The Easybeats

Did You Know?

• A cover version of "Good Times" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes reached No. 2 in Australia in 1986 and became the biggest selling single on Mushroom Records.
• In 1987, Gary Moore released a cover version of "Friday on My Mind" on the Wild Frontier album that charted in Australia, Ireland, Finland, New Zealand and the UK.
• Friday on My Mind is an Australian television drama mini series first screened on ABC in 2017, based on the band's history from formation in 1964 to the 1969 breakup.

History

All five founding members came from families that had migrated to Australia from Europe: lead singer Stevie Wright and drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were English-born; rhythm guitarist George Young was Scottish-born; lead guitarist Harry Vanda and bassist Dick Diamonde were Dutch-born. The band formed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Villawood, New South Wales, near Sydney, where the families of the band members spent their first years in Australia in the early and mid-1960s.

The Easybeats' first gigs were in late 1964 at Beatle Village, a music venue in the basement of the Courthouse Hotel in Taylor Square, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Inspired by the British Invasion led by the Beatles, they quickly became one of the most popular groups in the city. Real estate agent turned pop music entrepreneur Mike Vaughan became their manager, and through his efforts they signed with Albert Productions, one of Australia's first independent record production companies, established by Ted Albert.

The group recorded several songs at the 2UW Theatre and chose the bluesy "For My Woman" as their first single, which reached No. 33 on the chart. Their next single, the self-penned "She's So Fine", reached No. 3 and launched them to national stardom, with concerts marked by intense fan hysteria dubbed "Easyfever". The follow-up "Wedding Ring", released on 26 August 1965, reached No. 7. On 23 September 1965, the group released its first album, Easy, one of the earliest albums of all original material written by an Australian rock group; vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young co-wrote eight of the fourteen songs.