Athol Guy

Athol Guy
The Seekers in 1965 – Guy at left
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Gisborne
In office
11 December 1971 – 5 March 1979
Preceded byJulian Doyle
Succeeded byTom Reynolds
Personal details
Born
Athol George Guy

(1940-01-05) 5 January 1940 (age 84)
Colac, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLiberal
OccupationMusician, politician
Websiteatholguyandfriends.com

Athol George Guy AO[1] (born 5 January 1940[2]) is an Australian musician who was a member of the Australian folk-pop music group the Seekers, for whom he played double bass and sang. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1979.

Early life

[edit]

Athol George Guy was born to George Francis Guy (RAN) and Doris Thelma (née Cole) Guy.[2] He was born in Colac, Victoria and went to Melbourne High School with Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.

Career

[edit]

Guy formed The Seekers in 1962 with Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.[3] With later addition Judith Durham, The Seekers had many hits during the 1960s including: I'll Never Find Another You, A World of Our Own, The Carnival Is Over and Georgy Girl; all were written or co-written by Tom Springfield and were each awarded a gold disc.[4] The Seekers have sold over 50 million records worldwide.[5]

When the Seekers disbanded in 1968, Guy hosted his own variety series — A Guy Called Athol — on Australia's Seven Network, and later the quiz show Big Nine on the Nine Network.[6] A guest on one episode of Big Nine was Hutton Gibson, father of actor Mel Gibson.[7] Guy performed on every Seekers album apart from 1980 A Little Bit of Country, as he had left in 1978 (Guy returned to the Seekers in 1988). Athol now fronts his band "Athol and friends".

Politics

[edit]

Guy was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in a by-election on 11 December 1971 for Gisborne as a member of the Liberal Party.[2] He served as a member of the assembly until resigning due to ill health on 5 March 1979.[2]

Discography

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Hey there, it's the Seekers, AO | the Australian". Archived from the original on 9 June 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Athol George Guy". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Whammo Homepage". 4 June 2004. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  4. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs. Internet Archive. London : Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.
  5. ^ Clancy, Laurie (2004). Culture and Customs of Australia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32169-6.
  6. ^ A Guy Called Athol (TV Series 1968– ) - IMDb, retrieved 3 April 2023
  7. ^ The Big 9 - Athol Guy, 16 June 2017, retrieved 3 April 2023
[edit]