Sings Pops In Place Of Opera

Press, Issue 30997, 1 March 1966, Page 2

Sings Pops In Place Of Opera

Success on the pop music charts seems a far cry from operatic ambitions, but for Judith Durham, girl singer with “The Seekers”, life has not worked out exactly as she planned.

“I started learning the piano at seven, and studied until I was 18. After that I wanted to train for opera,” Miss Durham, a petite, brunette Australian, said in Christchurch yesterday.

But • turn at the microphone in a nightclub singing “just for fun” resulted in an offer of a permanent spot paying £5 a night During the day she was secretary to a pathologist A year later, when she left to work for an advertising agency, she met the three boys who form the rest of the group.

With “The Seekers” her repertoire ehanged from jazz to traditional folk and gospel songs. Their present sound is generally labelled “pop-folk.”

To reach the record market we needed a more commercial sound,” Miss Durham said. That was produced by the writer-singer, Tom Springfield. and their first record, made in England, went straight to number one in the Top Ten. IN DEMAND Since that first venture into the pop world their success has become assured. Suddenly they found folk music in demand and pop singers have

i been jumping on the bandwaggon ever since. 1 “It’s been overwhelming,

and we still can’t quite believe it,” she said.

A free sea trip to England in return for entertaining the passengers was just “the push” they needed to make an all-out effort for success overseas.

Originally they planned to stay only two weeks, but were “booked solidly” for five. Now they have no plans to return permanently to Australia for, although they like home very much, work is more plentiful in England or America. While success is wonderful, Miss Durham thinks girls suffer from Show business life more than men. “I don’t think it’s so bad for the boys, but I miss having time to myself,’’ she said “You have to keep up an image all the time, particularly in the pop field where ft’s the person as well as the singer that counts.” PART OF IMAGE Clothes are all part of the image, and although she has always had the young girl’s usual interest in her wardrobe, it has now become almost a full-time job. “I feel it’s a duty really, but I don’t go in for anything extreme—just practical clothes.” In her few spare hours Miss Durham likes to play the piano, sew, and cook. She regrets that she could not continue singing lessons. “I had a few lessons before we left home, but not nearly enough. If anything goes wrong with my voice, I don’t know how to help myself, and I can’t just say I won’t ring tonight,” she said

Aside from the occasional ups and downs, life runs fairly smoothly. The group makes much of its own fun together, disagreeing only over music. “The main thing is we know we have good friends in each other,” Miss Durham said.