The Seekers were an Australian folk pop and gospel band originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop band to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were especially popular during the 1960s, with their best-known configuration of Judith Durham on vocals, piano and tambourine; Athol Guy on double bass and vocals; Keith Potger on twelve-string guitar, banjo and vocals; and Bruce Woodley on guitar, mandolin, banjo and vocals.

The group had Top 10 hits in the 1960s with "I'll Never Find Another You", "A World of Our Own", "Morningtown Ride", "Someday, One Day", "Georgy Girl" and "The Carnival Is Over". Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described their style as "concentrated on a bright, uptempo sound, although they were too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock".

Early years

The Seekers were formed in 1962 in Melbourne by Athol Guy on double bass, Keith Potger on twelve-string guitar, and Bruce Woodley on guitar. though their own "The Carnival Is Over", released later in the year, would eventually eclipse it – and went on to sell 1.75 million copies worldwide.

Durham quickly returned to the group, and their next single, "The Carnival Is Over", appeared in November 1965. The melody is based on a Russian folk song, while the lyrics were written by Tom Springfield; it reached No. 1 on both the Australian and the UK charts and they co-wrote the million-selling "Red Rubber Ball". It became an American No. 2 single for an American group, the Cyrkle. Afterwards, however, Woodley's relationship with Simon deteriorated and Woodley later struggled to get his share of the royalties — for example, his songwriting credit on another song, "Cloudy" was omitted from the release of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Their final performance was on 7 July 1968, and was shown on BBC One as a television special called Farewell the Seekers, with an audience of more than 10 million viewers. The special had been preceded by a month-long season at London's Talk of the Town nightclub and a live recording of one of their shows was released as a live album, Live at the Talk of the Town. It reached No. 2 on the UK charts. Also in July, the compilation album The Seekers' Greatest Hits was released and spent 17 weeks at No. 1 in Australia. The 25-Year Silver Jubilee Reunion Celebration tour in 1993 was sufficiently successful that the group continued to perform and record together, on and off, until shortly before Judith Durham's death in August 2022. From 1993 until 2022 they staged several sell-out tours of Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The group issued several new albums, including the studio albums Future Road in October 1997 (which peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart) and Morningtown Ride to Christmas (which reached the top 20 in 2001

In April 2019, the Seekers released Farewell, a live recording from their 2013 50th anniversary tour. Following Durham's retirement from live performance, the group continued as "The Original Seekers" with the addition of long-time producer and guitarist and singer Michael Cristiano as the group's "fourth voice". In June 2019, they released a new studio album titled Back to Our Roots also produced by Michael Cristiano. The album features Guy, Potger and Woodley joining with Cristiano on songs they had sung prior to Durham's tenure with the group. The album was released with "The Original Seekers" as the group's name.

2020s

On 28 April 2020, Universal Music Australia announced that a trilogy of Seekers' compilation albums would be released over the following twelve months under the title Hidden Treasures, featuring rarities and lost classics. Hidden Treasures – Volume 1 was released on 22 May 2020 and peaked at number 21 on the ARIA Charts. Volume 2 was released October the same year.

In a 2021 interview, Keith Potger said the group members were considering ways to commemorate their 60th anniversary, in 2022.

On 5 August 2022, Judith Durham died from bronchiectasis, a chronic lung disease, at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, aged 79. She was cremated.

The Seekers' final recording together, "Carry Me", was unveiled by Athol Guy at Durham's state memorial service. Written by Bruce Woodley, the song was completed by Woodley, Potger and Guy adding their vocals and instrumentation to Durham's vocals.

Members

Current members

  • Athol Guy – double bass, backing vocals (1962–1968, 1975–1978, 1988–2022)
  • Keith Potger – lead guitar, banjo, backing and lead vocals (1962–1968, 1975–1985, 1988–2022)
  • Bruce Woodley – rhythm guitar, banjo, backing and lead vocals (1962–1968, 1975–1977, 1988–2022)
  • Michael Cristiano – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar (2019–2022)

Former members

  • Judith Durham – lead and backing vocals, piano (1962–1968, 1992–2019; died 2022)
  • Julie Anthony – lead and backing vocals (1988–1990)
  • Buddy England – guitars, backing vocals (1977–1980)
  • Karen Knowles – lead and backing vocals (1991)
  • Ken Ray – vocals, guitar (1962)
  • Peter Robinson – bass, backing vocals (1978–1986)
  • Rick Turk – guitars, piano, backing and lead vocals (1981–1986)
  • Ellen Wade – vocals (June–August 1965)
  • Cheryl Webb – lead and backing vocals (1977–1986)
  • Louisa Wisseling – lead and backing vocals (1975–1977)

Timeline

Million sellers

The following recordings by the Seekers were each certified as having sold over one million copies: "I'll Never Find Another You", "A World of Our Own", "The Carnival Is Over" and "Georgy Girl"; all were written or co-written by Tom Springfield and were each awarded a gold disc.

  • Official website
  • Official YouTube channel