ROCKMELONS

Rockmelons, often referred to as the Rockies, was a pop/dance/R&B group formed in 1983 in Sydney. The group concept was formed in 1983 at a warehouse party in Sydney when Raymond Medhurst (keyboards) wanted a band to perform for a private party. He contacted the Jones brothers Bryon (keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals) and Jonathon (keyboards, guitar, drums) and Medhurst's schoolmate, Vincent Dale (keyboards) to join.

Sandi Chick (lead vocals) and Peter Kennard (guitar, percussion) entered in late 1983 and were followed closely by Geoffrey Stapleton (keyboards, guitar, percussion) (later in GANGgajang) in early 1984. Stapleton had worked with the Jones brothers when they were in Les Ukeleles and No Heavy Lifting by recording their songs. Vocalists Peter Blakeley and John Kenny (known to Stapleton in Adelaide) were brought in and with Stephen Allkins (operated turntables at gigs) made them a ten-piece.

The group's first single, "Time Out (For Serious Fun)", was released on Phantom Records on 4 February 1985 with lead vocals by Chick. A second single, "Sweat It Out" was released in September of the same year with vocals by Blakeley. Chick and Stapleton left that year. 1987 saw the arrival of Mary Azzopardi (backing vocals) and Wendy Matthews (vocals). The pattern of using different vocalists continued during the recording of their debut album. In June 1987, the group released "Rhymes", a cover of a 1974 song by Al Green with vocals by John Kenny. In November 1987, the group released "New Groove", which was followed by "What's It Gonna Be" in February 1988. All three singles peaked inside the Australian top 50. The album 'Tales of the City' was released in May 1988 and peaked at #6 on the Australian charts. Three further singles were released from the album in 1988.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, Rockmelons shared the ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Album with 1927's album ...ish.  By 1990 the Rockmelons were down to Medhurst and the Jones brothers after all others including founding member Dale had left. In 1991, Rockmelons recruited vocalist Deni Hines and recorded their cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", which reached #5 in Australia in January 1992, and was certified gold. 

Their follow-up single "That Word (L.O.V.E.)" (written by B. Jones, J. Jones, Medhurst and Robin Smith) reached #4 in Australia, and was also certified gold. By 1992, Doug Williams had joined as a vocalist whilst Hines left to have success as a solo artist, with the "It's Alright" single (1995) peaking at #4 in Australia. Rockmelons were nominated for ARIA Album of the Year award in 1993 for 'Form 1 Planet', which peaked at #3 in Australia in August 1992 and was certified platinum by ARIA. Rockmelons' third album, Rockies 3 was released in October 2002. Rockmelons used eight different vocalists on the album. The Jeremy Gregory lead single "All I Want Is You" was nominated for 2003 APRA Most Performed Dance Work. Other vocalist were Roxane LeBrasse, Darren Paul, Doug Williams, Emma Morton, Sydney Bouchaniche, and Evelyn Rubuen.

Members

Bryon Jones (keyboards, bass), Jonathon Jones (keyboards, guitar, drums), Raymond Medhurst (keyboards), Vincent Dale (keyboards), Peter Blakeley (vocals), John Kenny (vocals), Stephen Allkins (turntables), Deni Hines (vocals), Doug Williams (vocals), Sandi Chick (vocals) Peter Kennard (guitar, percussion) Geoffrey Stapleton (keyboards, guitar, percussion)

SINGLES
''Time Out For Serious Fun / Extremely Serious'' 1985 Phantom 
''Sweat It Out / If Tomorrow Ever Comes (Quieres Monkear? Part 1)'' 1985 True Tone 
''Rhymes (#26) / Hypnotheque'' 1987 True Tone 
''New Groove (#21) / In The Neighbourhood'' 1987 True Tone 
''What's It Gonna Be? (#41) / It's Gonna Be Instrumental'' 1988 True Tone 
''Thief (#81) / Boogietron'' 1988 True Tone 
''Jump [featuting Wendy Mathews] (#78) / Dreams In The Empty City'' 1988 True Tone 

''Ain't No Sunshine [Featuring Deni Hines] (#5) / Crunchy [Featuring Smart Ali] 1991 Mushroom
''That Word (L.O.V.E.) (#4) / That Word (L.O.V.E.) (Extended Toasted Mix)'' [featuting Deni Hines] 1992 Mushroom Australia 
 ''It's Not Over (Radio Edit)' [Featuring Deni Hines] (#15) / What's It Gonna Be?'' [Featuring John Kenny] 1992 Mushroom
"Form One Planet (Power to the People)" (#73) [featuring Eric Sebastian] 1993 Mushroom
"Stronger Together" (#96) [with Doug Williams] 1994 Mushroom
"Love's Gonna Bring You Home" [featuring Doug Williams] 2002
"All I Want Is You" (#41) [featuring Jeremy] 2002 
"I Ain't Playin'" (#79) [featuring Roxane) 2002 

ALBUMS
'Tales of the City' (#6) 1988 True Tone

'Form 1 Planet' (#3) 1992 Mushroom
'Rockies 3' 2002 Festival

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockmelons

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/