Led by George Alexander (born Alexander Young, and brother of The Easybeats‘ George Young who had stayed behind at home when his family emigrated to Australia) Grapefruit were cheerful harmony pop/rockers.
Formed in 1967, and comprising three former members of Tony Rivers and The Castaways, the band were named by John Lennon (after Yoko Ono‘s book with the same title), who also introduced the group to the media, providing a decent kick-start to their career.
Grapefruit just missed the Top 20 with their first single Dear Delilah, with its lilting melody, uplifting harmonies and creative use of orchestration and electronic phasing.
A cover of The Four Seasons‘ C’mon Marianne just missed the Top 30, and although they released several other singles in 1968 and 1969, nothing else troubled the charts.
Their first LP, Around Grapefruit, was largely made up of songs from their first five singles.
A disappointing second album, Deep Water (1969), full of routine late 60s rock, helped sink them out of sight At this point, the band had virtually abandoned the soaring harmonies and pop melodies for a much heavier sound, with traces of blues and, occasionally, country.
Lennon suggested the group record the then-unreleased Lennon/McCartney song Two Of Us (which they didn’t), and following some personnel changes, Grapefruit broke up around the end of the 1960s – although Alexander revived the name for a 1971 single, Universal Party which also featured ex-Easybeats Harry Vanda and George Young.
Alexander subsequently worked with Vanda and Young on other production and songwriting projects, while John Perry returned to the public eye as a member of The Only Ones during the new wave era of the late 70s.
George Alexander
Bass, vocals
John Perry
Guitar, vocals
Pete Swettenham
Guitar, vocals
Geoff Swettenham
Drums
Mick Fowler
Keyboards
Bobby Ware
Drums
