Bruce William Woodley
(born 25 July 1942) is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician.
He was a founding member of the successful
folk-pop
Folk-pop is a broad Music genre#Subtypes, musical fusion genre that includes contemporary folk songs with pop music, pop arrangements, and pop songs with intimate, acoustic music, acoustic-based folk music, folk arrangements. Folk-pop has been ...
group
the Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...
,
and co-composer of the songs "
I Am Australian," "
Red Rubber Ball
"Red Rubber Ball" is a pop music, pop song written by Bruce Woodley of The Seekers and Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel, sound recording and reproduction, recorded by The Cyrkle, whose version reached 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' ...
," and
Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...
's "
Cloudy."
Early life
Bruce Woodley was born on 25 July 1942 in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria, Australia. He attended
Melbourne High School
Melbourne High School is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex education, single-sex Selective school, academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb ...
with fellow Seekers,
Athol Guy
Athol George Guy (born 5 January 1940) is an Australian musician and former politician who was a member of the Australian folk-pop music group the Seekers, for whom he played double bass and sang. He is recognisable by his black-framed "Buddy ...
and
Keith Potger
Keith Leon Potger (born 21 March 1941) is an Australian musician, who was a founding member of the Australian folk-pop group the Seekers. He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and is of Burgher descent. In 1969, Potger and his business partne ...
.
The Seekers
Woodley had a 'residency' performing at the Treble Clef restaurant in
Prahran
Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...
. With former schoolmates,
Athol Guy
Athol George Guy (born 5 January 1940) is an Australian musician and former politician who was a member of the Australian folk-pop music group the Seekers, for whom he played double bass and sang. He is recognisable by his black-framed "Buddy ...
and
Keith Potger
Keith Leon Potger (born 21 March 1941) is an Australian musician, who was a founding member of the Australian folk-pop group the Seekers. He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and is of Burgher descent. In 1969, Potger and his business partne ...
, he formed a
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
trio, The Escorts, in the early 1960s.
Soon before the arrival of vocalist
Judith Durham in 1962 they became
The Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...
, and had some success in Australia before travelling to London in 1964 and recording four international hit singles written and produced by
Tom Springfield.
Woodley played guitar,
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin.
...
, and
mandolin
A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
, as well as one of the four-part vocal harmony, and was the chief songwriter.
While Durham sang the majority of lead vocals for the group, Woodley usually handled the male lead vocals, including a number of album tracks. The Seekers first disbanded in 1968.
Work with Paul Simon
During 1965, while in London, Woodley met
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...
, following the poor performance of ''
Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.'' and just prior to the success of
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...
.
All of this also happened before the success of Simon's "The Sounds of Silence." Simon and Woodley co-wrote the million-selling "
Red Rubber Ball
"Red Rubber Ball" is a pop music, pop song written by Bruce Woodley of The Seekers and Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel, sound recording and reproduction, recorded by The Cyrkle, whose version reached 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' ...
"
—later a Top Five hit for US group
The Cyrkle
The Cyrkle is an American rock band active from the early to late-1960s, and since 2016. The group has charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and "Turn-Down Day".
Career
The band was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and T ...
.
This was the Simon and Woodley collaboration. The Seekers later recorded these three songs, and "Cloudy" became an album track on Simon and Garfunkel's hit 1966 album ''
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme''—the only Simon and Woodley song to appear on both groups' album.
However, Woodley's relationship with Simon had deteriorated and Woodley later struggled to get his share of the
royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...
—his songwriting credit on "Cloudy" was omitted from the release of ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme''.
Woodley and Simon stopped working together due to the mentioned royalty problems and creative differences, and the collaborations ended after that.
Going Solo
Woodley's first solo venture was a production company called Pennywheel, which saw him release a number of products for children, including a "Build an Alphabet" set of blocks and the 1969
EP and board book, "Friday St. Fantasy". In 1969, Bruce headed off to
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
to sell songs he had been writing, and was to remain there for several years. During this period he collaborated with a number of writers including
John Farrar
John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963 ...
and Australian folk singer
Hans Poulsen.
Seekers reunions
Woodley reunited with the Seekers, composed of fellow original members
Athol Guy
Athol George Guy (born 5 January 1940) is an Australian musician and former politician who was a member of the Australian folk-pop music group the Seekers, for whom he played double bass and sang. He is recognisable by his black-framed "Buddy ...
and
Keith Potger
Keith Leon Potger (born 21 March 1941) is an Australian musician, who was a founding member of the Australian folk-pop group the Seekers. He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and is of Burgher descent. In 1969, Potger and his business partne ...
, and 23-year-old Dutch-born Louisa Wisseling (a semi-professional folk singer formerly with Melbourne band The Settlers). In a February 1975 newspaper article about the group's reunion, Louisa revealed that Bruce had approached her at a 1974 Settlers concert at
Ferntree Gully's
Swagman Restaurant with an offer to join the group, and she originally turned him down. The new group recorded two albums and a number of singles, some of which, including "The Nimble Song" and "I Saw It All With Trans Tours" (both written by Woodley) reflected the boys' other careers in advertising. Woodley's composition "The Sparrow Song" became the group's biggest 1970s hit and remains to this day the highest-charting Seekers single written by a member of the group. Other tracks he contributed to this line-up included "Giving and Takin'" (the title track of their second album), "Can We Learn to Get Along" (which began life as a solo recording for the TV documentary series ''Shell's Australia'', and was released by Bruce on
flexi-disc
The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a Gramophone record, phonograph record made of a thin, flexible Polyvinyl chloride, vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral Phonograph pickup, stylus groove, and is ...
), "Reunion", "Country Ros", "Standing on Shaky Ground" (featuring Bruce on vocals which he felt were too low for him, but were impossible for Louisa to sing for the same reason), and "The Rose and the Briar".
In 1977, Bruce left the group and was replaced by Buddy England. He continued to focus on song-writing and advertising, producing many TV
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
. His first, back in 1971 was a solo (advertising) single called "The ANZ Bank Travelling Man", and was given out free to employees of that institution as part of the promotion.
''I Am Australian''
The year 1987 saw Woodley involved in the preparations for the
Australian Bicentenary, and the release of an Australian-themed double album, songbook and cassette tape, featuring covers of traditional songs and some of Woodley's own compositions. The set was called ''
I Am Australian'', after a jingle that he wrote to tie together the various threads of the project, tapping into the need he perceived for a national song in which people could take pride. One of his colleagues on the project was
Dobe Newton of
The Bushwackers, who helped compose the words of the title song; another was noted folk singer
Rose Bygrave. The recordings also featured a children's choir including Claire Woodley.
The following year he reunited with
The Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...
, this time featuring
Julie Anthony as the lead singer, to perform "The Carnival is Over" at
Expo '88 and a musical about the Seekers' journey. This line-up released an album in 1989; "Live On", the title track, was composed by Woodley, as were many of the other new tracks like "The Streets of Serenade" (which charted the story of the Seekers rather more blatantly than his '70s composition "Reunion"), "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back", "How Can a Love So Wrong Be So Right" and "Taking My Chances With You". When Julie left to have a baby (daughter Tamara), former ''Young Talent Time'' singer
Karen Knowles joined the group. The only studio recordings by this line-up are the Bruce Woodley written songs "Fools Tonight" and "Bright Star", sold as a cassingle at concerts. "Bright Star", originally written for Julie's voice, was also performed by both the Julie- and Karen-led Seekers at
Carols by Candlelight.
When original lead singer
Judith Durham returned to The Seekers fold in late 1992 for the group's 25 Year Silver Jubilee, the theme song and CD-Single of the reunion was Woodley's composition "
Keep A Dream In Your Pocket". A 1993 live album and DVD followed, featuring many of the group's hits and a song which would become one of their best known, Woodley's "
I Am Australian".
The success of "I Am Australian" took Woodley completely by surprise. In 1991, he performed it with Karen and the Australian Children's Choir on a televised drought appeal, featuring a new, drought-themed verse which has not appeared on other recordings. "I Am Australian" has featured in all Woodley's solo tours and all Seekers tours since the reunion with Judith Durham; in 2000 the Seekers performed a condensed version at the televised Australia Day concert. Many artists have covered the song; in 1997, Durham released a version with
Russell Hitchcock and
Mandawuy Yunupingu which entered the Australian charts. For many , it has become the unofficial anthem, and is a staple performed at many national events, by such artists as
Jon Stevens,
Delta Goodrem
Delta Lea Goodrem Order of Australia, AM (born 9 November 1984) is an Australian singer, songwriter, television personality and actress based in Sydney. Goodrem signed a recording contract with Sony Music at the age of 15. Her debut studio album ...
and naturally Bruce and the Seekers. At the 2001 celebrations for the Centenary of Federation, Woodley performed the song with daughter Claire (now known for performing the song solo at many events herself) and co-writer Dobe Newton.
He recorded a CD in 2001, along with Claire, called, once again, "I am Australian". He has since recorded an
ANZAC themed version of "I am Australian", titled "The Anzac Song", and appeared on Melbourne radio advertising the release of a CD-Single several weeks before
Anzac Day in 2005. Apparently due to production difficulties, it never eventuated. In 2005 Bruce was interviewed by music journalist Debbie Kruger for a new book entitled ''Songwriters Speak'', focusing on influential and successful Australian singer-songwriters.
At the National Day of Mourning on 22 February 2009 for the victims of the
Victoria bushfires, Woodley unveiled two new verses for "I am Australian".
Other work
Woodley's non-musical work includes public speaking through the Saxton Speakers Bureau, and he is the patron of various organisations such as the NIYPAA (National Institute of Youth Performing Arts Australia). He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the organisation TLC for Kids, and was for a time, beginning in 1997, the chairman of the Victorian branch of the
Variety Club.
Woodley and his wife, Sally have two children, Claire and a son, Dan. Claire has collaborated with her father, several times.
Notable performances
* 1965 – The Seekers won the Best New Group in the New Musical Express Poll Winners Awards and performed on 11 April at the Wembley Empire Pool, on a bill that included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard and Dusty Springfield. Archive footage from this show was included in the Seekers' 2014 50th anniversary tour.
* 1965 – In June the Seekers performed in the United States on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
'' singing "A World of Our Own" and "You Can Tell The World".
* 1966 – In November the Seekers performed at a
Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium before the
Queen Mother
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...
.
* 1967 – The Seekers made another appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' singing "
Georgy Girl".
* 1967 – The Seekers represented Australia at
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...
in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada (when they appeared on television in Australia via the first satellite transmission from the United States to Australia).
* 1967 – Melbourne, 12 March, Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The Seekers played to an estimated 200,000 people in a televised concert celebrating their overseas success.
Television specials
* 1965 – ''An Evening with The Seekers''
* 1966 – ''The Seekers at Home''
* 1967 – ''The Seekers Down Under'' and ''The World of The Seekers''
* Four television mini-specials titled ''A Date with the Seekers''
* 1968 – ''
1968 BBC Farewell Spectacular''
* 2019 – ''ABC Television's Australian Story''
* 2019 – ''SBS Television screens the Decca DVD Farewell Album''
Honours and awards
* In 1966, the Seekers received the Carl Alan Award for Best New Group at the Top Of The Pops Awards, in London.
* In 1968, Guy and the other members of The Seekers were named jointly and severally Australians of the Year 1967.
* In the 1995
Australia Day Honours, Guy, along with the other members of The Seekers, was awarded the
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
* In 2006, Guy and the other members of The Seekers were presented with the
Key to the City by Melbourne's Lord Mayor,
John So.
* In 2012, Guy and the other members of the Seekers were honoured by Australia Post with a special Legends Of Australian Music postage stamp.
* In the
2014 Queen's Birthday Honours, Guy, along with the other members of The Seekers, was advanced as an
Officer of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
(AO).
Discography
Albums
Live Albums
Singles
Songwriter and performer
*1964 The Seekers: "Myra" (Durham/Guy/Potger/Woodley)
*1965 The Seekers: "Two Summers" (Woodley)
*1965 The Seekers: "Don't Tell Me My Mind" (Woodley)
*1966 The Seekers: "Come the Day" (Woodley)
*1966 The Seekers: "Red Rubber Ball" (Woodley/Simon)
*1966 The Seekers: "I Wish You Could Be Here" (Woodley/Simon)
*1967 The Seekers: "Love is Kind, Love is Wine" (Woodley)
*1967 The Seekers: "The Sad Cloud" (Woodley/Westlake)
*1967 The Seekers: "Chase a Rainbow (Follow Your Dream)" (Woodley)
*1967 The Seekers: "Angeline is Always Friday" (
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. /Woodley)
*1967 The Seekers: "Cloudy" (Woodley/Simon)
*1967 The Seekers: "Rattler" (Woodley)
*1969 Bruce Woodley: "Friday Street Fantasy"
P("Friday Man/Little One/Little Miss Sorrow/Captain Grumblepeg")
*1969 "Friday Man/Captain Grumblepeg"
5*1971 "Just Good Friends"
p*1971 "Friends/Rattler"
5*1974 "The Roaring Days Vol. 1"
p*1987 "I am Australian"
ox set: 2lp, book, cassette(Woodley/Dobe Newton)
*1997 The Seekers: "The Bush Girl" (Woodley/Lawson)
*1997 The Seekers: "The Shores of Avalon" (Arrangement and original lyrics: Durham/Guy/Kovac/Potger/Woodley)
*1997 The Seekers: "Amazing" (Woodley/Cristian)
*1997 The Seekers "Gotta Love Someone" (Woodley/Cristian)
*
DBruce Woodley: "Can We Learn to Get Along"
5*
D "The ANZ Bank Travelling Man"
romo 45*
D "The Colours of Your Days"
5
Songwriter only
*1966
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...
: "Cloudy", (Woodley/Simon) on the album ''
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'' US #4 album (Woodley co-writing credit omitted)
*1967
The Cyrkle
The Cyrkle is an American rock band active from the early to late-1960s, and since 2016. The group has charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and "Turn-Down Day".
Career
The band was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and T ...
: "
Red Rubber Ball
"Red Rubber Ball" is a pop music, pop song written by Bruce Woodley of The Seekers and Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel, sound recording and reproduction, recorded by The Cyrkle, whose version reached 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' ...
" (Woodley/Simon) US #2
*1967 The Cyrkle: "I Wish You Could Be Here" (Woodley/Simon) US #70
*1967
Herman's Hermits: Little Miss Sorrow, Child of Tomorrow (Woodley) on the album ''
There's a Kind of Hush all Over the World.''
*1967 Herman's Hermits: Rattler (Woodley) on the album ''
There's a Kind of Hush all Over the World''.
*1967
Lulu
Lulu may refer to:
Companies
* LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer
* Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer
* Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia
* Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...
: Rattler (Woodley) on the album Love Loves to Love Lulu (To Sir, with Love)
*
Hans Poulsen: "Boom Sha La La Lo" (Poulsen/Woodley)
*1969
Zoot: "Monty & Me" (Poulsen/Woodley)
*1969 The Strangers "Lady Scorpio" (Poulsen /Woodley)
References
;General
:Books
*Kruger, Debbie; '' Songwriters Speak'', Limelight Press, Australia, August 2005.
*Simpson, Graham; ''Colours of my life : the Judith Durham Story'',
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, Australia, 1994, 1998, 2005.
*Woodley, Bruce; ''Friday Street Fantasy and Other Stories'', Paul Hamlyn & Pennywheel, Australia, 1969.
*Woodley, Bruce; ''I am Australian Songbook'', Australia: np., 1987.
:Articles
*''
The Weekend Australian'', The Australian magazine, 11–12 April 1992. pp. 32–35 and cover. – Bruce's involvement with IAA (I am Australian) Foundation
*''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', Property, 14 August 1982. – Interview with Sally Woodley about sale of Brighton residence
;Specific
External links
"I am Australian" lyrics with REAL AUDIO featuring Bruce Woodley and daughter Claire Woodleyat Aussie Connection
*
at MILESAGO
Songwriters Speak– Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodley, Bruce
The Seekers members
1942 births
Australian male composers
Australian composers
Australian guitarists
Australian pop singers
Australian tenors
Living people
People educated at Melbourne High School
Musicians from Melbourne
Australian banjoists
Australian expatriates in England
20th-century guitarists
Australian folk-pop singers
Acoustic guitarists
20th-century Australian male singers
Australian male guitarists
Australian male singer-songwriters
20th-century Australian singer-songwriters