JUDITH DURHAM - This Is Your Life (1997)
Judith Durham - This Is Your Life (1997)
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00:00Hi and welcome to This Is Your Life. We're here in a Sydney shopping centre where tonight's
00:05guest of honour is signing copies of her latest album. She's been belding out tunes for fifty
00:11years and not even a brush with death could dampen her spirit. She's the lead singer of
00:17one of the country's most successful international groups and after years they're all back together
00:23again having signed one of the biggest recording contracts in Australian music history. So
00:29let's go and join the queue so we can do our surprise.
00:59You are now booked for the ending. You know it's funny, you know you kind of half look
01:21over your shoulder all the years because you know people get nabbed all the time but I
01:24wasn't looking over my shoulder. You can't open it though. No.
01:55Judith Mavis Durham, you're born on July 3rd 1943, the second of two daughters to Bill
02:03and Hazel. Your dad is overseas fighting in World War Two so it's not until you're nearly
02:07three when you first meet him. Already you're singing perfectly in tune and your piano playing
02:14dad encourages your special talent. Then when you're four, a bout of measles leaves you
02:19with a chronic lung condition which will plague your breathing and your voice for years to
02:24come. But nothing could stop you singing. It's your sister Beverly with nephews Tony
02:28and Ben and niece Belinda. Thank you so much. Beverly was Judith that determined to sing?
02:35Absolutely, right from the word go. In fact she said to me when she was nine years old
02:57I'm going to sing on all the stages around the world and I'm going to be famous. You're
03:01really Judith's only family aren't you? Well the closest family, we all are really and
03:06we've been very close all our lives. We've shared music and because I'm a singer as well
03:12and I just want to say you're such a wonderful sister. You've shared everything haven't you?
03:18Bev's a fantastic singer too, it's a thrill for me. You three have always been particularly
03:23close to Judith? We've all been really close, she's just a wonderful person, always very
03:26positive and has positive encouragement for everything we do and we just love her dearly.
03:49At six your family moves to Hobart. Still suffering with lung problems you escape into
03:53a world of music. The family returns to Melbourne when you're 13 and your future career jumps
03:58out at you from the family's first television set. Judith, you were born to be a star. Your
04:05music teacher and mentor Ronald Farran Price. Oh, Ron! Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, this is such
04:12an honour for me. Ronald, born to be a star? From the moment she came into my room, she
04:28came through the door, I knew she was determined and I felt, there was no doubt in my mind
04:35that you had great things in mind and that they would be achieved. Oh, Ron, that is just
04:41so wonderful. I was very, very privileged that he took me as a student, may I say. I
04:46was so inspired by your lessons, I cannot thank you enough, it transformed my whole
04:51perception of playing and I had the biggest crush on you, I was totally in love with you.
04:59That meant a lot to me. Now you tell me. Thank you very, very much. Ron, thank you very much.
05:06Judith, as a teenager, music and singing become the most important things in your life. You
05:13even take your sheet music to parties. In fact, you really always enjoy more singing
05:19than socialising, true? Oh, yes, absolutely. Yes, I've always felt very insecure and shy.
05:24So, yes, I mean, as a performer I feel that I'm in my element, I suppose. Well, you set
05:30your sights then on being an opera singer because you're convinced you don't have the
05:34confidence to be a pop singer. And coming up after the break, Judith Durham and The
05:40Seekers turn the music world on its ear. But first, let's hear from one of your greatest
05:46fans. Judith, am I pleased to be talking to you today? How's that beautiful, shiny hair
05:51of yours? I took your tips and I've used your shampoo and the hairbrush you lent me. Remember
05:56that? Judith, I'm so honoured to be talking to you today because I remember those days
06:01when we met with Ron and I remember going to the hospital with you and I remember being
06:05so frustrated that Ron couldn't use his hands to play the piano. You just were the most
06:11extraordinary couple and I always think about Ron and I use him in many of my speeches about
06:17motor neurone disease and how difficult it must have been for him to come to terms with
06:21not being able to use his hands, although he knew the song in his head and his heart.
06:27Judith, I send you all my love, all the way from here, from the UK. I long to see you
06:31again soon and I'm very sorry I haven't replied to my last letter. Lots and lots of love from
06:37us all and we're with you always, as you know.
06:49For the first time in 30 years, a new album from Judith Durham and The Seekers, Future Road.
06:55Featuring the new single, Calling Me Home.
07:00Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley, Keith Popker and Affle Guy together again.
07:07The unique sound of Judith Durham and The Seekers.
07:11We touch by the magic again with the premier new album, Future Road.
07:16Out now.
07:25Welcome back to the Judith Durham story. You're 18 in 1961 when the jazz craze hits Melbourne.
07:33You get a gig singing with the University Jazz Band at the Memphis Club. It's the start
07:38of an abiding passion for jazz. So you give up that opera career and the name you were
07:44born with. Why do you do that? Why do you do that?
07:47When you opened the show you said Judith Mavis Durham. I was actually Judith Mavis Cock when
07:50I started. So it wasn't as big a show business name. So Durham's mum's maiden name.
07:57Well your nights are filled with jazz. Your days are spent in advertising with J Walter
08:01Thompson. You work there as a secretary and it's now that fate plays a hand. You meet
08:06Affle Guy, a member of an unknown band and they ask you to join. That group is called
08:12The Seekers. It's not long before the band sails to England for what is to be a 10 week
08:19trip. Yes. They never asked me to join them. You know it was going to be 10 weeks and that
08:23was it. That was it. It's amazing isn't it? Yes. Well you stay for years and your life
08:28is never the same again.
08:30For we know we'll never find another Judith.
08:35It's the other three Seekers ladies and gentlemen. Affle Guy, Keith Podcast and Bruce Woodley.
08:41Oh you're so lovely.
08:53Oh it's hilarious.
08:58Now you guys really are like a family aren't you?
09:00Well I guess we're like Judith's three big brothers. But you can imagine back in the
09:0560s what a heck of a shock it must have been for her parents when she went home and told
09:10them that she was not only going overseas with one bloke they'd never met but with three
09:14blokes that they'd never met. But they were fantastic. They just said good luck and God
09:19bless you. It's a great move.
09:21We set out to be protective of her but sometimes we didn't quite get it right. Like the first
09:26time when we did that television show when they didn't realise that the Seekers actually
09:31were not four men and they had us all in the one dressing room together.
09:36Yes they discovered of course there was a lady in the group who had to find a dressing
09:40room and they gave Judith Tom Jones dressing room. The problem was they didn't tell Tom
09:47Jones. Tom bursts in while Judith's in various stages of undress and the poor girl died a
09:54million times.
09:55That's what gave rise to one of his hits, What's New Pussycat?
10:03Thank you very much.
10:16Judith, you're only 21 in 1965 when the Seekers rewrite the history books with the single
10:22I'll Never Find Another You. You become the first Australian group to ever sell over a
10:27million records and the first to top the British charts. And then with your next single, A
10:33World Of Our Own, you even knock the Beatles off the number one spot.
10:37But away from the spotlight, you're not all that happy are you?
10:44I was in a lot of conflict. I really wasn't sure whether this was my real life or whether
10:49it was a side chapter. It's really strange because I didn't set out to do what we were
10:53actually doing. My path in life was very confused all through that time. So I didn't really
10:59allow myself to enjoy it perhaps to the fullest extent.
11:02Meanwhile, The Seekers reign continues when the single The Carnival Is Over tops the charts.
11:08That's followed by a string of hits over the next two years. And then you sing the title
11:12song for a film called Georgie Girl. It wins Oscar nominations for both song and its star,
11:19Lynn Redgrave, who sends you this message.
11:25Oh, Judith, do you recognise that tune? My goodness. Can you believe that it's 30 years
11:30ago that I came to see you and The Seekers at the talk of the town? And I was told that
11:35you were going to record the song for Georgie Girl, which was then this little nothing black
11:40and white movie that nobody thought would do anything. And your glorious voice and that
11:46wonderful song was so much a part of the success of Georgie Girl because it was your song,
11:53your voice was the spirit that I was trying to put on the screen. And so my big success
11:59and my launch 30 years ago was was, of course, due to you. Have a fabulous time. Many congratulations.
12:06And I do hope that I'll see you again soon. Bye for now.
12:19Around this time, you start writing songs and you form a very close bond with songwriter
12:24David Riley. Together, you write 19 songs, one of which is Colours of My Life, which
12:31becomes a classic in later life, doesn't it? Yes, it does. I mean, not only my biography
12:36is called Colours of My Life, but people really seem to love the song still, even though it
12:40wasn't a hit or anything. So it's a great thrill. Graham Simpson wrote my biography
12:44in recent years. Well, by the late 60s, The Seekers are Australia's most successful international
12:50group ever. You're then jointly named Australians of the Year for 1967. That same year, you
12:57play to the largest concert crowd ever recorded. Two hundred thousand people turn out to see
13:03you all play at the Maya Music Bowl.
13:13At 25, you're at the pinnacle of your career and fame. Then out of the blue, in 1968, you
13:18announce you're quitting The Seekers. Millions of your fans are stunned.
13:23Thank you. Thank you very, very much. And goodbye, because I'm afraid tonight the carnival
13:31really is over.
13:46Why leave now? Boy, it was a very, very hard thing to do.
13:50I gave the guys six months notice, which we'd all discussed, you know, would be the
13:53only way we could do it. But I didn't know what I was going to do. All I knew was I needed
13:58to do some other things in life and just try and find myself in some way. I kind of felt
14:04I'd got a bit lost along the way as a person and musically speaking. So I came back to
14:09Melbourne. I mean, it's amazing when you think about it. But that's what had to happen.
14:13And I know it was the right thing to do for me, but I'll never get over the sadness it
14:17caused. And I feel deeply sorry about that for the public.
14:21Well, it's not long after that farewell performance, you team up with English musician Ron Edgeworth.
14:27He not only becomes your musical director, but then your husband. Over the next five
14:32years, you carve out a career as a solo singer and inspire a whole new wave of fans. In fact,
14:39your appeal spans two generations. And two very different fans are with us tonight. Bobby
14:45Lim and lead singer of Chocolate Starfish, Adam Thompson.
15:04Bobby, you've performed with Judith several times, haven't you?
15:06The amazing thing is that all these years, Judith's voice has just remained just as pure.
15:13And you've got a God-given gift, of course, is you have perfect pitch, which is absolutely
15:18wonderful, particularly with a group. But a lot of people sort of associate Judith just
15:23with the Seekers. But a lot of people don't know that she's one of the best gospel singers
15:27I've ever heard, a folk singer, jazz singer. I'm your biggest fan.
15:33Thank you, thank you, thank you. And Bobby's such an inspiration. I mean, all my life,
15:38it's been so great to see him, too.
15:40Thank you. Adam, you've performed with Judith as well.
15:42Absolutely. I always try and bring the unpredictable to a live performance. And I asked Judith,
15:47would she mind getting up and singing Georgie Girl with Chocolate Starfish, who are notoriously
15:51a sweaty rock band and quite different to Judith's image, of course.
15:55They were very sweaty, I can tell you.
15:57To my surprise, she actually accepted the offer. And, well, everything turned out well.
16:01We got a standing ovation. And since then, we've remained really good friends and even
16:06wrote together this year in Los Angeles.
16:08Absolutely. And I have the greatest admiration for Adam. It's opened my eyes to another world.
16:12Fantastic.
16:14And maybe more in the future, perhaps.
16:16Maybe even a duet together. Who knows?
16:18I hope so. He's a great writer and a great performer. And it was such a privilege to
16:22sing for his audience. You know, they really got into it and it was a great night.
16:26It was definitely my honour, Judith.
16:27Oh, boy. Thank you very much.
16:28Thanks for joining us.
16:30Okay.
16:32Thank you, Bobby.
16:39Judith, everything's going pretty well until you hit your early 30s.
16:44And they are tragic and disastrous years for you.
16:47You lose both your parents, then your entire life savings when your Swiss bank collapses
16:53overnight. You're left with virtually nothing and you still have to pay the bills.
16:58So you and husband Ron now focus on a jazz career.
17:03The highlight is the legendary Newport Jazz Festival in 1978 when 3,000 people give you
17:09a standing ovation. And you finally escape the shadow of the Seekers.
17:13Then in May 1990, tragedy strikes again.
17:18Former Seekers lead singer Judith Durham is in a serious but stable condition in Melbourne's
17:23Alfred Hospital after a head-on car crash on the Calder Highway northwest of Melbourne.
17:29The driver of the other car is killed instantly.
17:31You sustain multiple fractures to your right arm and left leg.
17:35While Ron's injuries are minor, you are in surgery for six hours.
17:40You spend months in hospital and in rehabilitation with plenty of time to reflect on your own life.
17:46The accident changed that life a great deal, didn't it?
17:49I had a lot of time to reflect on people's response to me having this accident.
17:55The public contacted me and told me the most wonderful things.
17:58And I hadn't really realised how much I was appreciated for myself in the world.
18:03It's amazing, isn't it? Having had such fame.
18:06And adoration.
18:07Yes, and I really didn't understand how much I'd touched people.
18:11So I'll be forever grateful to people.
18:14And in this very strange way, almost glad that the accident happened,
18:18although the tragedy is that the girl in the other car died.
18:21But there's always some good comes out of everything.
18:25Well, stay with us, because coming up, Judith Durham is reunited with the Seekers after 25 years apart.
18:31But first, let's hear from a dear friend.
18:34Judith, congratulations. This must be quite a day for you.
18:37I'd like to congratulate you on all that you've achieved as a human being over the last few years.
18:42I know you've been through some terrible troubles.
18:44The loss of your husband, I'm very sorry.
18:46And also your accident and your health problems.
18:48And throughout all, you've maintained such a brave front, always that lovely smile.
18:53And you have such a beautiful voice that I've always admired.
18:55I love your voice. I think you're a wonderful human being.
18:57Congratulations on today.
19:08They thought the carnival was over.
19:14But Australia just won't let go of the Seekers.
19:18We'll build a world of our own.
19:21Judith Durham and the Seekers are back by popular demand.
19:24You've got to love someone.
19:26Performing all their classic hits and songs from their new album.
19:30He's calling me home.
19:32The Seekers 30th Anniversary Tour. Limited shows only. Book now.
19:43Welcome back to the Life and Times of Judith Durham.
19:45It's now 1992.
19:47You and Ron are just getting your lives back together and your world collapses again.
19:52Ron is diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
19:55You're told it will paralyse and eventually kill him.
19:59How did you both face that?
20:01He wanted me to keep working and I'm very grateful to him for that.
20:04Although it made it very hard to do both things.
20:07To really care as much for him as I could and to persevere with everything else.
20:11And you do keep working because you're not just having to cope with Ron's illness.
20:16Months before you commit to a momentous reunion.
20:19In 1993, after 25 years apart, the Seekers are getting back together.
20:25The Seekers reunion tour is a runaway success.
20:28And it's now fans from two and three generations who are flocking to your concerts.
20:33As soon as the reunion tour is over you devote yourself entirely to caring for Ron.
20:37You also take on the role as patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
20:42And after a heartbreaking struggle, your soul mate finally slips away in 1994.
20:47Three weeks after your 25th wedding anniversary.
20:51And he influenced almost every aspect of your life, didn't he?
20:54Professionally, matrimonially.
20:56I can't imagine what I would have been like as a person if I'd never met Ron.
21:01He absolutely completed my life in every single sense.
21:04Well, someone who is very, very close to both of you is Ron's brother, Patrick, who joins us now.
21:09Oh, Patrick.
21:22Judith and your brother had something very, very special, didn't they?
21:25As they say, we've been married 25 years, they've packed 50 years into it.
21:29They would get together about, what, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
21:33And what I found fascinating is so many married couples were apart all day.
21:37Never found anything to talk about. These guys never stopped talking.
21:40It was amazing. And even when Ron was ill, Judith would, you know, still chat her away.
21:44And Ron sort of typed a little one line that was in his voice synthesizer.
21:49But, as Judith said, that was a very difficult time.
21:52And she was out there singing and the audiences had no idea what it was actually like for her.
21:57It was really tough. So, it took a lot of doing.
22:00Patrick, thanks very much for joining us.
22:07Only two years ago, you were awarded the Order of Australia.
22:10And lately, you continue to record songs you're writing yourself.
22:14And as we said earlier, you started that songwriting career with David Reilly.
22:18And we've flown all the way from the UK to be with you tonight.
22:22David Reilly!
22:28Oh, you've been with us for years.
22:35Hello, how are you?
22:39Judith is really like a sister to you, isn't she?
22:41Well, yes. I was 17 years old when I first met Judith.
22:44And my father was a musician who was working with Judith.
22:47And then she, you know, introduced me.
22:49And I always felt I should look up to Judith.
22:52But she was too short, really.
22:57David started me as a writer. I mean, when you think about it,
23:00I had never actually started to think about writing songs.
23:04And David asked me to collaborate with him. And look, Colours of My Life came out of it.
23:08David bought his guitar all the way from England.
23:11And we just thought maybe you guys might just want to sing just a few bars of Colours of My Life.
23:17Hang on a sec.
23:22Thanks, Judith.
23:23Oh, boy.
23:26I can't seem to get my sleep now any old night
23:34Mr. Sandman passes by my door
23:40Colours of my life
23:44He brought love to fill my heart
23:48I don't need a rainbow
23:52With Colours of my life
23:56Colours of my life
24:03Thank you, David.
24:07Thank you, Judith.
24:17Fantastic.
24:18Judith, over the last four decades, you've played such an important role in our musical heritage.
24:24A third generation of Australians is now buying your music.
24:28And you've always been such a true ambassador all over the world for us.
24:32Someone with the utmost dignity and courage.
24:36Judith Durham, this is your life.
24:38Thank you very, very much.
24:42It's such a pleasure.
24:44Colours of my life
24:46Bloom like flowers in my heart
24:50Loving you has shown me
24:54Colours of my life
24:58Colours of my life
25:02Bloom like flowers in my heart
25:07Loving you has shown me
25:11Colours of my life
25:15Colours of my life
25:36Colours of my life