Farewell to the girlnext-door
The Seekers singer Judith Durham will be remembered for her unique, soulful voice.
When a 19-year-old secretary named Judith walked into Melbourne’s Treble Cleff cafe in 1962 to sing with a colleague, Athol Guy, and his friends, she had no idea the foursome would become The Seekers, Australia’s first international music superstars. Athol arranged for them to perform on a cruise ship to London, and once there, they decided to stay. Back then, you didn’t need a hit record to sing on TV, Judith would explain. She made her own clothes for TV appearances.
“My trendsetting idol was the Queen,” she told the ABC, laughing. They recorded their first number one hit, I’ll Never Find Another You. In 1965 the New Musical Express named The Seekers the top new group. “We went to the big poll winners’ concert, so the Rolling Stones were on, the Beatles. I mean, blimey. There I am in my home-made dress,” Judith said. They followed up with two more number one hits. To celebrate, Judith bought herself a pair of white knee-high boots that had been on the cover of Vogue. Then came Georgy Girl, which would not only gain The Seekers recognition in the US, but earn them an Academy Award nomination. Rock journalist Lillian Roxon wrote they were “one cuddly girl-next-door type and three sober cats who looked like bank tellers”. The Seekers put out eight albums before Judith went solo and fell in love with pianist Ron Edgeworth. For the next 25 “wonderful years” they were rarely apart. The Seekers reunited to tour in the 1990s. Following Judith’s death, aged 79, her former band mates said their lives had been changed forever by losing “our treasured lifelong friend and shining star”.