New Seekers

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Biography

The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers . The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences. They achieved worldwide success in the early 1970s.

Formation

The group was formed after the disbanding of the successful 1960s Australian group The Seekers . Keith Potger , a member of The Seekers, put together The New Seekers in 1969, featuring Laurie Heath, Chris Barrington, Marty Kristian , Eve Graham and Sally Graham (no relation to Eve Graham). Potger himself also performed and recorded with the group. After one single release, the line-up was reworked in 1970 to Eve Graham, Lyn Paul , Marty Kristian, Peter Doyle (Singer)|Peter Doyle and Paul Layton . This line-up found instant success with their debut release, a cover of Melanie Safka 's "What Have They Done To My Song, Ma", (titled in the US as "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma"US Elektra Records release, #45699) which became a top 20 hit in the US and a minor one in the UK.

Mainstream success

Over the next year, the group released a number of singles to little recognition, but it was in June 1971 that they released their breakthrough hit, "Never Ending Song of Love" (the first of many hit songs to be produced by David Mackay (Producer)|David Mackay ). The song became a big hit in the UK, spending five weeks at No.2 in the singles chart and was one of the biggest selling singles of the year. Towards the end of 1971, the group recorded an adaptation of the Coca-Cola jingle, "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke", which had gained much interest. Reworked as " I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing ", the song became a worldwide success. It made No.1 in the UK for four weeks and sold just under a million copies. Today it still stands as one of the 100 best-selling singles ever in the UK. In the US, the song was also a hit, reaching No.7. It became a No.1 hit in many other countries and is the most recognised song by the group.

Late in 1971, the group were chosen to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest|United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972| Eurovision Song Contest . They entered with the song " Beg, Steal or Borrow ", which was chosen by viewers of BBC1 's "It's Cliff Richard!" show from six shortlisted songs performed by the group on a weekly basis. They went on to finish in second place at the Eurovision final in Edinburgh, where the group received the biggest cheer of the night from the partisan audience.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3 The song was a No.2 hit in the UK and sold well in Europe. Around this time, they also charted highly with their most successful album, '' We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing '', which reached No.2. Another top five hit came with the next single, "Circles" in mid 1972. At the end of the year, the group took part in the BBC 's anniversary TV show Fifty Years Of Music .

The following year the group saw a slight dip, although they did score a top 20 hit with an adaptation of " Pinball Wizard ". Member Peter Doyle left the group this year and was replaced by Peter Oliver. The New Seekers had enjoyed a number of hits in the US by this time and toured there with Liza Minnelli in 1973. While there, they recorded the title track to the American Marlo Thomas television special, Free to Be... You and Me , a landmark programme designed to teach children how to express themselves and be independent through a series of vignettes. Since the special was first broadcast in 1974 the song has become a cult classic.

Up to now, the group's biggest success had been as a five-piece harmony, but it was around this time that they began to favour lead singers for their songs with title credits given to Marty Kristian for " Come Softly to Me " and Eve Graham for "Nevertheless", but it was in late 1973 that this formula found its biggest success when Lyn Paul took the lead on the new single, " You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me ". The song became a big hit over Christmas and eventually peaked at No.1 in January 1974, becoming their second biggest hit. This formula continued with the next single, "I Get a Little Sentimental Over You", which also became a big hit, peaking at No.5. However, despite this revival, the group announced their split amid much publicity. With allegations that the members were receiving little financial reward for their success, The New Seekers officially disbanded in May 1974.

Reformation

In 1976, The New Seekers reformed with Kathy Ann Rae and Danny Finn replacing Lyn Paul and Peter Oliver. Although they never replicated their earlier success, the group did manage to score a few hits with "It's So Nice (To Have You Home)" (1976), "I Wanna Go Back" (1977) and "Anthem (One Day in Every Week)" (1978). This line up remained intact until 1979, when Danny Finn and Eve Graham left the group to marry. In 1980, the group attempted to represent the UK again in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Tell Me", but it was disqualified shortly before the British heats were televised due to the fact the group had already been promoting the single. Had they appeared in the 1980 UK contest, the group would have been up against former member Danny Finn, who was the lead singer of the winning group Prima Donna (band)|Prima Donna . In addition, Mick Flynn and Donna Jones of the current New Seekers line-up (2009) were also in the contest, placing fourth under the group name Pussyfoot . Marty Kristian entered a song in the 1983 UK Eurovision finals, performed by a trio called 'Audio', which included Kathy Ann Rae in the line up. Since then, there have been personnel changes which included Caitriona Walsh, Nicola Kerr and Vikki James. Paul Layton remained with the band throughout this time. Kathy Ann Rae died from cancer on 11 January 2011.

Today

Today's New Seekers toured from 2006 with the latest line up of Paul Layton, Donna Jones, Francine Rees, Mick Flynn and Mark Hankins. A CD of the 2006 tour was released which includes all of the group's hits along with some cover versions. 2006 was completed with a Royal Variety performance at St. James Palace , London for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and an appearance on ITV's This Morning (TV series)| This Morning . 2007 saw the New Seekers help host a garden party at Buckingham Palace . This was repeated the following year along with a special show at The Tower of London and a return batch of concerts in UK theatres. 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the group and was celebrated by a 35-date UK concert tour which began at London's Shaw Theatre on 31 January and continued throughout the year. In July 2009, an album was released; ''It's Been Too Long – Greatest Hits and More'', comprising the group's hits and some new recordings. It became a success by entering the UK album charts at No.17 – their first album to enter the chart for 35 years.
In 2011 Marty Kristian release an album of demo recordings from the 1970s and 1980s.
Peter Doyle died 13th October 2001, from Throat Cancer, aged 52.
Kathy Ann Rae died 11th January 2011, from Cancer, aged 53.

Discography

Singles

Date	Song	UK cite web	AUS	US cite web	author=Jaclyn Ward – Fireball Media Group – http:/ / www.fireballmedia.ie	Album
October 1969	"Meet My Lord"	-	-	-	-	The New Seekers
June 1970	"What Have They Done to My Song, Ma"	44	3	14	-	Keith Potger and the New Seekers
October 1970	"Beautiful People / When There's No Love Left"	-	100	67	-	Beautiful People
March 1971	"Nickel Song"	-	67	81	-
June 1971	" Never Ending Song of Love "	2	25	-	1
October 1971	"Good Old Fashioned Music"	-	-	-	-	New Colours
December 1971	" I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing "	1	7	7	1	''We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
March 1972	" Beg, Steal or Borrow "	2	36	81	3	''We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
June 1972	"Circles"	4	20	87	3	Circles
September 1972	"Dance Dance Dance"	NR	-	84	-	Circles
November 1972	" Come Softly to Me "	20	73	95	-	-
February 1973	" Pinball Wizard - See Me Feel Me "	16	16	29	20	Now
March 1973	"Nevertheless"	34	96	-	-	-
June 1973	"Goodbye is Just Another Word"	36	-	-	-
September 1973	"We've Got to Do it Now"	-	-	-	-
November 1973	" You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me "	1	5	-	1	Together
March 1974	"I Get a Little Sentimental Over You"	5	12	-	9	Together
May 1974	"Sing Hallelujah"	-	-	-	-	Farewell Album
June 1976	"It's so Nice (To Have You Home)"	44	72	-	-	Together Again
November 1976 2	"I Wanna Go Back"	25	-	-	-	Together Again
May 1977	"Give Me Love Your Way"3	-	-	-	-
January 1978	"Flashback"	-	-	-	-	Anthem – One Day in Every Week
March 1978	"Do You Wanna Make Love"	-	-	-	-
June 1978	"Anthem (One Day in Every Week)"	21	-	-	15
November 1978	" You Needed Me "	-	-	-	-	-
January 1979	"Don't Stop the Music"	-	-	-	-
October 1979	"Love is a Song"	-	-	-	-
March 1980	"Tell Me"	-	-	-	-
July 1980	"California Nights"	-	-	-	-
December 1985	"Let the Bells Ring out Forever"	-	-	-	-

NOTES

1 Not released in the UK

2 Charted in January 1977

3 Final single release in the US

Singles "Tonight" and "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard" were released in the US in 1971 and 1973 respectively (although neither charted)

"For You We Sing" was released as a single in many European countries in 1972

"All the Way" was released as a single in Australia in 1983

Albums

Date	Album title	UK cite web	US cite web
January 1970	The New Seekers (album)> The New Seekers	-	NR
November 1970	Keith Potger and the New Seekers	-	NR
May 1971	Beautiful People (album)>Beautiful People	-	136
September 1971	New Colours	40	-
December 1971 (US) March 1972 (UK)	'' We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing	2	37
June 1972	Beautiful People (album)#Never Ending Song of Love>Never Ending Song of Love 1	35	NR
September 1972	Circles	23	166
November 1972	Live at the Royal Albert Hall	-	-
January 1973	Come Softly To Me	-	-
March 1973	Now	47	190
1973	The Best of the New Seekers (US release)	NR	-
March 1974	Together	12	-
August 1974	Farewell Album	-	-
November 1976	Together Again	-	-
September 1978	Anthem – One Day in Every Week	-	-
2007	Live	-	-
July 2009	''It's Been a Long Time – Greatest Hits and More	17	-

NOTES

1 Re-released version of Beautiful People

NR – Not released

In September 1973, an album, Peter, Paul and Marty was released by members Peter Oliver, Paul Layton and Marty Kristian. This included the New Seekers' single "Come Softly to Me".

Copyright Citations

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1. Cliff Richard 2. The Seekers 3. The New Seekers 4. Beautiful People 5. Brotherhood of Man 6. Doobie Brothers 7. Tarney-Spencer Band

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