.gif)
Sherbet (band)
Encyclopedia
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australia
n rock band
s of the 1970s. Their biggest single
s were "Summer Love
" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK
. Though the band
's success in the U.S.
was more limited, "Howzat" was a #61 hit in America, and under the name The Sherbs they also hit #61 in 1981 with the single "I Have The Skill". Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed
by Roger Davies
.
status album
s. The single "Howzat" which was number one in 1976, also reached number four in the UK Singles Chart
.
They were the first Australian band to reach $1M in record
sales in Australia; the first Australian band to turn their merchandising
into a huge industry; and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In 1976, the book "Sherbet On Tour", by Christie Eliezer, sold 55,000 copies in its first week.
in 1969 by guitarist
Clive Shakespeare
with members of his former band, Downtown Roll Band. Initially they started out as a soul
band doing Motown covers and other soul and rock-based material. The band's first single was 1970's "Crimson Ships", a cover of a song by Badfinger
; it featured original Sherbet vocalist Dennis Laughlin.
The band played a formative residency at Jonathon's Disco in Sydney during 1970, playing eight hours a night, four days a week for eight months, and it was during this period that they were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. Daryl Braithwaite
joined during this period, initially as a second lead vocalist. Laughlin left the band a few months later and Braithwaite then became Sherbet's sole lead singer.
In 1971, Sherbet won Australia's prestigious national rock band contest the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds
, and they are notable as one of only three groups to win the competition (along with The Twilights 1966 and The Groove
1968) who went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records
label (a subsidiary of Festival Records
) and in 1971 and 1972 scored their first hits with covers of Blue Mink
's "Can You Feel It Baby?", Delaney and Bonnie's "Free The People" and Ted Mulry
's "You're All Woman". Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's house producer Richard Batchens
, who also produced several hit albums and singles for Infinity's other major success, Richard Clapton
. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter
and The Jackson 5
.
.
By early 1972, after much turnover, Sherbet's line-up had solidified to include lead vocalist Braithwaite, Shakespeare on guitar, bassist
Tony Mitchell, keyboard
player Garth Porter
, and drummer
Alan Sandow
. As well, the band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a pop/rock outfit that mostly relied on original material, although Sherbet would also continue to release the occasional cover tune throughout the 1970s (including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles
' "Nowhere Man" and Free
's "Wishing Well".) However, from 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Shakespeare and Porter were responsible for co-writing
the lion's share of the band's music, which deftly combined British pop and American soul influences.
The band released their first album (Time Change...A Natural Progression) in 1972. The accompanying single "You've Got The Gun" (written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite) was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and charted at a respectable #27. The following year, the band hit the top 10 for the first time with the Shakespeare/Porter original "Cassandra". A string of hits followed in Australia, with Sherbet consistently releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Slipstream" (1974), "Silvery Moon" (1974) and the #1 hit "Summer Love" (1975). In fact a total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10, and the band became the darlings of Australia's teenybopper
s and made regular appearances on the top TV pop show Countdown. Sherbet's albums also charted extremely well in their homeland: 1973's On With The Show peaked at #6, 1974's Slipstream reached #5, 1975's Life ... Is For Living was a #6 hit, and their first Greatest Hits compilation from 1975 became their first #1 album.
From 1974, lead singer Braithwaite also maintained an active solo career alongside Sherbet, with Sherbet members often playing on Braithwaite's solo singles.
Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush
who had begun his career in the UK as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped to engineer a number of Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
. Porter also began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles. His vocals can be heard on "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time".
Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in even the remotest regions of the country.
Shakespeare was replaced at first by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman but within weeks (and before any new recordings were made) Gorman left and was replaced by Harvey James
(ex Ariel
). Around this same time, bassist Tony Mitchell stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The Porter/Mitchell duo was responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, and a song which was inspired by the sport of cricket
. The song's success lead to an extensive international tour in 1976-77.
"Howzat" went to #1 in Australia, and was a Top 10 hit through most of Europe, South Africa, several Asian nations and parts of the Middle East—but it failed to reach the American Top 40
, stopping at #61 in the Billboard
Hot 100. As well, while the Howzat album also made #1 in Australia, it failed to chart in the U.S. altogether.
Hoping to achieve international success, from 1977 Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the United States
. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured elaborate gatefold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single "Magazine Madonna" were successes in Australia (both reaching #3 on their respective charts), the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the U.S., as did the associated single. In the same year they provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling
.
With U.S. success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records
felt that the lightweight name "Sherbet" may have been hurting their chances. Accordingly, the band's final U.S.-recorded studio album from 1978 (the self-titled Sherbet) was issued in the States under the group name Highway and titled Highway 1. But despite the new group moniker, the Highway 1 record flopped in the U.S.
By this time the band's career in Australia began to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at #3, "Another Night On The Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 hit in Australia. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" (from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot) only crawled to #85.
Their Australian success was on the wane, and whether as Sherbet or as Highway, the group had been unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Seemingly frustrated by the sudden career turnaround, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway ("Heart Get Ready", which flopped at #89), the band broke up in mid-1979.
sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill just reached the top half of the Billboard album charts in the US, reaching #100. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in America. An accompanying single ("I Have The Skill") also became the band's second US pop chart hit at #61. ("Howzat" had also reached the same US chart position of #61 in 1976).
The Sherbs also received airplay in the US on album-oriented rock
(AOR) radio stations with both "I Have The Skill" and "No Turning Back". In fact, The Sherbs appeared on the very first AOR-oriented Rock Tracks
chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have The Skill" debuted on that inaugural chart at #45. A week later, on the chart dated 28 March, the track climbed to #14, in the process becoming the band's biggest US hit on any chart. However, the news was not all good: none of the singles issued from The Skill hit the Australian top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major stars in Australia only two years earlier.
A second Sherbs album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. However, the band did chart again on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight". Staying on the chart for 16 weeks the track reached number 26 in June 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, as Defying Gravity only reached #202 on the album charts.
A mini-album Shaping Up appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two rather minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the American listening public was apparently largely indifferent to their new releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Garth Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
Harvey James left The Sherbs towards the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh. The band finally decided to call it a day in 1984, reverting back to the "Sherbet" name for a surprisingly successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on this final single, and both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour.
Following the group's break-up, lead singer Daryl Braithwaite
went on to a successful solo
career in Australia, and Garth Porter
and Clive Shakespeare
became successful record producer
s.
drummer John Watson filled in.
With Sandow on board, the band reunited again for the Ted Mulry
Benefit Concert in March 2001 and then a benefit show for Wane Jarvis in June 2003.
Sherbet usually performed as a six-piece line-up of Braithwaite, Sandow, Mitchell, Porter, James and Shakespeare, as in a recent live appearance at the May 2006 Australian TV Logie Awards, where they performed their biggest hit, "Howzat". This performance launched the Countdown Spectacular tour which they headlined throughout Australia during September and October 2006. The band also played three warm-up shows in August 2006 billed as "Daryl Braithwaite and Highway" so as not to pre-empt the Sherbet reunion for the Countdown Spectacular.
2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks featured on the Sherbet - Super Hits CD
: "Red Dress" (Porter/Shakespeare/Braithwaite/Mitchell/James/Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled And The Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK.
Their song "Howzat" is played at Twenty20
cricket
matches.
As Highway
As The Sherbs
Live albums (as Sherbet):
Compilation albums (as Sherbet):
DVD (as Sherbet):
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
s of the 1970s. Their biggest single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
s were "Summer Love
Summer Love (Sherbet song)
"Summer Love" was the first national number one hit in Australia for Sherbet. They had had a string of top 40 hits in the early 70s with "Can You Feel It Baby" being the first in 1971. "Summer Love" spent 2 weeks at number one in mid 1975 on the Australian charts. The song was also promoted on the...
" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Though the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
's success in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was more limited, "Howzat" was a #61 hit in America, and under the name The Sherbs they also hit #61 in 1981 with the single "I Have The Skill". Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
by Roger Davies
Roger Davies (manager)
Roger Davies is an Australian born business manager and music producer with a long career in the music industry. His career has taken him from working as a roadie in Australia in the early 1970s to managing some of the most successful female pop/rock performers in the world including Olivia...
.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in their homeland (including two number ones) and released several platinumMusic recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
status album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s. The single "Howzat" which was number one in 1976, also reached number four in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
They were the first Australian band to reach $1M in record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
sales in Australia; the first Australian band to turn their merchandising
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
into a huge industry; and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In 1976, the book "Sherbet On Tour", by Christie Eliezer, sold 55,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1971)
Sherbet were formed in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1969 by guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
with members of his former band, Downtown Roll Band. Initially they started out as a soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band doing Motown covers and other soul and rock-based material. The band's first single was 1970's "Crimson Ships", a cover of a song by Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
; it featured original Sherbet vocalist Dennis Laughlin.
The band played a formative residency at Jonathon's Disco in Sydney during 1970, playing eight hours a night, four days a week for eight months, and it was during this period that they were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite is an Australian pop singer. Best known as the lead vocalist of Sherbet, Braithwaite has also sustained a successful solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including the No...
joined during this period, initially as a second lead vocalist. Laughlin left the band a few months later and Braithwaite then became Sherbet's sole lead singer.
In 1971, Sherbet won Australia's prestigious national rock band contest the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds
Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds
Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds was an annual national rock/pop band competition held in Australia from 1966 to 1972.-History:Australia's Battle of the Sounds was originally established by Australian tabloid magazine Everybody’s in 1965 as a talent quest for new unsigned bands in Sydney, Melbourne...
, and they are notable as one of only three groups to win the competition (along with The Twilights 1966 and The Groove
The Groove (band)
Formed in mid 1967, The Groove are considered to be Australia's first "supergroup" in that all members had considerable experience behind them in a number of successful bands...
1968) who went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records
Infinity Records
Infinity Records was a short-lived subsidiary of MCA Records established in New York City in 1977. The label was conceived by MCA president Sidney Sheinberg as a way for the Los Angeles-based entertainment conglomerate to improve its presence on the East Coast...
label (a subsidiary of Festival Records
Festival Records (Australia)
Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005....
) and in 1971 and 1972 scored their first hits with covers of Blue Mink
Blue Mink
Blue Mink was a British five-piece pop group, that existed from 1969 to 1974. Over that period they had six Top 20 hit singles in the UK Singles Chart, and released five studio based albums...
's "Can You Feel It Baby?", Delaney and Bonnie's "Free The People" and Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry was a singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. He was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England but achieved his success in Australia, firstly as a solo performer, and then leading his own band Ted Mulry Gang, sometimes officially credited as just TMG.-Solo:Ted Mulry first came to the...
's "You're All Woman". Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's house producer Richard Batchens
Richard Batchens
Richard Batchens is an Australian record producer and recording engineer. He was the main in-house producer for the Australian recording company Festival Records in the early-mid 1970s and was one of the most prominent and successful producers of the era....
, who also produced several hit albums and singles for Infinity's other major success, Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, New South Wales. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" and "I Am an Island"...
. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
and The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 , later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana...
.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
By early 1972, after much turnover, Sherbet's line-up had solidified to include lead vocalist Braithwaite, Shakespeare on guitar, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Tony Mitchell, keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player Garth Porter
Garth Porter
Garth Porter is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer best known as a member of the 1970s pop group Sherbet, and for his key role as co-writer and producer for country music singer Lee Kernaghan....
, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Alan Sandow
Alan Sandow
Alan Sandow is an Australian drummer and was a member of the rock band Sherbet.-Music career:After the break-up of Sherbet, Sandow joined The Willie Winter Band with guitarist Ian "Willie" Winter and bass player Barry McCulloch....
. As well, the band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a pop/rock outfit that mostly relied on original material, although Sherbet would also continue to release the occasional cover tune throughout the 1970s (including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Nowhere Man" and Free
Free (band)
Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...
's "Wishing Well".) However, from 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Shakespeare and Porter were responsible for co-writing
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
the lion's share of the band's music, which deftly combined British pop and American soul influences.
The band released their first album (Time Change...A Natural Progression) in 1972. The accompanying single "You've Got The Gun" (written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite) was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and charted at a respectable #27. The following year, the band hit the top 10 for the first time with the Shakespeare/Porter original "Cassandra". A string of hits followed in Australia, with Sherbet consistently releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Slipstream" (1974), "Silvery Moon" (1974) and the #1 hit "Summer Love" (1975). In fact a total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10, and the band became the darlings of Australia's teenybopper
Teenybopper
The term teenybopper was invented by marketing professionals and psychologists, later becoming a subculture of its own. The term describes a young teenager, particularly a girl, who follows adolescent trends in music, fashion and culture. The term was introduced in the 1950s to refer to teenagers...
s and made regular appearances on the top TV pop show Countdown. Sherbet's albums also charted extremely well in their homeland: 1973's On With The Show peaked at #6, 1974's Slipstream reached #5, 1975's Life ... Is For Living was a #6 hit, and their first Greatest Hits compilation from 1975 became their first #1 album.
From 1974, lead singer Braithwaite also maintained an active solo career alongside Sherbet, with Sherbet members often playing on Braithwaite's solo singles.
Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush
Richard Lush
Richard Lush is a British-born Australian recording engineer and producer. He began his career in the mid-1960s as an assistant engineer at the EMI Abbey Road Studios in London....
who had begun his career in the UK as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped to engineer a number of Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
. Porter also began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles. His vocals can be heard on "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time".
Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in even the remotest regions of the country.
International success...and lack thereof (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. The last song he played on before leaving the band was "Child's Play", a #5 hit in February.Shakespeare was replaced at first by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman but within weeks (and before any new recordings were made) Gorman left and was replaced by Harvey James
Harvey James
Harvey William James was an Australian rock guitarist. He was a member of the bands Mississippi, Ariel, Sherbet and The Party Boys...
(ex Ariel
Ariel (band)
Ariel was an Australian progressive rock band based around the duo Mike Rudd and Bill Putt, who formed the band in 1973 after the breakup of their previous group Spectrum . The original Ariel line-up was Rudd , Putt , Tim Gaze , Nigel Macara and John Mills...
). Around this same time, bassist Tony Mitchell stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The Porter/Mitchell duo was responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, and a song which was inspired by the sport of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. The song's success lead to an extensive international tour in 1976-77.
"Howzat" went to #1 in Australia, and was a Top 10 hit through most of Europe, South Africa, several Asian nations and parts of the Middle East—but it failed to reach the American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
, stopping at #61 in the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100. As well, while the Howzat album also made #1 in Australia, it failed to chart in the U.S. altogether.
Hoping to achieve international success, from 1977 Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured elaborate gatefold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single "Magazine Madonna" were successes in Australia (both reaching #3 on their respective charts), the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the U.S., as did the associated single. In the same year they provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling
High Rolling
High Rolling is an Australian buddy comedy directed by Igor Auzins and written by Forest Redlich. Golden Globe Award winners Joseph Bottoms and Judy Davis are among the cast. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Australian band, Sherbet...
.
With U.S. success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...
felt that the lightweight name "Sherbet" may have been hurting their chances. Accordingly, the band's final U.S.-recorded studio album from 1978 (the self-titled Sherbet) was issued in the States under the group name Highway and titled Highway 1. But despite the new group moniker, the Highway 1 record flopped in the U.S.
By this time the band's career in Australia began to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at #3, "Another Night On The Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 hit in Australia. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" (from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot) only crawled to #85.
Their Australian success was on the wane, and whether as Sherbet or as Highway, the group had been unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Seemingly frustrated by the sudden career turnaround, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway ("Heart Get Ready", which flopped at #89), the band broke up in mid-1979.
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, the band reconvened with exactly the same personnel, but with another new name (The Sherbs) and a somewhat modified progressive new waveNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill just reached the top half of the Billboard album charts in the US, reaching #100. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in America. An accompanying single ("I Have The Skill") also became the band's second US pop chart hit at #61. ("Howzat" had also reached the same US chart position of #61 in 1976).
The Sherbs also received airplay in the US on album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
(AOR) radio stations with both "I Have The Skill" and "No Turning Back". In fact, The Sherbs appeared on the very first AOR-oriented Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have The Skill" debuted on that inaugural chart at #45. A week later, on the chart dated 28 March, the track climbed to #14, in the process becoming the band's biggest US hit on any chart. However, the news was not all good: none of the singles issued from The Skill hit the Australian top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major stars in Australia only two years earlier.
A second Sherbs album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. However, the band did chart again on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight". Staying on the chart for 16 weeks the track reached number 26 in June 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, as Defying Gravity only reached #202 on the album charts.
A mini-album Shaping Up appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two rather minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the American listening public was apparently largely indifferent to their new releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Garth Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
Harvey James left The Sherbs towards the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh. The band finally decided to call it a day in 1984, reverting back to the "Sherbet" name for a surprisingly successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on this final single, and both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour.
Following the group's break-up, lead singer Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite is an Australian pop singer. Best known as the lead vocalist of Sherbet, Braithwaite has also sustained a successful solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including the No...
went on to a successful solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career in Australia, and Garth Porter
Garth Porter
Garth Porter is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer best known as a member of the 1970s pop group Sherbet, and for his key role as co-writer and producer for country music singer Lee Kernaghan....
and Clive Shakespeare
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
became successful record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s.
Reunions (1999–present)
Sherbet have continued to come together to perform on occasion over the years. Their first reunion was for a special for ABC-TV on New Year's Eve 1999 (i.e., 31 December 1998/1 January 1999). This reunion was held without drummer Alan Sandow: former Kevin Borich/Australian CrawlAustralian Crawl
Australian Crawl were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne , Brad Robinson , Paul Williams , Simon Binks and David Reyne in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough...
drummer John Watson filled in.
With Sandow on board, the band reunited again for the Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry
Ted Mulry was a singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. He was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England but achieved his success in Australia, firstly as a solo performer, and then leading his own band Ted Mulry Gang, sometimes officially credited as just TMG.-Solo:Ted Mulry first came to the...
Benefit Concert in March 2001 and then a benefit show for Wane Jarvis in June 2003.
Sherbet usually performed as a six-piece line-up of Braithwaite, Sandow, Mitchell, Porter, James and Shakespeare, as in a recent live appearance at the May 2006 Australian TV Logie Awards, where they performed their biggest hit, "Howzat". This performance launched the Countdown Spectacular tour which they headlined throughout Australia during September and October 2006. The band also played three warm-up shows in August 2006 billed as "Daryl Braithwaite and Highway" so as not to pre-empt the Sherbet reunion for the Countdown Spectacular.
2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks featured on the Sherbet - Super Hits CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
: "Red Dress" (Porter/Shakespeare/Braithwaite/Mitchell/James/Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled And The Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK.
Their song "Howzat" is played at Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
matches.
Singles
| Release date | Title | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... singles Single (music) In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... singles Single (music) In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear... |
U.S. singles Single (music) In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear... |
U.S. rock tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
||
| March 1970 | "Crimson Ships" | ||||
| March 1971 | "Can You Feel It Baby" | #22 | |||
| December 1971 | "Free The People" | #36 | |||
| August 1972 | "You're All Woman" | #13 | |||
| October 1972 | "You've Got The Gun" | #27 | |||
| June 1973 | "Hound Dog" | #21 | |||
| August 1973 | "Cassandra" | #5 | |||
| September 1973 | "So Glad You're Mine" | ||||
| June 1974 | "Slipstream" | #7 | |||
| September 1974 | "Silvery Moon" | #9 | |||
| March 1975 | "Summer Love" | #1 | |||
| April 1975 | "Wishing Well" | #24 | |||
| August 1975 | "Life" | #7 | |||
| November 1975 | "Only One You/Matter of Time" | #6 | |||
| January 1976 | "Child's Play" | #5 | |||
| May 1976 | "Howzat" | #1 | #4 | #61 | |
| June 1976 | "Hollywood Dreaming/Gimme' Love" | ||||
| October 1976 | "Rock Me Gently/You've Got The Gun (1976 Version)" | #6 | |||
| June 1977 | "Magazine Madonna" | #3 | |||
| August 1977 | "High Rollin'" | ||||
| January 1978 | "Nowhere Man" | #28 | |||
| February 1978 | "Feels Like It's Slipping Away" | #18 | |||
| August 1978 | "Another Night On The Road" | #8 | |||
| October 1978 | "Beg Steal or Borrow/You Made A Fool" | ||||
| February 1979 | "Angela" | #85 | |||
| July 1979 | "Heart Get Ready" (as Highway) | #89 | |||
| February 1980 | "Never Surrender" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| May 1980 | "I'm Okay" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| July 1980 | "Juliet and Me" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| November 1980 | "I Have The Skill" (as The Sherbs) | #61 | #14 | ||
| February 1981 | "No Turning Back" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| October 1981 | "Free The Sailor" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| February 1982 | "Some People" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| June 1982 | "We Ride Tonight" (as The Sherbs) | #26 | |||
| July 1982 | "Don't Throw It All Away" (as The Sherbs) | #62 | |||
| October 1982 | "Shaping Up" (as The Sherbs) | #76 | |||
| March 1983 | "The Arrow" (as The Sherbs) | ||||
| February 1984 | "Tonight Will Last Forever" | ||||
Albums
As Sherbet- 1972: Time Change... A Natural Progression
- 1973: On With The ShowOn With the Show (album)On With the Show is an album by Sherbet released in 1973. The album spent 12 weeks in the Australian charts, reaching a highest point of #6.-Track listing:#"We Can Make It Right" #"Summer Satisfaction"...
- 1974: SlipstreamSlipstream (Sherbet album)Slipstream is an album by Sherbet released in 1974. According to the Kent Music Report, it spent 35 weeks in the Australian Charts reaching a highest position of #3.-Track listing:#"Slipstream" – 2:53...
- 1975: Life... Is for Living
- 1976: HowzatHowzat (album)Howzat was an album by Australian band Sherbet released in 1976. It spent two weeks at number one on the Australian album charts in 1976. The title cut was also a number one hit and remains the group's biggest hit, especially outside of Australia, reaching the top 5 of the UK charts and also...
- 1977: PhotoplayPhotoplay (album)-Track listing:#"High Rollin’"#"Magazine Madonna"#"Midsummer Madness"#"What Do You Do"#"I Got Love"#"Still in Love With You"#"Love Is Fine"#"Let Me Flow"#"The Way I Am"#"It’s a Game"-Release history:...
- 1978: SherbetSherbet (album)-Track listing:#" Slippin' Away"#"Skyline"#"Another Night on the Road"#"Don't Wait Too Long"#"Winnipeg Sidestep"#"Take My Heart"#"Cheatin' Eyes"#"You Made a Fool"#" Breakdown"#"Beg, Steal or Borrow"-Release history:...
As Highway
- 1978: Highway 1 (The Australian "Sherbet" album, remixed for US release)
As The Sherbs
- 1980: The Skill
- 1981: Defying Gravity
- 1982: Shaping UpShaping Up (album)-Track listing:#"Shaping Up"#"No Holding Back "#"Don't Throw It All Away"#" Take It On The Run"#"The Arrow"#"Wild Is The Sea"#"I Don't Wanna Lose You"-Release history:...
(Mini-LP)
Live albums (as Sherbet):
- 1975: In ConcertIn Concert (Sherbet album)-Track listing:#"Cassandra"#"Wishing Well"#"Another Hustler"#"Jungle Jiver"#"Do It"#"Freedom"#Medley - "Can You Feel It Baby", "You've Got The Gun", "You're All Woman"#"Hound Dog"#Medley - "Au Revoir", "Goodbye"-Release history:...
- 1977: Caught in the Act... Live
- 2007: Live – And the Crowd Went Wild
Compilation albums (as Sherbet):
- 1975: Greatest Hits 1970-75Sherbet's Greatest HitsSherbet's Greatest Hits was a compilation album released on Infinity Records in Australia in 1975, at the time of the height of Sherbet's popularity in Australia. It spent 1 week at the top of the Australian album chart in 1975...
- 1976: The Sherbet Collection
- 1979: Track RecordTrack Record (album)-Track listing:#"Heart Get Ready"#"Midsummer Madness"#"Another Night on the Road"#"Safe Water"#"High Rollin' "#"Skyline "#"Gimme Some Lovin' "#" Slippin' Away"#"Angela"#"Take My Heart"#"You Made a Fool"...
- 1980: The Sherbet Phenomenon
- 1984: The Hits 1969–1984
- 1999: Howzat! – 30th Anniversary Celebration Collection
- 2001: The Great Sherbet
- 2006: Super Hits (Sherbet album)Super Hits (Sherbet album)Super Hits is a compilation album by Sherbet released in 2006 which includes 2 newly recorded tracks "Hearts Are Insane" and "Red Dress".-Track listing:#"Can You Feel It Baby"#"Free The People"#"You're All Woman"#"Hound Dog"#"Cassandra"#"Slipstream"...
- 2008: Anthology
DVD (as Sherbet):
- 2006: Super Hits
Band members
- Clive ShakespeareClive ShakespeareClive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
(guitar/songwriting, 1969–1975, 1984, 1999–present) - Sam See (keyboards, 1969–1970)
- Dennis Laughlin (lead vocals, 1969–1970)
- Danny Taylor (drums, 1969)
- Doug Rea (bass, 1969)
- Bruce Worrall (bass guitar, 1969–1972)
- Alan SandowAlan SandowAlan Sandow is an Australian drummer and was a member of the rock band Sherbet.-Music career:After the break-up of Sherbet, Sandow joined The Willie Winter Band with guitarist Ian "Willie" Winter and bass player Barry McCulloch....
(drums, 1969–1984, 2001–present) - Daryl BraithwaiteDaryl BraithwaiteDaryl Braithwaite is an Australian pop singer. Best known as the lead vocalist of Sherbet, Braithwaite has also sustained a successful solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including the No...
(lead vocals, 1970–1984, 1999–present) - Garth PorterGarth PorterGarth Porter is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer best known as a member of the 1970s pop group Sherbet, and for his key role as co-writer and producer for country music singer Lee Kernaghan....
(keyboards/songwriting, 1970–1984, 1999–present) - Tony Mitchell (bass guitar/songwriting, 1972–1984, 1999–present)
- Gunther Gorman (guitar, 1976)
- Harvey JamesHarvey JamesHarvey William James was an Australian rock guitarist. He was a member of the bands Mississippi, Ariel, Sherbet and The Party Boys...
(guitar, 1976–1982, 1984, 1999–2011) - Tony Leigh (guitar, 1982–1984)
- John Watson (drums, 1999)