The Seekers | |
|---|---|
 The Seekers in 1965. From left to right: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Genres | Easy-listening, pop, folk |
| Years active | 1962–1968, 1975–1988, 1992–2022 |
| Labels | W&G, EMI, Columbia, Astor, Decca Records, World Record Club |
| Past members | Athol Guy Keith Potger Bruce Woodley Judith Durham Ken Ray Louisa Wisseling Buddy England Peter Robinson Julie Anthony Karen Knowles Rick Turk Cheryl Webb |
| Website | theseekers |
The Seekers was an Australian folk-influenced pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group 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".[1] In 1967,[2] they were named as joint "Australians of the Year" – the only group thus honoured. In July 1968, Durham left to pursue a solo career and the group disbanded. Keith Potger formed a new group in the UK, the New Seekers, which had a hit single in 1971 with "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".
In 1995, the Seekers were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. "I'll Never Find Another You" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry in 2011. Woodley's and Dobe Newton's song "I Am Australian", which was recorded by the Seekers as well as Durham with Russell Hitchcock and Mandawuy Yunupingu, has become an unofficial Australian anthem. With "I'll Never Find Another You" and "Georgy Girl", the group also achieved success in the United States, but not nearly at the same level as in the rest of the world. The Seekers have sold over 50 million records worldwide and were individually honoured as Officers of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 2014.[3]