THE MONITORS

The Monitors were established in 1980 as a studio project by Terry McCarthy on vocals and keyboards, and Mark Moffatt on guitar, bass guitar and keyboards. McCarthy was an advertising director and Moffatt had worked as a musician in various groups before turning to production work. One of Moffatt's groups, Tonnage, from 1975 was renamed, Carol Lloyd Band with Moffatt on lead guitar and pedal steel guitar, Carol Lloyd on lead vocals and percussion (ex-Railroad Gin), Gary Broadhurst on bass guitar, Peter Harvey on keyboards, and Danny Simpson on drums. He left that group in 1976.

The Monitor's debut single, "Singin' in the '80s", was released in 1980. It reached #16 on the Kent Music Report singles chart in September. It was co-written by McCarthy and Moffatt, with Kim Durant providing the vocals in the chorus. Its music video used the twin sisters, Gayle and Gillian Blakeney, lip-syncing the vocals. They became hosts on children's TV show, Wombat, and actresses on TV soap opera, Neighbours. The video had the singers in similar make-up as used by United States group, KISS. This single was also released in Belgium and the Netherlands. Their second single, ''Nobody Told Me'' reached the top 40.

The Monitors' sole studio album, 'Back from Their Recent Illness', was released in October 1982 via Festival Records. South African-born Ricky Fataar joined the group on drums, percussion, guitar and keyboards. The album was co-produced by Fataar and Moffatt. The group disbanded at the end of that year. Mark Moffatt died of cancer in 2024.

Members

Mark Moffatt (guitar, guitar synthesiser, pedal steel, bass, sequencer, trigger programming), Terry McCarthy (lead vocals, background vocals, guitar, synthesiser), Ricky Fataar (drums, percussion, guitar, synthesiser, piano, organ, lead and background vocals)

SINGLES

''Singing In The 80's (#16) / Nautilus'' 1980 Festival
''Nobody Told Me (#32) / Wishful Thinking'' 1981 Festival
''Singing In The 80's / Nobody Told Me'' 1981 Red Records
''Who Do You Think It Was? / Midnight Club'' 1982 Red Records
''Having You Around Me (Edited Version) / Last One To Know'' 1983 Red Records

ALBUMS
'Back From Their Recent Illness!' 1982 Red Records

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monitors_%28Australian_band%29

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