Max Merritt – The Legend
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In November 1959, Harry M Miller flew Max to Auckland for a solo spot on the 'Summertime Spectacular'. On his return to Christchurch, and also because he was now a recording star, his popularity soared even higher. The group started doing lunchtime performances at record stores, with crowds spilling out onto the footpath, and audiences at the Teenage Club increased. There were more personnel changes in 1960, with Bernie Jones, Rod Gibson and original member Ian Glass all leaving. Pete Sowden returned to the group on drums and Billy Kristian switched to his favourite instrument, the bass, and new-comer Maurice Cook joined on lead guitar. 1960 Line-Up: This twin guitar, bass and drums combination was to be the standard Meteors format over the next few years. In 1961 they started playing a third venue to their schedule by also playing at the Hibernian Hall. This place had a reputation as being a rather rough joint and often fights would break out. When Maurice Cook left the band, Max replaced him with Geoff Cox, who was also a South Island boxing champion, and this came in handy when fights broke out. Cox didn't stay too long with the group and he was replaced by Peter Williams on rhythm guitar. The group continued to cement their status as the most popular group in the South Island and in 1961 had another successful local hit with "Mr Loneliness"/"If You Want My Lovin' ", but outside their local area they remained relatively unknown. 1962 saw two more singles, "Weekend"/"Easy To Dream" and "Cossack"/"The Slow One". By the end of 1962, Max came to the conclusion that if he was to be more successful, he would have to venture further afield. The group gave a farewell concert to Christchurch in November 1962 and headed north. Max and the boys gigged their way up the North Island during December and arrived in Auckland just before Christmas. After a few gigs at the Oriental Ballroom, Max Merritt and the Meteors took up residence at a newly opened club called the Top 20. Word spread fast around Auckland and every rock musician in town was checking out the new group in town. With their Fender gear, fancy routines, matching outfits, Auckland audiences just stared in disbelief. They were way ahead of anything that was performing in Auckland at the time. During 1963, Max retained the residency at the Top 20 club and also did some tours. When Max was offered a month long tour around the North Island, he needed a replacement band to mind his spot at the Top 20. He did not want to allow a local opposition Auckland group the opportunity, so he called another Christchurch group called the Playboys and offered them the gig. They jumped at the opportunity and headed north. The Playboys contained a female singer by the name of Diane Jacobs. She made the most of the groups time playing every night for the month. When Max finished the tour, the Playboys returned to Christchurch. Diane now had a taste for the big smoke and when the Playboys folded, she moved back to Auckland as Dinah Lee. Work as a singer was not easy to find, but she did manage to get a few spots with Max Merritt and Ray Columbus, and guest spots with a number of other established groups, before becoming famous as New Zealand's top female singer. Meanwhile HMV released the last single they had from their earlier recording sessions, "Valley Of The Sioux"/"Laughing Girl" in 1963. There were also some more line-up changes, with Billy Kristian leaving to try his hand on the Pacific Islands Resort circuit and Pete Sowden deciding to head back to Christchurch. Their places were taken by two musicians from Hastings, Johnny Dick on drums and Mike Angland on bass. Their only other release in 1963 was a one-off recording on the Zodiac label called "Soft Surfie"/"She's Everything I Want You To Be". This single was also released in Australia on Zodiac. On November 23rd 1963 Max took the group across the Tasman for the first time and visited Sydney. When he got there he found that the local scene was being dominated by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and Ray Brown and the Whispers. Max stayed there for six months playing in a lot of the Sydney dives and making absolutely no money. They had to beg for work and in the end decided it was no good and came back to Auckland. A record deal was struck with Viking Records in 1964 and their first release on that label was an EP called "Giddy Up Max", containing "Giddy Up A Ding Dong", "Almost Grown", "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Sweet and Tender Romance". A single with "Giddy Up A Ding Dong" and "Sweet and Tender Romance" also came out. The releases didn't sell very well, but the band's musicianship so impressed Viking, that the Meteors became the label's house band. They provided backing for the label's solo artists, Tommy Adderley, Dinah Lee and Peter Posa. Viking released a second EP called "Good Golly Max Merritt", also in 1964. Its contents were "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Everybody", "Be My Baby", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand". Peter Posa did a number of live shows in 1964 and 1965, and these were captured on vinyl on two occasions. Max Merritt and the Meteors contributed one track to each of the "Live On the Peter Posa Show" albums in 1964 and 1965. |