Australian singer, a four-year member of “The Seekers,” a popular group named Australians of the Year in 1967. Their hit songs included “I’ll Never Find Another You”, “A World of Our Own”, “Morningtown Ride”, “Georgy Girl” and “The Carnival Is Over”. At one point, the group rivalled the Beatles and Stones in the charts and were the first Aussie group to achieve recording success on an international basis.
Durham’s own taste, shown more clearly before and after her stint as lead vocalist with the group, 1964 to 1968, ran more toward old-time jazz and the big-band sound of blues, such as that of Billie Holiday or Helen Morgan. Her first records were with Frank Traynor’s Jazz Preachers in the early ‘60s. Through the ‘70s, her style ranged from pop and gospel to jazz and blues, with a smattering of opera.
She married composer and pianist Rod Edgeworth with whom she recorded and released two albums between 1972 and 1974 from their production company, Trophworld. They compiled highlights from performances in Hobart in 1977 and the Newport Jazz Festival in 1978 to release in 1981 as The Hot Jazz Duo Live in Concert. The remainder of the ‘80s was quiet but in 1990 they scheduled a series of concerts through Australia. It was delayed due to a traffic accident in which they were both seriously injured in 1990. Following their recovery, the original Seekers reunited in 1993 for a celebration.
The Edgeworths also collaborated with playwright Ian Austin on their own musical, Gotta be Rainbows and Judith released her own salute to her country, Australia, Land of Today.
In 1993, Ron was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease for which Judith later became Australian patron, raising awareness and fund to combat the fatal disease. Ron lost his battle with MND on 10 December 1994.
Judith returned to the studio in 1995 to record Mona Lisas, an album of interpretations of some well known songs by other artists, which was released in 1996. She followed the release with a series of acclaimed concerts. The Seekers’ Future Road was released in 1997. Their final public tour was in 2000, after which Durham returned to solo projects.
When relaxing, Durham enjoyed reading, mostly politics or self-help philosophy. She meditated to keep on an even keel and had been a vegetarian since meeting Ron. He was also a teetotaler and she too stopped drinking. She noted that her health had never been exceptionally good. She had weight problems when younger and had to find a sane eating program in order to avoid binge eating and dieting. She learned to eat a basic, wholesome healthy diet. As she tended to be a perfectionist, she had to learn to let it go.
Durham spoke in an interview of being immature at the time of her early incredible success with The Seekers, saying that “I became a pop star before I had really crystallized as a human being and I wondered what life held for me outside that very sheltered world we were all in. I was in a state of conflict and not really happy doing it, so I had to leave.”
In 2000 Durham broke her hip and so was unable to sing “The Carnival is Over” at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney with the Seekers. However she sang it from a wheelchair at the 2000 Paralympics shortly after.
Durham suffered a stroke in May 2013. She died following a battle with chronic lung disease at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on Friday evening, 5 August 2022, aged 79.
Link to Wikipedia biography