Leon Redbone

Redbone survived the crash of a small plane in the early 1980s and now travels to engagements exclusively by car. Various lineups, some featuring Durham, continue to tour as a nostalgia act in Australia and overseas. His recurrent gags involve the influence of alcohol, claiming to have written works well before his time (as part of the age mystery schtick), and his concerts blend performance, comedy, and skilled instrumentals. They were very successful and lasted until 1975, at which point Potger got together again with Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley as the Seekers. On top of soundtrack and lesser compositions, Redbone has released approximately a dozen albums and earned a near cultic fan community who will travel significant distances to hear him perform. As they and their older, conservative fans proceeded largely oblivious to the Swinging Sixties happening around them, they continued to tour and release albums for years afterwards. After the break-up of the original Seekers in 1968, one of its members, Keith Potger, created The New Seekers, a British group which bore little resemblance to the original. He has an extensive and enviable performance history with musical greats and has made appearances in even popular cartoons including those of Mister Boffo and Gary Larson. The scale of their poularity in Australia can be judged from fact that the legendary Woodstock Festival in the United States in 1969 drew about 500,000 people, and that at the time of the Seekers' Melbourne concert, Australia's population was only around 12 million people.

Records in 1975. This is believed to be the largest audience ever assembled for an Australian concert event. Redbone finally released his first album, "On the Track," for Warner Bros. In recognition of their achievements, the group was named Australians of the Year for 1967 and in March that year they returned to Australia for a triumphant homecoming tour, which included a record-breaking concert at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne which was attended by over 200,000 people. In 1974, Rolling Stone Magazine ran a feature article on Redbone, a full year before he even had a recording contract. Described in the article as "so authentic you can hear the surface noise," Redbone told the magazine that he was the love child of Paganini and Jenny Lind. Their chart success peaked with the movie theme song Georgy Girl, written by Jim Dale, which reached #1 on the US and Australian charts and #3 on the UK charts in 1967, and sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. Frequent appearances in Toronto clubs and at folk music festivals in the early 1970s helped him to build his musical reputation and his mysterious persona. Bruce Woodley also co-wrote the song Red Rubber Ball with Simon.

It is known that he lived in Canada for years, where he first began performing in public. This was Simon's first UK success as a writer, and his first hit as a composer outside of his work with Simon & Garfunkel. Supposedly born in Cyprus to Armenian parents (né Dickran Gobalian, according to some sources), Redbone cultivates an aura of mystery and therefore is not easy to biographize. In 1965 they recorded a cover of Paul Simon’s Someday, Oneday, which reached #4 in Australia and #11 in the UK. Leon Redbone (born August 26, 1949) is a performer of classic early 20th-century, jazz, and blues music who has been called the most famous non-famous American musician. It shot to #1 in Australia and the UK, and #4 in the USA and went on to sell 1.75 million copies worldwide, making them the first Australian pop group to have a Top 5 hit in all three countries simultaneously, and the first to sell over a million copies of a single. After signing with Lew Grade's Grade Agency and EMI's Columbia Records imprint, they released their version of Springfield’s I'll Never Find Another You in November 1964.

The distinctive soprano voice of lead singer Judith Durham, their sweet harmonies, memorable songs, and non-threatening image (encouraging the BBC to give them exposure) made them appealing to a broad cross-section of the pop audience, and they enjoyed a remarkable string of Top Ten albums and singles in Britain, America and Australia between 1964 and 1968. He produced all of their most successful records and wrote or co-wrote many of their hits. After a brief career in Australia, the group travelled to the UK in early 1964, where they were discovered by songwriter-producer Tom Springfield, the brother of pop star Dusty Springfield. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve significant chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Seekers were a group of Australian folk-influenced popular musicians which was formed in Melbourne in 1963.