While The Beatles were at the height of their popularity, a little known folk group from Melbourne, Australia emerged on to the international music scene. They were The Seekers and comprised Judith Durham (born 3 July 1943), Athol Guy (born 5 January 1940), Bruce Woodley (born 25 July 1942) and Keith Potger (born 21 March 1941 in Sri Lanka). Their image and sound were nothing like the pop craze of the moment; they were too pop to be folk and too folk to be rock, but the group had found their niche. Their first hit was ‘I’ll never find another you’ and it reached number 1 in the United Kingdom. They are one of the most popular folk music groups ever.

Judith had been singing since an early age and while in her teens made a name for herself as a jazz singer. Athol, Bruce and Keith became The Seekers, with Ken Ray as their fourth member, after being part of different bands in high school. In 1962, while working as a secretary in an advertising agency, Judith met Athol Guy, who invited her to join the band as Ken left to enjoy married life. During 1963 Judith sang with the band on Monday nights and on other nights she sang in jazz clubs. By 1964 Judith became The Seekers main vocalist and the group had a few local hits, but were still relatively unknown in Australia. The group was offered the job of providing musical entertainment on six months worth of world cruises for the Sitmar Shipping Line and in March of 1964 the group joined the cruise. While they were stopped in England for 10 weeks, they were surprised to learn that the Grade Organisation, a large booking agency to which they had sent a promotional package, had lined up gigs for them.

They got a regular spot on television’s ‘The Ronnie Caroll Show’ and had cut two albums for the World Record Club label, a mail order label linked with EMI. They received good reviews for their concert and television appearances. The breakthrough for the group was their association with Tom Springfield who, with his sister Dusty, was a member of the British folk group The Springfields. Tom became the producer and songwriter for The Seekers. The first label to sign them up was EMI and their first single with them, ‘I’ll never find another you’ was written by Tom Springfield. With help from pirate radio stations who played the song while the BBC refused, the song entered into the bottom of the charts in 1966. The BBC began to play the song and it soon hit the top in England, soon followed by Australia and America, where it reached number 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

The group enjoyed a few years of popularity before Judith told the other members of the group that she wanted to leave. The group made an official announcement of their disbandment in July 1968 before making a television special ‘Farewell the Seekers.’

Last updated: June 01, 2003

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