Andrew Durant (musician)

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Andrew Durant
Birth name Andrew MacLeish Durant
Born 1955
Origin Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Died 1980 (aged 24–25)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres Country rock
Occupation(s) Musician-songwriter
Instruments Guitar, harmonica, vocals, mandolin
Years active 1972–1979
Associated acts Astra Kahn, Stars
Notable instruments
Andy's Mandolin

Andrew MacLeish Durant (1955 – 6 May 1980) was an Australian musician-songwriter. He was a member of country rock group Stars (1976–79) providing guitar, harmonica, and backing vocals. He was also a session and backing musician for a range of artists. He died of cancer, aged 25. On 19 August 1980 a tribute performance was held in his honour, with a live double-album recorded by various artists, Andrew Durant Memorial Concert, which was released on 9 March 1981. All but three tracks were written by Durant. It peaked at No. 8 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and reached No. 40 on the End of Year Top 100 Albums Chart for 1981.

Biography

Andrew MacLeish Durant was born in 1955.[1][2] Durant grew up in an Adelaide beach suburb with an older sister who was in a "very folkie vocal group – she had a stunning voice".[3] He attended Brighton High School,[3] alongside his girlfriend, Bronte Seidel.[4] In 1968 Durant was inspired by his copy of The Band's debut album, Music from Big Pink.[3] In 1972 on lead guitar he founded a group, Astra Kahn, in Adelaide which included Glyn Dowding on drums, and Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals.[2][5] By 1974 the group disbanded when Durant left Australia to travel overseas.[6][7] Meanwhile Dowding and Eastick formed a hard rock covers band, Flash, which in May 1975 became the country rock band, Stars.[2][5][6]

In August 1976 Durant was back in Australia and joined Stars, which had relocated to Melbourne and, alongside Dowding and Eastick, included Mick Pealing on lead vocals (ex-Flight, Nantucket, Flash) and Graham Thompson on bass guitar.[2][5] According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, Durant "added a great deal to the band's strengths, becoming the major songwriter in the group".[2] He wrote their third single, "Mighty Rock" (August 1977),[1] which peaked at No. 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.[2][8]

Durant also wrote "Look After Yourself" (November),[1] which became Stars' highest charting single at No. 21.[2][8] The group's debut album, Paradise, appeared in January the following year.[2] Durant wrote seven of its ten tracks, including two further singles, "Back Again" (April 1978) and "West is the Way" (June).[2][9] In June 1979 they issued their second studio album, Land of Fortune,[2][10] by that time Durant had been diagnosed with melanoma.[2] Stars' last gig on 18 October 1979, at the Bombay Rock Hotel, was recorded for their live album, 1157.[2][11] Andrew Durant died of his cancer on 6 May 1980, aged 25.[2]

1157 appeared in July and was dedicated to Durant.[2] Eastick organised a tribute performance on 19 August 1980 at the Palais Theatre in his honour; lead vocalists included Pealing, Jimmy Barnes, Renée Geyer, Ian Moss, and Broderick Smith;[12][13][14] musicians included former Stars band mates Dowding on drums and percussion; Eastick on guitar; Thompson on bass guitar; as well as Ric Formosa on slide guitar, guitar and piano; John-James Hackett on drums and percussion; Glyn Mason on guitar and vocals; Mick O'Connor on organ; Billy Rogers on saxophone; Kerryn Tolhurst on guitar and steel guitar; and Don Walker on piano.[2][13][14]

A live double-album recorded by various artists, Andrew Durant Memorial Concert, was released on 9 March 1981.[2][13][14] All but three tracks were written by Durant.[13] It peaked at No. 8 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and reached No. 40 on the End of Year Top 100 Albums Chart in 1981.[2][8] Profits from the album's sales went to the Andrew Durant Cancer Research Foundation.[2] Highlights from the performance were broadcast on TV by Channel 7.[13] A VHS was also issued.[15]

Aside from Stars, Durant was a session and backing musician for a range of artists.[2] He provided rhythm guitar for Richard Clapton's seventh album, Dark Spaces (August 1980), which was dedicated to Durant.[16][17] In late 1979 after Stars disbanded, Eastick had joined Broderick Smith's Big Combo.[12][18] Durant, Eastick and Smith co-wrote "I Was Here",[19] which appeared on Broderick Smith's Big Combo (November 1981).[12]

In May 2008 a 2× DVD package also titled, The Andrew Durant Memorial Concert, compiled material from the original tribute concert VHS and a live performance from 1978.[15][20] Off the Record reviewed the release, which highlights "the strength of Durant’s song writing and the fact that, had he lived, he might have gone on to carve himself a niche in Australia’s Pantheon of great writers".[21] While "[t]he sound, however, has been digitally remastered and is superb. There are also interviews with Mal Eastick, Mick Pealing and Sarah Morgan (who ran the fan club)".[21] In 2012 Durant's former girlfriend, Bronte Seidel donated his mandolin to her ex-neighbour, Chris White, "to make sure it got played".[4] White wrote and recorded "Andy's Mandolin" using the instrument.[4]

References

General
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g Mighty Rock; or at 'Performer:' Stars
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 McFarlane, 'Stars' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 August 2004). Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 McFarlane, 'Broderick Smith' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 12 July 2004). Archived from the original on 12 July 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ McFarlane, 'Richard Clapton' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 19 April 2004). Archived from the original on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g I Was Here
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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