Wendy June Saddington was born on 26 September 1949 and started her professional musical career in 1967 when she joined as a singer for Melbourne-based soul band Revolution and then Adelaide-based psychedelic rock band James Taylor Move replacing Rob Taylor, with John Pugh on guitar, Trevor Spencer on drums, Alan Tarney on bass guitar and Lance Dixon on keyboards. When Perth blues group, The Beaten Tracks relocated to Melbourne, Saddington joined and the group were renamed, The Chain, in December 1968. Saddington provided the name from Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools".
The Chain line-up was Saddington on vocals, Phil Manning (ex-Bay City Union) on guitar and vocals, Warren Morgan on piano and vocals, and Murray Wilkins on bass guitar. The teen pop newspaper, Go-Set started publishing in 1966 and Saddington provided an interview of soul and blues singer, Max Merritt in 1968, as a guest writer. In March 1969 Saddington was described by The Canberra Times 's Garry Raffaele, "by far the best female rhythm and blues singer in the country. That's a relative judgment; objectively she is an exciting, raging swinger in the style of Aretha Franklin, vocally she screams and roars and sighs with the rhythmic feel of Aretha Franklin". Saddington left the band in May that year prior to any known recordings, the band later shortened their name to Chain and had a hit with "Black and Blue" and released the legendary 'Towards The Blues' album.
On the Australia Day weekend (24 and 25 January) 1970, Ourimbah was the venue for the "Pilgrimage for Pop", the nation's first rock music festival. Saddington performed as a solo artist, with other acts including Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs and Jeff St John's Copperwine. From March 1970 to February 1971, Saddington was co-lead vocalist with Jeff St John in Copperwine. The other members of Copperwine were Harry Brus on bass guitar, Ross East on guitar and vocals, Peter Figures on drums, and Barry Kelly on keyboards and vocals. In January 1971, Copperwine attended the Wallacia Festival on the outskirts of Penrith in New South Wales, and recorded a live album without leader, Jeff St John.
It was released as 'Wendy Saddington and Copperwine Live' but Saddington had left before its release in February by Festival Records on their Infinity label. Saddington was not pleased with the quality of the live album. Nevertheless, Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt her tenure with Copperwine had "motivated many changes in their musical direction, with much of the soul-copying being replaced by a more purist blues-oriented sound. That change was heard on the album". In July 1971, Saddington released her debut solo single, "Looking Thru A Window" in September. It was co-written and co-produced by Billy Thorpe and her former band mate, Warren Morgan of the Aztecs. The Aztecs, including Morgan and Thorpe, backed her on the recording.
Soon after, Saddington formed Teardrop which were featured in an 11-minute documentary short for Film Australia, Australian Colour Diary No. 43: Three Directions in Australian Pop Music (1972) directed by Peter Weir (future director of Dead Poets Society and Master and Commander). Chart success for "Looking Thru A Window" led Festival to re-release the Copperwine album as 'Looking Through a Window' with the single added as a bonus track in 1972. From October 1972 to the end of 1974 Saddington regularly supported Sydney drag performance troupe, Sylvia and the Synthetics, which had various members including Danny Abood (aka Daniel Archer), Doris Fish (aka Philip Mills) and Jacqueline Hyde (aka Mel Slatterly). A discussion with Saddington had provided the name, "I was with her one night on our way to 'Chez Ivy's' and we just started talking about names for groups''.
In March 1973, The Who's rock opera Tommy was performed as an orchestral version in Australia with Saddington in the role of The Nurse. Other Australian artists were Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Billy Thorpe, Doug Parkinson, Broderick Smith, Jim Keays, Colleen Hewett, Linda George, Ross Wilson, Bobby Bright, and Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney). From the early 1970s Saddington was a follower of Prabhupada and joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, she took the name, Gandharvika Dasi. She had been introduced to the movement in 1972 when visiting New York. In the mid-1970s Saddington worked with various groups including Shango and Blues Assembly, and in New York with Jeffrey Crozier Band.
Her performing career declined in the late 1970s as her involvement with Krishna Consciousness became a major focus. In 1983 Wendy Saddington returned to her music career by forming Wendy Saddington Band with Bobby Gebert on keyboards, Harvey James (ex-Ariel, Sherbet) on guitar, Billy Ryland on bass guitar (ex-Lotus), and Chris Sweeney on drums. A second version appeared in 1986 to 1987 with Angelica Booth on bass guitar, Rose Bygrave (ex-Goanna) on keyboards, Mick Liber (ex-Python Lee Jackson) on guitar and Des McKenna ("Animal" from Hey Hey It's Saturday house band) on drums. This line-up mainly played reggae music and toured rural New South Wales including Tamworth.
They recorded an album at Tamworth's ENREC studios, which was not released as the master tapes were lost. In August 1994, Australian art historian, Catriona Moore, dedicated her book, Indecent Exposures:Twenty Years of Australian Feminist Photography, to photographer Carol Jerrems and used Jerrems' photo, "Wendy Saddington 1973", to promote the work. On 5 September 1998 Saddington provided guest vocals on 'One Night Jamm' by Kevin Borich Express, which also has guest vocals and harmonica by Ross Wilson (ex-Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock).
The band's line up was Kevin Borich on lead guitar and vocals, his son Lucius Borich on drums, and Ben Rosen on bass guitar. Saddington "sang a number of jazzy, free-form blues tunes". Around 1985 Saddington had formed a duo with pianist Peter Head, performing mainly at the Civic Hotel and at various Kings Cross and Darlinghurst venues. They worked irregularly together for the remainder of the decade. In 2002 Head organised a Saddington concert at Sydney's jazz and blues venue, The Basement, curating a soul, jazz line up with Lachlan Doley on Hammond organ, Peter Figures on drums, and Jackie Orszaczky on bass guitar. The concert was recorded but is as yet unreleased.
In 2003, Saddington provided three tracks for the album, 'Women 'n Blues', with other tracks by Kate Dunbar, Sally King, Jeannie Lewis and Margret Roadknight. In August 2012 Saddington appeared on celebrity musician quiz show, RocKwiz, on SBS-TV, where she performed Simone's "Backlash Blues". In December that year she recalled her career "I'm not into legacies I usually get a job once in a blue moon I guess it is by choice in a way. But at the same time I have always thought I would have liked to have earned a living at it". She believed that Krishna Consciousness had "saved my life", reviewing her life as a heavy drinker "I honestly think if I had gone on with that, it would have ended up like Janis Joplin. Too fast; not good enough; too soon, you know, bang". In March 2013 she was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, Wendy Saddington died on 21 June 2013, aged 63.
SINGLES
''Looking Thru A Window (#67) / We Need A Song'' 1971 Infinity
''Looking Thru A Window / We Need A Song'' 1976 Infinity
In March 1973, The Who's rock opera Tommy was performed as an orchestral version in Australia with Saddington in the role of The Nurse. Other Australian artists were Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Billy Thorpe, Doug Parkinson, Broderick Smith, Jim Keays, Colleen Hewett, Linda George, Ross Wilson, Bobby Bright, and Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney). From the early 1970s Saddington was a follower of Prabhupada and joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, she took the name, Gandharvika Dasi. She had been introduced to the movement in 1972 when visiting New York. In the mid-1970s Saddington worked with various groups including Shango and Blues Assembly, and in New York with Jeffrey Crozier Band.
Her performing career declined in the late 1970s as her involvement with Krishna Consciousness became a major focus. In 1983 Wendy Saddington returned to her music career by forming Wendy Saddington Band with Bobby Gebert on keyboards, Harvey James (ex-Ariel, Sherbet) on guitar, Billy Ryland on bass guitar (ex-Lotus), and Chris Sweeney on drums. A second version appeared in 1986 to 1987 with Angelica Booth on bass guitar, Rose Bygrave (ex-Goanna) on keyboards, Mick Liber (ex-Python Lee Jackson) on guitar and Des McKenna ("Animal" from Hey Hey It's Saturday house band) on drums. This line-up mainly played reggae music and toured rural New South Wales including Tamworth.
They recorded an album at Tamworth's ENREC studios, which was not released as the master tapes were lost. In August 1994, Australian art historian, Catriona Moore, dedicated her book, Indecent Exposures:Twenty Years of Australian Feminist Photography, to photographer Carol Jerrems and used Jerrems' photo, "Wendy Saddington 1973", to promote the work. On 5 September 1998 Saddington provided guest vocals on 'One Night Jamm' by Kevin Borich Express, which also has guest vocals and harmonica by Ross Wilson (ex-Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock).
The band's line up was Kevin Borich on lead guitar and vocals, his son Lucius Borich on drums, and Ben Rosen on bass guitar. Saddington "sang a number of jazzy, free-form blues tunes". Around 1985 Saddington had formed a duo with pianist Peter Head, performing mainly at the Civic Hotel and at various Kings Cross and Darlinghurst venues. They worked irregularly together for the remainder of the decade. In 2002 Head organised a Saddington concert at Sydney's jazz and blues venue, The Basement, curating a soul, jazz line up with Lachlan Doley on Hammond organ, Peter Figures on drums, and Jackie Orszaczky on bass guitar. The concert was recorded but is as yet unreleased.
In 2003, Saddington provided three tracks for the album, 'Women 'n Blues', with other tracks by Kate Dunbar, Sally King, Jeannie Lewis and Margret Roadknight. In August 2012 Saddington appeared on celebrity musician quiz show, RocKwiz, on SBS-TV, where she performed Simone's "Backlash Blues". In December that year she recalled her career "I'm not into legacies I usually get a job once in a blue moon I guess it is by choice in a way. But at the same time I have always thought I would have liked to have earned a living at it". She believed that Krishna Consciousness had "saved my life", reviewing her life as a heavy drinker "I honestly think if I had gone on with that, it would have ended up like Janis Joplin. Too fast; not good enough; too soon, you know, bang". In March 2013 she was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, Wendy Saddington died on 21 June 2013, aged 63.
''Looking Thru A Window (#67) / We Need A Song'' 1971 Infinity
''Looking Thru A Window / We Need A Song'' 1976 Infinity
'Wendy Saddington & The Copperwine Live' 1971 Infinity
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Saddington
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
Wendy Saddington was, hands down and no contest, the great female soul r and b singer that Australia has produced. Her friend and peer, the great Doug Parkinson, remembers her fondly in "Long Way to the top," the best documentary yet made about Australian pop. He describes her as a "real wild child," with an uncanny natural talent for singing the blues. That banshee howl that you will hear on her recordings still has the power to thrill. some Youtube clips that show her power
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO9R639mk34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2iWWAvxmko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i74IJriDCE
Correction for James Taylor Move.
ReplyDeleteWendy replaced Robert (Rob) Taylor.
Kevin Peek never played in this formation, the guitar duties were performed by John Pugh.
Alan Tarney + Trevor Spencer plus myself Lance DIXON on organ.
Thanks very much Lance
Delete