Department. In 1991, with her husband John Willison, she founded the Limpinwood Ensemble and many performances have been given for the ABC and at Tyalgum Classical Music Festival, which they also founded. She also founded the Queensland Conservatorium Soloists, which has raised over $30,000 for the Conservatorium’s String Department. She died in 2013 aged 76.

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NANCY EICHHORN

Nancy Eichhorn won talent quests before joining and singing with The Graduates, a doo-wop, vocal harmony group that formed in the late 50s and recorded on the Rex label. They appeared on the Lee Gordon shows with Fabian and Crash Craddock, and also on Six O'clock Rock with Johnny O'Keefe. She also sang on The Crescents' 1961 single ''Stars Will Remember''. She can also be heard on Johnny Ashcroft's hit single, ''Little Boy Lost'' and Jimmy Little's ''Ol' Man River'' and ''Danny Boy''. It is unknown if Nancy continued her singing career after The Graduates disbanded. Nancy died in March 2023.

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SONJA TALLIS

Sonja Tallis (born 24 September 1943) teamed up with Sean Cullip in 1964 to form folk duo, Sean and Sonja. Their good looks, talent and great harmonisation brought them to favourable notices. In 1965 they were signed to CBS and produced three very successful LPs until Sean was conscripted to serve in Vietnam in 1966. In the 70s Tallis moved into acting with small parts in The Young Doctors and Sons and Daughters, before going onto her best-known role, as top dog Nora Flynn in Prisoner. She played Nora for six months in 1985. She went on to a regular role in the short-lived Crawford's series Prime Time in 1986 and has also appeared in Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters. Sonja Tallis now teaches drama, both privately and in a number of drama schools in Sydney.

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LINDA KEENE

Cardiff born Linda Keene began her singing career at The Shack in the 1960's. She is the sister of that other Welsh songbird Denise Keene who appeared on Bandstand. At the age of seventeen she joined up with Brian O'Toole and David Cooper of The Charade, who later became the resident folk group on the popular television show Bandstand. After that history seems to lose track of her until 1979 when she appeared as one of the vocalists on the 'ACTU Achievement' album singing ''Part Of the Union'' (the old Strawbs song) and ''Achievement'', both with Mick Leyton.

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CATHY WAYNE

Cathy Wayne was born as Catherine Anne Warnes on 7 December 1949 in Arncliffe, New South Wales, Australia. Wayne was the child of George Warnes and Nancy Starnes, née Buck. She went to Athelstane Public School where she began singing and dancing classes. Wayne later attended Arncliffe Girls' High School, and, before the age of 12, had performed in school concerts and local community stage shows. She took up a dancing spot on Sydney television, TCN-9, programme Opportunity Knocks. She also appeared on an Australian TV special, A Night with Leslie, starring US entertainer Leslie Uggams. At the age of 16, after winning a talent contest, Wayne was offered a regular role on television variety show, Bandstand, alongside veteran Rock 'N' Roll performers Col Joye and Little Pattie. Wayne signed with Joye's agency ATA and was managed by his sister Carole Jacobsen.

Although under legal drinking age, Wayne performed in licensed clubs around Sydney, she also recorded advertising jingles and uncharted singles. Concert tours along the east coast of Australia, headlined by Joye, led to her first tour of South Vietnam at the age of 17, in early 1967. This tour was sanctioned by the Australian Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment. Wayne was presented as a modette version of fellow Bandstand regular Little Pattie. Upon return to Australia, Wayne continued her appearances on Bandstand and touring with Joye.

In mid-1969, Sweethearts on Parade, an Australian pop group / performing troupe, was established by Sydney promoter Les Maisler to tour Vietnam. Sweethearts on Parade consisted of Wayne on lead vocals, Clive Cavanagh on drums, Jacqui Edwards as a Go-Go dancer, Rick Hoare on guitar, Jeff Howison as MC / singer / comedian, Jimmy Taylor on organ / bass guitar and Natalia Woloch as a Go–Go dancer. Wayne, as lead singer of Sweethearts on Parade, returned to South Vietnam on an unsanctioned tour. Wayne's parents and Col Joye attempted to dissuade her from this second tour, but Wayne insisted and intended to use money earned from her performances in Vietnam to restart her recording career. Wayne wanted to marry her fiancé, Cavanagh, who was the drummer in Sweethearts on Parade The group arrived in Vietnam on 26 June 1969, Wayne stayed in Saigon between shows for Australian and US troops.

The tour agent was Ingrid Hart, who recalled that "Wayne wanted to be there with her boyfriend, they were going to get some money together and get married". On 20 July 1969, Sweethearts on Parade were performing for about 75 US Marines at a Non-commissioned officer's club 7 km (4 mi) south-east of Da Nang in South Vietnam. At about 9:15 p.m., Wayne had just finished a song and was still on stage to introduce her fellow performers when she was shot in the chest by a bullet fired by US Marine Sergeant James Wayne Killen. Wayne died almost instantly as the bullet severed her aorta. In Entertaining Vietnam, a 2003 documentary directed and produced by Mara Wallis, Taylor was interviewed on the events of Wayne's death, footage of a Sweethearts on Parade performance with Wayne singing was shown. Taylor recalled that he was sitting about a metre (three feet) behind Wayne and that Cavanagh had stepped forward to cradle his fiancée when she slumped to the floor.

At his court-martial, Killen was charged with premeditated murder and was alleged to have been aiming for his commanding officer, Major Roger E. Simmons. Killen was convicted of the unpremeditated murder of Wayne; he was stripped of all service privileges, dishonourably discharged and sentenced to 20 years hard labour. Killen denied all murder claims but admitted to drinking heavily on the night. After the autopsy in Saigon, Wayne's body was returned to Sydney and cremated according to Anglican rites. Wayne was the first Australian woman killed during the Vietnam War.

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ANNE MURPHY

New Zealander Anne Murphy and brother Jimmy moved to Australia in the mid-1960s as a duo and appeared on local variety programs such as Bandstand etc. Anne earlier recorded on New Zealand labels, Zodiac and Viking as a solo act. On arrival in Sydney the Festival label signed them up where they released a number of singles. They then relocated to the USA under the name The Murphys

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INEZ AMAYA

Inez Amaya born in South Africa in 1940, was a vocalist with a number of 60s bands most notably Levi Smith's Clefs. Levi Smith's Clefs quickly earned a reputation on the Adelaide disco/club circuit as a gutsy R&B band in the vein of Max Merritt & The Meteors. She left the band to join the Australian stage production of the American 'tribal love-rock musical' Hair, which premiered in June 1969.

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ANNE RUTHERFORD

Anne Rutherford was born in a small country town in England and trained as a drama teacher, intending to become an actor. Instead, she eloped with an Irish poet Ulick O'Boyle, and they emigrated to Australia with their first two children. They formed the 60s folk trio The Settlers. The band started in 1965, playing at venues around the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme for their fellow workers. Then they sent a tape to the Cooma radio station and the response to airplay saw RCA offer them a contract; they recorded their first album in 1966. 'Songs of the Snowy Mountains' became popular among the folk fraternity. It was followed quickly by 'The Settlers Sing More Songs of the Snowy Mountains', and later there were more records including 'West of Cooma', 'Snowy Rambler' and 'Mountain Tracks'. She later released a book on poetry A Timeless Place to Wonder By.

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SALLY IGGULDEN

Sally Iggulden was the washboard player with 60s trad jazz band The Red Onion Jazz Band. After she left the band, she turned her attention to fashion design and opened a boutique in South Yarra called Sally Browne Fashions.

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JANE PALMER

Jane Palmer was a member of The Soundbenders one of Adelaide's best groups of the 60's and 70's. Palmer was a pioneer for women in the music industry being a lead guitarist in a male dominated band. Virtually unheard of in the 60s. Jane passed away in 2007. 

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JILL DRURY

Jill Drury was the lead singer and bass player of Foreday Riders. What began in the mid-60’s as a loose association of school friends dabbling in electric blues developed over a year or so into a 7-piece band featuring young singer Jill Drury and Swiss piano man Rolli Utzinger. Material ranged from the country blues of Memphis Minnie & Lightning Hopkins through to urban R & B by Willie Dixon and Ray Charles, incorporating jazz-flavoured instrumentals and jump tunes. Jill had a voice not unlike an early Janis Joplin in her folk/blues years & before she joined Big Brother and The Holding Company. So not the full-on roar that Janis developed but a good strong bluesy howl, nonetheless. She is still out there singing with the band GD and The King Bros.

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